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Matt,
Short answer: for your plane, don’t add it. I’ll explain further on.
For all out there who might be wondering about PROJECT NUMBERS , they were assigned to various allocations of aircraft that went overseas. Here are a few examples: ten L-5’s were sent to the UK in November 1943 under Project 92327-R as replacements for L-4’s being used by the 153d Liaison Squadron, twelve L-5’s were sent to Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska for cold weather testing under Project 96325, and twenty L-5’s were diverted to the RAF in India in June 1944 under Project DIV-1048.
All foreign allocations like that had separate project numbers assigned to them, even single planes requisitioned for special purposes such as an L-5 operated by the U.S. Consulate in Venezuela (a cover for the OSS). Unfortunately, no master list of these numbers or their meanings has ever turned up and many warbird people have looked over the years. We don’t even know where to look for them except on the aircraft record cards themselves. I only know what they are for our L-5’s because I transcribed the records cards for all 3,590 airplanes and put that, and a lot of other information, into a large database. There probably isn’t anyone else on the planet mad enough to have done such a thing, but it’s all right here at my fingertips for instant reference.
Anyway, the L-5’s (and presumably other aircraft) delivered within the Continental United States are a different story. Throughout 1943 and most of 1944 the project number DOM2148 was allotted, no matter where in the country they were delivered. Hundreds of L-5 Individual Aircraft Record Cards (IARC’s) bear that number, including the record card for 42-98774. However, on many other cards no project number is listed. I assume the same number applies to them, but I can’t be certain. After November 1944 different numbers begin to appear but, again, they weren’t always listed on the record cards.
With all this said, we now get to the crux of the matter – what to stencil in the data block of your airplane? As I said at the beginning – nothing, not even the words “Project Number” without a code after it. Although I don’t have a lot of vintage photos showing the data blocks, for the 8 or 10 shots I do have of L-5’s that stayed in the U.S., not a one has a project number on the boot cowl, and they run the gamut from airplanes #2 and #3 right out of the factory to an L-5E near the end of the war.
It’s possible that some had DOM2148 in the data block, but I haven’t seen one with it. Gerry Asher would be a good person to ask since he also has a large collection of photos, but the bottom line is that you wouldn’t be wrong to leave it off.
Jim Gray
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Thanks for the info, it makes a lot of sense. I did see the DOM 2148 in the AF Records for the aircraft but since it did not follow the 5 digit format that was in a few period photos, I was not sure that was it. However, as you explained, it does not seem to appear on stateside aircraft so I will leave space for it but will leave the PROJECT number off.
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