Warbird Information Exchange

Pretty new to the site. Just thought I would post up info on my L 4 J.

I purchased this aircraft in August. It was restored in 2009 and early 2010 and was then flown to OSH and received judges choice Liaison. I am including a picture of the aircraft. It was restored with info on it's history from a historian as 45-54939 and was painted as such but after digging I found out it was actually 45-55209.

Here is the info on the A/C. I was able to obtain the report of major accident and all the associated paperwork.

Civilian N 1432 V first recorded in March 1952 having been turned over from the USAF to the Maryland wing of the CAP. They converted it into a J 3. It has been flown almost 7000 hours TT

Military 45-55209 Manu. date August 2, 1945 Roll out date August 3, 1945

On 8/13/45 it was turned over to 2nd Lt. William B. Harris to be ferried to Romulus AAF. Well that didnt happen. That day it left Cubhaven and was refueled in Altoona, PA again in Cumberland, Md and then was enroute to Elkins WV when the aircraft experienced carb ice, the pilot failed to use carb heat properly and he decided to land in a field in Glady WV where the a/c promptly flipped over. And so with grand total of one day of flight and 4 hours and 35 minutes TT the aircraft crashed.

The only other records I have is that it was moved to Bolling AAF in DC and on 8/21 Romulus sent the delivery paperwork to Bolling. After that I have nothing until it was turned over to the CAP in 1952 other than I assume it remained at Bolling since that is where the CAP took delivery and it was listed as having 1064 hours and 65 SMOH at the time it was civilian registered.

I have already put 50 hours on her. She is based at Suffolk Airport in Virginia. Hopefully next spring I can get her out to a few airshows. Other than the metal prop she is basically as she left the factory in 1945.

Well here she is.

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Flying Piper L4-J 45-55209

Great looking plane.

aeroeng

Hi, Russ,

Truly a great looking L-4!

I own L-4A Sn. 10371, 43-07080, delivered 5-28-43, with just over 3,700 hours on it.

I can heartily recommend a wooden prop. Wood has some real advantages over metal. First and most importantly, it's correct for the A/C. A wooden prop will last virtually forever. requiring minimal additional annual maintenance. If you should ever have a prop ground strike, the prop will shatter before the crank shaft can be damaged, so you don't have to disassemble your engine to check the crank's run out. Wood absorbs all engine vibration, so power is delivered with turbine smoothness. Lastly, it's classy and looks just right. It's like flying along behind a fine piece of furniture. When the sun is just right, all you can see is a shimmering brass colored disc out front. Magical!

The original prop was a Sensenich W72 CK 42. I use a 44, as I get slightly better performance at cruise with it, about 5 mph indicated. Sensenich makes both models today, correct down to the green reinforcing fabric paint.

I've owned the L-4 since 1996. I took it apart in 1998 to correct the paint scheme only. This, of course, lead to what amounted to a major two-year restoration!

Linked below is a photo of 43-29080. That's me in the hangar, sitting in a '43 MB jeep, Sn. 236426, delivered 5-20-43, eight days before the L-4. The jeep "lives" under the wing of the L-4, where it can exchange war stories. Neither ever left the states, the L-4 spending it's wartime years at Ft. Polk, LA. I'm owner #7.



http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/023044.html

Good looking airplane Russ!

Here are a couple more shots of 43-07080. The Cub really is a magnificent bird.

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Had God intended for man to fly behind inline engines, Pratt & Whitney would have made them.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

She is a beauty Russ.., how about some more shots? We'd love to see more of her.

best,

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S.

Thanks for the compliments. I will work on more pictures this weekend. Been so busy flying her I never really took any. The one I posted was actually someone elses from OSH.

I am seriously leaning towards going with a wood prop. Same reason listed and it just looks right.

Oh and I have racked up one aerial kill since I bought her. I " shot down " a turkey buzzard one evening right before sunset. So I now have a nice ding in the right leading edge to work out this winter. I am trying to find a buzzard stencil so I can post up my kill on the cockpit. 4 more and I am an ace!

