Stinson L-1 / O-49 request

[RyanShort1]

From what I can tell, there are only two intact L-1s around these days - one at Weeks' place and one in Alaska. Do any fellow WIXers regularly go to those places and have a decent camera so I could get some good walkaround and interior photos?

Ryan

[Ztex]

Ryan,

I've got a few exterior photos from many years ago...

http://www.airport-data.com/photographers/Zane+Adams;1461/L-1;17304;1.html

[RyanShort1]

Ryan,

I've got a few exterior photos from many years ago...

http://www.airport-data.com/photographers/Zane+Adams;1461/L-1;17304;1.html

Yeah, I've already snagged those. That's our old ALS bird before it left. Wish it was still around and I'd take my own pictures.

Here's our old bird when it was still here in TX.



Ryan

[mike furline]

Weeks has 3 airframes. One that is semi-close to being done.
Not sure if the other 2 are complete or just used for parts.
Pics taken 5-12-09

[retroaviation]

Ryan, at 13 seconds into this little You Tube clip, you'll see one performing a pretty darn short takeoff for such a big ol' pig.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuE2cW8NMx8

Gary

[RyanShort1]

Wow! Thanks. I may have to ask for some more later if I can get the designer I'd like to commission to have one built. I just got a set of drawings in the mail today. Anyone have a lead on original plans or manuals (not just the 1/72 stuff I got today)?

Ryan

[RyanShort1]

Ryan, at 13 seconds into this little You Tube clip, you'll see one performing a pretty darn short takeoff for such a big ol' pig.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuE2cW8NMx8

Gary

You sure that's not a Stinson L-13?

Ryan

[retroaviation]

You sure that's not a Stinson L-13?

Ryan

No, I'm not sure.

Gary

[N3Njeff]

Wish I had a camera to take pics of kermit rotating throught the poles with his L-1 to pick up a banner in Hollywood Fla.................talk about a beast.

[John Kerr]

There is another L-1 on display at the Air Force Museum in Ohio

[bdk]

You sure that's not a Stinson L-13?

Yup, sho is! With a 985 replacing the stock Franklin.

[stetz]

There are actually seven surviving L-1's that we know of out of 352 that were produced. We have three aircraft in our collection which all saw service in Alaska during the war one at Adak in the Aleutians ! We recently sold the two spare aircraft as a project since there were not enough components to build two complete aircraft, we are rebuilding the wings for this project also. The other four aircraft belong to the Alaska Aviation Museum[ the only flyer] Air Force Museum, Army Aviation Museum [ dissassembled in storage] and Mr. Turner in England who has the remains of a project that used to belong to Charles Darby. As far as building a L-1 replica you couldn't have chosen a more difficult Liason aircraft to reproduce. What looks like a over grown L-4 is actually one of the most complicated and largest observation aircraft produced by the United States during this time frame. The wing design is straight forward but consists of a front spare with special extruded cabs which hold a wire that secures the fabric to the wing. The rear spar is a nightmare machined from a solid 23 foot long piece of aluminum which gets thinner from the butt of the wing to the tip. The wing also has slats composed of cast magnesium ribs with aluminum skin. The best part of the L-1 are the control surfaces,including the horizontal stabilizers and vertical fin, constructed out of .015 thin spot welded stainless steel ! These components were original constructed by Fleetwing Aircraft in Bristol Pa. This has been one of the most difficult projects I have been involved in consuming close to 10,000 man hours . You can obtain a full set of drawings from the Air and Space Museum archives which are helpful but maintenance manual is a joke and there is no illustrated parts book for the aircraft !

[RyanShort1]

Well, one of the surviving L-1s was originally restored by our group here (see photo above). One day we might be interested in having it or another back...

Any chance we could see restoration pictures?

Ryan

[Forgotten Field]

Stetz,
Ahh, Fleetwings! I always wondered where they got the stainless surfaces made, and it should have been obvious!