This is a Boeing-Stearman PT-17 engine cylinder lamp, it was built around one of the cylinders and heads from the original Continental R-670-5 7-cylinder air-cooled radial. It also includes a model of the aircraft, and a book about it.
Also known as the Model 75, the Boeing-Stearman PT-17 was one of the most consequential biplane designs in history, having been built in vast numbers and used extensively as a trainer for the bomber and fighter pilots of WWII.
Above Video: This is an original US Navy video produced in Hollywood to teach cadets the basics of flying a Boeing-Stearman Model 75.
History Speedrun: The Boeing-Stearman PT-17
The origins of the Boeing-Stearman PT-17 can be followed all the way back to the early 1930s, when the Stearman Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas, set out to meet the U.S. Army Air Corps’ need for an affordable new primary trainer.
Lloyd Stearman’s firm had already built a reputation for tough biplanes, and the design that would become the Model 75 first flew in 1934. It was simple, rugged, and easy to maintain – making it ideal for the harsh training environment where student pilots regularly pushed aircraft to their limits (and beyond) with hard landings.
In 1934 Boeing bought Stearman outright, and the Wichita plant became a Boeing subsidiary. Production of the Model 75 began under Boeing-Stearman branding, and it soon gained a foothold with both the Army Air Corps and the US Navy.
The Army designated it the PT-13 when fitted with a Lycoming R-680 radial, while the PT-17 used the Continental R-670 engine. Another variant, the PT-18, carried a Jacobs R-755. Despite these differences, the airframe remained essentially the same – a tandem two-seat, fabric-covered biplane with open cockpits, fixed conventional landing gear, and an enviable reputation for reliability.
By the late 1930s, as the US military prepared for possible involvement in World War II, demand for training aircraft skyrocketed. The Stearman became the workhorse of American flight training. More than 8,500 were built between 1934 and 1945, with thousands of pilots – future combat aviators across the Army Air Forces, Navy, and Marine Corps – logging their first flight hours in the PT-17 and its stablemates.
Its forgiving handling, combined with the ability to perform spins, stalls, and aerobatics, made it perfect for teaching basic airmanship, while still having manageable flight characteristics.
The Stearman’s place wasn’t limited to American airfields, as many were supplied under Lend-Lease to Allied nations. After the war, the military no longer needed such a vast trainer fleet, and thousands of surplus Stearmans were sold off for civilian use at bargain prices.
They quickly found second lives as crop dusters, aerobatic performers, barnstorming machines, and personal sport aircraft. The strong airframe could take the abuse of low-level flying, tight turns, and heavy loads of agricultural chemicals, ensuring its usefulness for decades after its military career ended.
The Boeing-Stearman PT-17 Engine Cylinder Lamp Shown Here
The lamp you see here was built around one of the seven cylinders from the Continental R-670-5 7-cylinder air-cooled radial engine. The cylinder and head has been finished in red, with the valve covers, pushrod tubes, and exhaust headers all finished in chrome.
A U.S. sailor cranking the engine of a Stearman N2S-2 Kaydet (BuNo 3553) at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas (USA), in 1943. Image courtesy of the U.S. Navy.
It has an informational plaque mounted to the base, explaining where the cylinder came from, and it’s topped with a lampshade with a biplane and world map motif. It measures in at approximately 29″ tall by 14″ in diameter and weighs about 20 lbs, so it’ll almost certainly be the heaviest table lamp in your house.
It’s now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer out of Salem, Oregon at no reserve, it comes with a book and model, and you can visit the listing here.
Image courtesy of Bring a Trailer
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Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.