WWII Instructor Rebuilding Flying Machine

Just like the one he used to teach pilots

By Gerald Lush
Hardin County Magazine

John Raptis with his World War II era Stearman PT-18 (Gerald Lush)John Raptis drives to the Elizabethtown airport almost every day - not to fly, but to work on the airplane that he will pilot.

Raptis, who will turn 90 in January, is rebuilding a Stearman PT-18, a biplane used in World War II as a military trainer. Based at Morton Air Academy, Blythe, Calif., Raptis used similar airplanes to teach Army Air Corps pilots to fly during the war.

After the war, the planes were declared surplus by the military and were sold, many of them ending up as agricultural crop dusters.

Raptis said the plane was built about 1941 by Boeing, and was used as a primary flight trainer for cadets first learning to fly during the war. Raptis said crop dusters bought the planes primarily because of the two wings, which helped the aircraft carry a heavy load. Also, because the wings were shorter than most airplanes, the Stearmans could make steep, short turns close to the ground while making a pass over a field.

Raptis purchased the plane in California, but it had a lot of missing pieces, which he has replaced one at a time.

“I didn’t even have wings for it,” he said.

The refurbished Jacobs engine Raptis has installed in the plane has more horsepower than the original.

Raptis’ Stearman PT-18 during the renovation. (Gerald Lush)Raptis has been working on the project for about 10 years. About three years ago, he moved the plane, and a hangar full of parts, from California to Elizabethtown. Although he lives in Louisville, he said the airport is a one-hour convenient drive from his home and it’s not easy to find a vacant hangar in Louisville. He said the staff at the Elizabethtown airport has been very helpful and accommodating as he has worked to piece together the vintage aircraft.

Raptis admits that rebuilding an airplane is a daunting task, and not one to be tackled by novices. The size and complexity of the project doesn’t phase him, however, because he began working on airplanes over 70 years ago, beginning in high school in Chicago.

After high school, he moved to Oxnard, Calif., where he worked on Stearmans.

Next, he taught pilots at Blyhthe on the Stearman and Ryan PT-22.

After the war, Raptis worked in Long Beach, Calif., in a civil service job as an aircraft mechanic. After two or three years, he was hired by American Airlines as a mechanic.

“After about five years, I heard that American Airlines was taking us mechanics as flight engineers,” said Raptis. He applied, was accepted and was sent to LaGuardia Field, New York, to learn about flight engineering. Afterwards, he started flying as the flight engineer on the DC-6, DC-7, 707, 747, and the DC-10 until he retired after 31 years with American.

After he retired, he did some work as a flight instructor around Chicago, and then moved to California because of the winter weather. He continued to work as a flight instructor out west. About three years ago, his daughter who lives in Louisville, talked him into moving to Kentucky.

Although rebuilding the old Stearman is much like the work he did during many of the years before he retired, Raptis said it is an enjoyable hobby for him.

“I’m just one of those guys who liked what he was doing, and I’ve stuck with it to this day,” he said.

Raptis admitted that his wife is not as enthusiastic about his hobby as he is.

“She doesn’t like it,” he said with a laugh. “She gave me a hard time about it for quite a while, but little by little she just rolled with the waves.”

Nevertheless, he said Mrs. Raptis won’t be a passenger in the second seat when he takes to plane into the sky. In fact, she’s only flown with him one time.

Raptis also has a Cessna 170-B at the airport which he flies, but said he will probably sell that plane once his Stearman is complete.

“I’ll sell the Cessna. I can’t afford two airplanes,” he said.

He believes the Stearman will be finished in 2010.

Raptis, who looks much younger than his age, believes his hobby helps to keep him mentally and physically fit.

He added that some of the parts in the hangar are from a 1929 Travel Air 4000 biplane that he plans to rebuild as soon as finishes the Stearman.

“As long as you keep yourself busy, you will live longer,” he said.