Plane #2 - Navy N3N.

Of course it is an N3N, as it states on the tail (vertical fin.) The Navy had an aircraft factory up in Jersey I believe. It was the Navy's Primary Trainer prior to and during WW2. Your Mother took primary flight training in a similar biplane called a Stearman PT 17. The N3N was heavier as it was designed to also use floats. It (seaplane version) had a large float under the fuselage and two small floats below the lower wing. It was different in construction because it was a navy built plane. (just kidding) . But instead of using traditional round tubing it (the fuselage) was built with angle shaped material. It was incredibly strong. And it was a little heavy. At the Pensacola Naval Training Base it was called the 'yellow peril' Slim, after the war, used to rebuild them into dusters and sprayers. But not many, as everyone wanted the Stearman because it was much lighter. I do not believe it had any control cables, but used all push-pull rods. There was hardly any friction to the controls as they had no cable/pulley drag. It was a very rugged plane . .

** Basically Navy models were identified by a combination of letters and numbers. In this case the first N stood for the type. The 3 stood for the model and last N stood for the manufacturer. For example a well know WW11 Navy patrol bomber was a PBY which meant it was a Patrol Bomber made by Consolidated Aircraft Company. Successive models were called PBY1 and so forth. A PBY5 was an amphibian with a retractable gear. With the gear retracted it could land on water. Shortly after the war ended I was at Rabat French Morocco at a US Navy Base which included a squadron of PBY's I swapped a Navy Crew Chief in a PBY crew a ride in the PBY for a ride in a B17. But never got to see a water landing.