November 19, 2020 Women Helped Build Planes For Stinson. When I sat down at my desk a few minutes ago – which appropriately enough for today’s monolog is a converted 1940’s vintage mahogany sewing table – I didn’t have the slightest clue what I was going to write about. But, owing to the prodigious amount…
Category: Jim’s Blog
Jim Gray’s history blog about the Stinson L-5 Sentinel, aka “Flying Jeep”
L-5 History Blog #13
October 30, 1941 Procurement of Stinson Model 76 recommended. On October 30, 1941 the Experimental Engineering Section at Wright Field published its report on the new Stinson Model 76 airplane that had been test flown during August and September by observation squadrons located at Forts Sill, Knox, Bliss, and Benning. Their confidential report XPM-M-50-604 concluded…
L-5 History Blog #12
October 25th, 1944 The first Kamikaze attack of WWII. A somber subject for a somber evening here in Juneau, Alaska as I watch an early season light snow develop into a blizzard. Lately, I’ve been researching Marine Corps VMO (Observation Squadron) history and was reminded that two OY-1’s were lost in a Kamikaze attack that sank…
L-5 History Blog #11
May 8, 1945 V-E Day and L-5’s in the ETO. In most places, we celebrate May 8th as Victory in Europe (V-E) day, although in Russia and a few other countries they hold the remembrance on May 9th, which is when many of you will have read this. The official capitulation of Germany occurred on…
L-5 History Blog #9
March 30, 1945 An L-5 Detective Story. Yesterday, on Gerry Asher’s Liaision Aircraft History and Preservation website there appeared a series of pictures of a wrecked L-5 ambulance airplane copied from that well-known internet auction site. No visible tail numbers, unit markings or other identifying features — just the vague information that the location might…