Researching Aircraft History one small piece at a time

[O-1Driver]

2134121342I have spent quite a bit of time the past several months piecing together the military history of my 1943 L-4B. I have the Piper records of manufacture where it was rolled out from the factory on 2/2/43 and the AAF Bill of Sale when they sold the aircraft to the first civilian owner 1/23/1945.

I just received a copy of the AAF aircraft card and the only state side entry it had on it was it's shipment to Camp Roberts, California and assignment to US Army Ground Forces on 2 March, 1943.

Part of the mystery surrounding the shipment to Camp Roberts is that Camp Roberts did not have an airfield until after WW II. The base was a training/staging center. The aircraft was not based at Camp Roberts but simply passed thru for further deployment.

It is going to take more research and digging to find out where it went from Camp Roberts and where it was between March of 1943 and January of 1945. Researching these old WW II aircraft is a large part of the fun of owning one.


EDIT: A friend sent me some additional information about new Field Artilllery Battalions that were activated at camp Roberts during 1943. The new Units were staffed and equipped while at Camp Roberts and then deployed. Each Field Artillery Battalion was equipped with six piper L-4 aircraft.
Steve21328

[Dave(Dangerous)Boynton]

That sounds great Steve, I think if your going to own an old wartime bird its part of having one that you know what it went through before it got in your hands, i would be the same. I think its a great idea although i'm guessing it'll be a lengthy one too.

Let us know how it goes mate and good luck.

Dave

[flyer01]

Pretty Cool Steve. What would be really cool is if you were able to talk to one of the AAF pilots that used the plane.
Stay after this and let us know.

flyer01

[swpierce]

You got me curious with your history, I was wondering if the L4 had been modified from the civilian version to break down easily for shipping and reassembly in the field. I came across this in Wikipedia which I found interesting (I think that I recall you mentioning this in a previous post):

In Europe, the final dogfight of WWII occurred between an L-4 and a German Fiesler Fi 156 Storch. The pilot and co-pilot of the L-4, Lts. Duane Francis and Bill Martin, opened fire on the Storch with their .45 caliber pistols, forcing the German air crew to land and surrender.

[O-1Driver]

Thanks Guys,

If you want to see raw combat footage of L-4s in WWII go to this link, there are four pages of videos including a Bazooka equipped L-4 and a L-4 directing artillery fire during the Battle for Monte Cassino.

http://www.criticalpast.com/products/search/?sort_by=&sort_order=asc&month=&day=&q=L-4

Steve