The Stearman market this morning
What does a used Stearman ask right now?
With 7 for sale this morning, the Boeing Stearman is the 52nd most-listed piston type on Barnstormers. 3 were listed in the last 30 days and 11 came down, about the same churn as the rest of the class. 2 of them are in MI.
Asking prices run from $17,500 to $128,000, and half of the 5 priced listings sit between $25,000 and $125,000. The median is $52,500, 49% below the piston singles median of $102,249.
2 sellers cut price in the last 30 days, 29% of the live fleet against 27% across every type we track; the average cut took 11% off the ask.
Set against every other type, the Stearman also appears in our note on which models get their price cut most often, with the sample behind each figure.
Written from this morning's figures and how they compare with the other types on the site. It changes as the market does.
Asking price distribution
Asking prices as typed by the seller. "Call" and "make offer" are counted as unpriced.
Median asking by decade
| Built | Seen | Median ask | Cut rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 1 | $125,000 | 100% |
| 1940s | 4 | $122,500 | 0% |
Year is read from the seller's title, so 81% of Stearman listings don't have one. They count everywhere else on this page but not in this table.
Be first to the next Stearman that lists or drops
One Telegram message the morning a Stearman appears in your budget, and another the day a seller cuts, with days listed and where the ask sits against these 7. Free during beta.
Buyer's notes
About the Boeing Stearman
What it is
The Stearman is the Boeing-Stearman Model 75, the two-seat open-cockpit biplane that trained most American military pilots of the Second World War as the Army PT-13 and PT-17 and the Navy N2S. Boeing built well over eight thousand of them at Wichita through 1945. It is a welded steel-tube fuselage, wood wing spars and ribs, fabric everywhere, and a seven-cylinder radial on the nose: a 220 hp Continental W670 on the PT-17 and the N2S-1, -3 and -4, or a 225 hp Lycoming R-680 on the PT-13 and the N2S-2 and N2S-5.
Thousands were sold surplus after the war for crop dusting, which is why so many now carry a 450 hp Pratt & Whitney R-985 and a big prop. The Stearman is heavy on the controls, slow, and famous for ground looping if you stop flying it before it stops rolling.
Variants that matter for price
Sellers write PT-17, PT-13, N2S-3, N2S-5, "450 Stearman" and "220 Stearman," and the engine matters more than the military designation. A stock 220 hp W670 airplane in military colors is the traditional buy; the parts are around and the fuel burn is manageable. A 450 hp R-985 conversion with the heavier gear, the bigger tail and the fuel to feed it flies like a different airplane, and buyers who want aerobatics or a passenger out of a short grass strip pay for it. The restoration quality and the paperwork behind it matter as much as the variant: a documented ground-up rebuild with new spars, new fabric and an overhauled engine is what the top asks are built on.
What buyers check
Wood first. The spars and ribs are spruce and the wings have had eighty years to get wet, so a buyer wants the inspection panels opened and the spars checked for cracks, rot and glue-line separation. Then the tubing: lower longerons, the tail post and the gear clusters rust from the inside on any airplane that spent decades in a field. Cotton covering is a rebuild waiting to happen; modern synthetics with a good inspection are fine.
On the engine, W670 and R-680 parts are available but overhaul shops are few, and an R-985 costs more to overhaul but has a much broader support base. The oleo struts should hold pressure, the tailwheel and brakes take abuse, and any Stearman with a groundloop or two in the logs deserves a hard look at the lower wing attach fittings and the gear. An annual usually finds fabric rejuvenation, a weeping strut, a mag, and something wooden.
Who it suits
The Stearman suits an owner who wants a big radial biplane to fly low and slow, teach a friend in, or take to a show, and who has a hangar and a shop that knows tube, wood and fabric. It is not transportation and it is not cheap to feed at 450 hp. The cross-shop is the Waco UPF-7, the Naval Aircraft Factory N3N, and a Travel Air or Great Lakes if the budget or the hangar is smaller.
How much does a used Boeing Stearman cost?
Asking prices on Barnstormers this morning run from $17,500 to $128,000, and the median is $52,500. The middle half of the 5 priced listings sit between $25,000 and $125,000. These are asking prices, not sale prices.
How many Boeing Stearmans are for sale right now?
7 on Barnstormers as of Oct 18, 2026. 3 were listed in the last 30 days and 11 came down. PlaneSnipe has tracked 26 since Jul 19, 2026.
How long does a Boeing Stearman take to sell?
Not enough Stearman listings have both appeared and closed yet to say. The survivor rate appears here once the cohort is large enough.
How often do Boeing Stearman sellers cut the price?
2 price cuts in the last 30 days against 7 live listings, averaging 11% off the previous ask. Cuts are logged when the asking price drops between two consecutive mornings.
Last 30 days
Which Stearman sellers cut their price in the last 30 days?
| Aircraft | Where | Listed | Asking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Category 450 StearmanOct 2 | IA | 83 d | $140,000$128,000−9% |
| Standard Category 450 StearmanSep 22 | IA | 83 d | $160,000$140,000−13% |
For sale now
Which Stearmans are for sale right now?
Newest first. Days listed is counted from the morning we first saw the ad; listings that predate Jul 19, 2026 show the day we started watching.
| Aircraft | Where | Listed | Cuts | Asking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 Boeing Stearman Airframe | MI | 9 d | – | $17,500 |
| Solid Boeing Stearman | MS | 19 d | – | $52,500 |
| Jones Restored Stearman | FL | 66 d | – | $125,000 |
| Standard Category 450 Stearman | IA | 83 d | 2 | $128,000 |
| Stearman Air Intake System | GA | 91 d | – | $500 |
| Stearman Tailfeathers | CA | 91 d | – | make offer |
| Complete Stearman Project | MI | 91 d | 1 | $25,000 |
Cross-shop
What else does a Stearman buyer look at?
Other Boeing types with a page here, then the same class at a similar asking price.
Geography and method
Where are the Stearmans, and how are they counted?
Where they are
How we count
Barnstormers piston categories are read once a day. A listing is "delisted" after it is missing on two consecutive mornings. Days listed starts the morning we first saw the ad, so listings that predate Jul 19, 2026 are excluded from time-on-market figures. Prices are asking prices as typed by the seller. Nothing here is an appraisal. Full methodology.