New Guy checking aboard

[Daniel Hammer]

All,

Thanks for allowing me to join the group.  We have recently purchased a 1943 L-5, Stinson Serial 76-530, USAAF Ser # 42-98289.  This airplane is very original and we are looking forward to restoring her and flying her.  Of course she has been sitting idle since 1997, but the aircraft is complete.  The wings are original.  Original fabric from the factory. They will need a complete inspection of course, but they are amazingly in good shape.  The fuselage was recovered in 1996 in Dacron and tests fine.  The rest of the airplane is as is from the factory in 1943.  Tubular, seats, interior etc, all original.

We are very excited to be apart of this forum to learn and seek advice form the L-5 experts.  We want to preserve this piece of history the best possible way.  I am already very excited to see some of the magnificent restorations in progress here in the this forum.

We will also be interested to learn where parts and supplies can be located, so please forgive us if we ask a lot of questions on “Hey where can we find XXX..”

v/r

Daniel Hammer

L-5 42-98289

N49324

[Ed Soderblom]

Hi Daniel,

I’m only a couple of miles from where you are picking up the L-5.  (WN35) If you want to have a look at my ambulance L-5B stop by.  I currently have the left fuel tank pulled for repairs but it is a flying L-5.  Awesome to have you aboard! Ed Soderblom 360-380-7337.

[Charles Rooks]

Daniel-

Congratulations on the purchase of L-5 42-98289 and welcome to the L-5 forum.  There are many owners who have gone through a complete restoration and have a wealth of knowledge and are willing to share.  Seems like we purchase L-5’s not because they are easy to restore or maintain, but that L-5’s were part of the L-bird series and played an important part of WWII and to a lessor extent in Korea.

Couple of quick thoughts:

At a minimum, get copies of the various L-5 manuals, specifically these:

T.O. 01-50DB-1, -2, -3, -4, -6

AAF Manual 50-18, Pilot’s Training Manual

L-5 Pilot’s checklist

L-5 TCDS

Consider purchasing our fellow L-5 member Duncan Cameron’s OY Semper Fi, which document’s the complete restoration of his Iwo Jima veteran using many NOS parts.  Very detailed pdf booklet showing steps in the restoration along with comprehensive comments for the L-5 owner.

From our President, Jim Gray, purchase all the prior L-5 newsletters, probably in pdf form.  These were issued from 2002 – 2010 and contain both historical stories by veterans but have lots of maintenance and restoration how to articles for the L-5.

What are your goals for the restoration?  Daily flyer?  Historically accurate as much as possible?  Brakes? Engine status? Is the wood glue casein or resorcinol?  Casein was used in the early L-5 series and will cause problems.

Would enjoy hearing about the civilian history of your aircraft and do show some photos.

Charles Rooks

L-5G,

C/N 4616

45-35031

 

 

 

[Daniel Hammer]

Ed, Einar told us about your airplane and we would thoroughly enjoy seeing it!!

r/Dan

(410) 231-1252

[Daniel Hammer]

ALCON,

Thank you for the warm welcome.  After talking with a few of you and Jim, I need to amend my post from above.  As with any restoration of aircraft you are always learning from the minute you get into the restoration until you decide to get rid of the project.  In our case we do not plan on getting rid of her for a long time to come.

I received the FAA documents on the aircraft and looked them over very carefully and found indeed our fuselage has been recovered in 1973 by the previous long time owner “Skeeter” Carlson of Spokane Washington.  I also have a alteration form dated July of 1946 stating the wings were recovered a few months after the airplane was sold from the War Assets Corporation to an Air Service in Spokane WA, who performed the recover.  So our cotton on our wings is not factory Vultee/Stinson but rather 1946 vintage, and our fuselage is ceconite.

The rest of the interior appears original with touch ups here and there, as one would expect, but the tubular has not been stripped, sandblasted and repainted since it left Stinson.  It appears all of the brackets and military furnishings attachments are also intact and have not been cut out of the tubular.  There are no civilian avionics modifications to the aircraft.  It appears the previous owner utilized a handheld, or no radio at all.  There is no transponder wiring present either.

The civilian history as far as I have discovered form the paperwork I have:

Serial # 76-530

USAAF # 42-98289

N # NC49324 (March 1946) / N49324 (March 1970)

Sold to Wallace Air Service by War Assets Corporation March 1946.

Sold to Pendleton Airways Inc. by Wallace Air Service August 1947.

Sold to Mr. Edwin “Skeeter” Carlson by Pendleton Airways Inc. January 1970.

Sold to Mr. Einar Ketilsson by Edwin “Skeeter” Carlson March 2013.

Sold to Valour For Veterans LLC by Einar Ketilsson November 2022.

That is the civilian history I have for the aircraft as of today.  Our intention is to restore this airplane as historically accurate as possible.  We have not begun to dig into her wartime past but I am sure I can find some help here in the forums for help on that.

We are finishing up a restoration of a 1942 Mitsubishi A6M3-32, so the L-5 Sentinel will have to share our time for awhile as we begin flight tests on the Zero.

Thank you all for the warm welcome and I look forward to learning as much as I can from you all.

r/Dan

[admin]

I have copies of the USAAF record cards for all the L-5s Dan. A quick rundown on 42-98289 is as follows: Aug 21, 1943: Accepted by USAAF (as on your data plate). Departed for Alachua AAF, Gainesville, FL on the 23rd. That was the location of the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics at that time. After almost a year of unreported activity, in Sept. and Oct. 1944 it is in Texas, bouncing back and forth between the 163d Liaison Squadron at Mineral Wells, TX and the 2619th Air Base Unit at Carswell AAF in Fort Worth. After the 163d leaves for overseas service (Okinawa). it is reassigned to the newly formed 360th Base Training School, Liaison, at Mineral Wells. In January 1945 it was sent to the 360th Base Maintenance Activity at Brownwood AAF, possibly for an engine change, and in April it got transferred to the 349th Base Maintenance Activity at Muskogee where it was prepared for storage.   On June 30, 1945, it was transferred to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) for disposal. In a nutshell, it spent 20 months in advanced liaison pilot training and field exercises, preparing pilots who had made it through primary and basic training for overseas assignments.

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