THE AIRCRAFT featured here is U.S. Army Corps No. 41-1037, a Wright-powered BT–15 built in May 1941. It was donated to the Commemorative Air Force in 1979. 56 | AOPA PILOT February 2013 flaps is to move the control stick fully left and rotate the crank until the flaps are extended as much as the right aileron is deflected downward. Such “matching” is not recommended when airborne. Takeoff is made with full throttle using 36 inches of supercharged manifold pressure and 2,250 rpm. The takeoff is noisy for bystanders because the propeller tips exceed the speed of sound. The BT leaves the ground at 70 mph and climbs best at 90. Once established in the climb, pull the throttle back about an inch. Then pull the propeller-pitch control fully aft. The airplane has a twoposition propeller, not a constant-speed propeller. It can be set only to a low pitch of 12.5 degrees (for takeoff ) or a high pitch of 18 degrees (for climb and cruise). There are no intermediate positions. It was easy (for me, anyway) to inadvertently grab the mixture control and try