Navy N3N-3

About 1,000 N3Ns were manufactured by the Naval Air Factory, owned and operated by the US Navy, from 1935 to the early 1940s. This large biplane is often mistaken for the Boeing/Stearman PT-17/N2S. Many of these aircraft were painted bright yellow for easy visibility in the air and as a warning that a student pilot was aboard. It was the N3N that was nicknamed the Yellow Peril by Naval Aviation Cadets and not the PT-17/N2S. For a few years after the war a small number of N3N-3s were fitted with a single large float with two small wing tip floats. These aircraft were used for indoctrination rides at the Naval Academy. Eventually all N3Ns were sold as surplus. The N3N-3 was powered with a 235 hp seven cylinder Wright Whirlwind radial engine, also built by the Navy under license. It had a takeoff weight of almost 2800 pounds and a top speed of 126 mph. There are still 20 listed as airworthy. I have flown the N3N and it is not as maneuverable as the Stearman or the Waco UPF-7, another contemporary biplane trainer. The controls seemed a bit sluggish to me, but there was no doubt that this was a very rugged aircraft that could take the ham-handed abuse of Naval Cadets.