Skip to main content

Aircraft model

BOEING A75L300

Everything here is true of every aircraft of the type, not of any one aircraft.

The A75L300 is a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 with the 300 hp Lycoming crop-dusting conversion, which is the most powerful engine commonly fitted to the type. All the Model 75s share one airframe -- the 32 ft 2 in staggered biplane wings, the steel tube fuselage and the two open cockpits -- and what distinguishes the designations is almost entirely which engine is bolted to the front of it. It is slow, it burns a lot of fuel to go nowhere, and none of that is the point.

Ownership is radial-engine ownership plus fabric. The engine will want a top overhaul before it wants an overhaul, it will leak oil onto the aeroplane and the pilot, and the shops that know these engines are getting fewer every year. The airframe is steel tube and wood spars under fabric: the recover is the big periodic bill and the wood is what a pre-purchase inspection is really for. A very large proportion of the fleet spent decades as crop dusters and was rebuilt from the ground up afterwards, so the logbooks matter more than the calendar age.

Compare with…

Put BOEING A75L300 side by side with up to two other models.

  • BOEING A75L300

Open BOEING A75L300 in Compare

What it is

Seats2
Landing geartaildragger
Engines1
EngineLycoming R-680 (radial), 300 hp conversion
Horsepower300 hp
Fuel100LL
Certification basismilitary-surplus
Production start1940
Production end1945
Endorsements requiredhigh-performance;tailwheel

Performance

Cruise speed91 KTAS
Range430 nm
Service ceiling12,400 ft
Climb rate1,145 ft/min
Stall speed (Vso)47 KCAS
Takeoff over 50 ft—
Landing over 50 ft—

Load and fuel

Seats2
Useful load721 lb
Full-fuel payload445 lb
Max takeoff weight2,717 lb
Empty weight1,996 lb
Usable fuel46 gal
Fuel burn at cruise16.8 gal/h

Cost of ownership

Price, low$85,000
Price, high$175,000
Prices as of2026
Engine TBO1,000 h
Overhaul cost, low$52,000
Overhaul cost, high$88,000

The fleet and its record

Registered, all time66
Active fleet33
Median year built1942.0
NTSB events, last 10 years2
Fatal events, last 10 years0
Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years60.61 · thin base (low)1
Personal-flying events per 1,000 active60.61 · thin base (low)2
Ownership transfers, last 24 months6
Transfers per 100 active18.18 · thin base (low)3
Airworthiness directives0
Directives, last 5 years0
Rate confidencelow
  1. Events per 1,000 active, last 10 years: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 33 active.
  2. Personal-flying events per 1,000 active: per 1,000 active aircraft · base 33 active.
  3. Transfers per 100 active: per 100 active aircraft · base 33 active.

Peer scores6

Peer classFixed wing single-engine, piston, 1 engine, 1-2 seats
Accident record—1
Severity—2
Access—3
Support3.4 of 104
Liquidity4.1 of 105
  1. Accident record: class median 25 · 181 models in class.
  2. Severity: class median 5.
  3. Access: class median 987.
  4. Support: class median 72.
  5. Liquidity: class median 20.59.
  6. Each of the five categories places the model within its peer class, from 0 (the worst of the class) to 10 (the best): a position among comparable models, not a grade. The overall score is the sum of the categories shown that are scored, out of 10 for each (50 when all five are); it is given only when at least 4 of the five are scored, and it can be set against another model's only when both are in the same peer class and scored on the same categories.