The Yellow and the Blue
A pair of Stearman PT-17 Kaydet primary trainers. Flight training in the U.S. military starting in the 1930s would begin with ground school and then proceed to primary flight training, basic training, and advanced training in that order. Both the army and the navy used similar aircraft at each step along the way.
The navy's primary trainers were painted like the one with the yellow fuselage, and the trainers used by the army looked like the one with the blue fuselage. The yellow wings announced to all the world that the planes had student drivers on board, so other pilots/planes should try to keep clear.
The Yellow and the Blue
A pair of Stearman PT-17 Kaydet primary trainers. Flight training in the U.S. military starting in the 1930s would begin with ground school and then proceed to primary flight training, basic training, and advanced training in that order. Both the army and the navy used similar aircraft at each step along the way.
The navy's primary trainers were painted like the one with the yellow fuselage, and the trainers used by the army looked like the one with the blue fuselage. The yellow wings announced to all the world that the planes had student drivers on board, so other pilots/planes should try to keep clear.