Lonnie Ortega Aviation Art

Print Size 8½" x 11" ~ Unlimited print edition

The Ryan PT-22 Recruit, the main military version of the Ryan ST, is a military trainer aircraft that was used by the United States Army Air Corps during WWII for primary pilot training.

The PT-22's fuselage is a simple monocoque structure, with .032 stressed 24ST alclad skin, and nine aluminum alloy bulkheads. The wings feature spruce spars, aluminum alloy ribs, steel compression members, with aircraft fabric covering aft to the trailing edge and aluminum alloy sheet covering from the leading edge to the spar. The wings have 4° 10' of sweep back, 3° of incidence and 4° 30' dihedral.

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-sump 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.

According to Cassagneres, "The main landing gear, in fact, was the most noticeable external change from the STA in that the wheels were mounted outboard of the shock struts rather than the fork type of the earlier STs and STMs. Therefore the distance between the wheel centers was increased by a full 12 inches. The new gear was known as the 'knuckle-type' mounting." The tailwheel was steerable up to 45 degrees when it became full swivel. All main and tail landing gear used oleo struts. Each cockpit included an airspeed indicator, altimeter, oil temperature and pressure gauges, tachometer and compass. Rate of climb indicator, turn and bank indicator, and clock were optional.

In order to simplify maintenance, the wheel spats and landing gear fairings were deleted in the production examples