Ryan PT-22 Recruit

PT-22 Recruit

Role	Trainer
Manufacturer	Ryan Aeronautical Company
Primary users	United States Army Air Forces United States Army Air Corps
Unit cost	$10,000
Developed from	Ryan ST

The Ryan PT-22 Recruit is a military trainer aircraft used by the United States Army Air Corps and its successor, the United States Army Air Forces for primary pilot training. It was the first monoplane that the Army had used for primary pilot training, as all previous PT aircraft were biplanes.

1 Design
2 Variants
3 Operators
4 Aircraft on display
5 Survivors
6 Specifications (PT-22)
7 References

Design

The PT-22 fuel system consists of a single tank mounted forward of the front cockpit. Fuel is gravity fed to the carburetor. The oil system is a dry-stump type, with all oil stored in a tank located on the front side of the firewall in the upper section of the fuselage. The wing flaps are mechanically operated from a lever located on the left side of each cockpit. Adjustable elevator trim is provided via an elevator trim tab controllable from a handwheel mounted on the left side of each cockpit. In its original configuration, the aircraft was not equipped with an electrical system. Hydraulic brakes are provided for each wheel, controllable via the rudder pedals in each cockpit^[1].

Variants

PT-22: Military version of the Model ST.3KR powered by a 160 hp R-540-1, 1023 built.
PT-22A: Model ST.3S twin-float seaplanes ordered by the Netherlands Navy powered by 160 hp Menasco D4B, ordered cancelled and completed for the United States Army Air Corps with 160 hp R-540-1 engines, 25 built.
PT-22B: Unbuilt project.
PT-22C: PT-22s re-engined with the 160 hp R-540-3, 250 conversions.

Operators

China
Ecuador

Ecuadorian Air Force

United States

Aircraft on display

PT-22 "Recruit" (s/n 41-15721) is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force^[2]
PT-22 is at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan
PT-22 is at the Robins Air Force Base Museum of Aviation [1] in Warner-Robins,Georgia.
A PT-22 is on display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
A PT-22 returned to display at San Diego Air & Space Museum in August 2009 after receiving new paint.
A flying PT-22 is on display in the Port Townsend Aero Museum in Port Townsend, Washington.
A PT-22 is on display in the Vintage Flying Museum at Meacham International Airport in Fort Worth, Texas, awaiting an engine rebuild.

Survivors

Several PT-22 remain in flyable condition worldwide, as the aircraft continues to be a popular sport plane and warbird.

The first PT-22 prototype is flying at Old Warden, United Kingdom, as part of the Shuttleworth Collection, designated "001"^[3]

Specifications (PT-22)

Data from Pilots Flight Operating Instructions^[1] and The New Ryan^[4]

General characteristics

Crew: two (student and instructor)
Length: 22 ft 5 in (6.90 m)
Wingspan: 30 ft 1 in (9.17 m)
Height: 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)
Wing area: 134.25 sq ft (12.5 sq m)
Airfoil: NACA 2412
Empty weight: 1308 lb (593 kg)
Loaded weight: 1860 lb (844 kg)
Useful load: 552 lb (250 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 1,860 lb (844 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Kinner R-540, 160 hp (120 kW)

Performance

Never exceed speed: 190 mph (305 km/h)
Maximum speed: 125 mph (200 km/h)
Cruise speed: 100 mph (160 km/h)
Stall speed: 62 mph, flaps down; 64 mph, flaps up (100 km/h, flaps down; 103 km/h, flaps up)
Range: 231 miles @1560 RPM (371 km @1560 RPM)
Service ceiling: 15,400 ft (4,700 m)
Rate of climb: 710 fpm @ max TO weight (216 m/min @ max TO weight)
Wing loading: 13.6 lb/sq ft ()

Armament

none

Avionics

none

References

^ ^a ^b Pilots Flight Operating Instructions
^ United States Air Force Museum 1975, p. 22.
^ "Shuttleworth Old Warden". http://shuttleworth.org/shuttleworth-collection/aircraft-details.asp?ID=48.
^ The New Ryan: Development and History of the Ryan ST and SC 1995, p. 117

United States Air Force Museum. Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio: Air Force Museum Foundation. 1975.
Pilots Flight Operating Instructions for Army Model PT-22 Airplanes, T.O. NO. 01-100GC-1. Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio: US Army Air Forces. 1943.
Ev Cassagneres (1995). The New Ryan: Development and History of the Ryan ST and SC. Eagan, Minnesota: Flying Books.

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