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Flying Piper L4-J 45-55209

Ok I did have a couple low quality pics

Cockpit. I now have the Kollsman C 12 Alt. reinstalled but am still looking for the correct airspeed indicator.



And just another side view



Normandy beach ? Naa! Virginia Beach. This was interesting because when I took off to fly out to the beach I taxied out behind the Fighter Factorys B 25 and took off right behind him. Then on the way out the B 25 passed me heading back after a flyover at the Va Beach airport. And as I flew down the beach they had a P 51 out flying over the field which I could see from about 4 miles away. Made me feel I had gone back in time for a bit.

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Flying Piper L4-J 45-55209

Welcome again to the wonderful world of L-4 ownership.

I was able to find an unused 1943 dated Airpath B-16 compass. It has a brass US Army data plate with serial number. These are correct for your aircraft and are significantly smaller, lighter, and easier to read than the standard big, clunky USAAF B-16. Can't tell what you currently have, but you might keep an eye out for one of these.

The airspeed indicator in my L-4 has the proper face markings, but it is not dated. It does have AC (Allis-Chalmers) on the face, so I know it's old, but I just can't tell how old. I've left it in place as it looks right and works fine. I've painted yellow and red marks on the glass at the caution range and "do not exceed" needle positions. The only thing on the panel thus not correct and period is the tach with Hobbs meter, but that comes in pretty handy and saves much logbook paperwork.

Rebuilt the standard Goodyear brakes just last year with NOS drums and pads, both very difficult to find. Figure brakes will be good for another 10 years or so, now. New brake dust shields came from Univair, who makes very high quality FAA/PMA Cub parts, should you need them. Wag Aero's offerings are not generally FAA approved, are pretty poorly made in comparison, and are not generally compatible with original Piper parts. Univair's are.

I'd pass along my observations about any vices that the airplane has at this point, but it has none!

Happy flying!

Wow sounds like you got lucky on the turkey buzzard. When I worked for a banner town outfit in S.fla we had one of our J-5's hit one on final, it flattened a 3ft section of the leading edge right to the spar!!

Good lookin cubs boys!! 2 questions.
Anyone making expander tubes for the brakes?
Is their a AD againsed the vertical filter air box???? That is another comon look to the L-4 and you just dont see them installed.

Jeff the N3N owner but a big fan of the L-4!!!!

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Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

No AD's on the airbox but they are hard to find. The vertical airbox and the reel antenna are little touches that make L-4s stand out from the J-3's.

Perfect scheme, you have a great taste.

I am going to start hunting parts for the reel, bracket and BC 659 radio. I was looking for a J 3 and when I saw this L 4 I knew I had to have it. As for the brakes no one makes the expander tubes now that I am aware of. Some guy had a NOS set on E Bay for 1600 bucks. Mine were serviceable and do what they need to do. Hold me for run up.

Looking at the info from manufacture the AC came with an antenna bracket " per ECO #907 " so I am going to find one or a drawing somewhere.

As for the buzzard I was lucky. He flew into me when I was on final just getting ready to flare. Hit between two ribs and glanced off the top of the leading edge so not a lot of damage.

My dad was a C 46 pilot in China during in 44/45. I just wish he was alive to see this thing. He would get a kick out of it. When he was station officer in Luliang they had an L 5 based there that he would always talk about wanting to fly it.

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Flying Piper L4-J 45-55209

great looking aircraft, thanks for posting the pics!

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documenting restored B-17s and those undergoing restoration to flight:

I used to own a reel assy and the old RCA radios. Sold the reel on ebay about 2 yrs ago. I always liked the L-4's that had the jeep radios installed, that big antenna looks cool sticking out of the greenhouse!!

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Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

It is really too bad that nobody makes expander tubes. Ive installed the clevelands on some cubs and for a stock J-3 it really is ALOT of brake!! Ive changed 2 gear legs because of cracks at the axle shaft welds.

Had one pilot put a J-5 up on its nose because of the clevelands. I had it after he flew it one weekend towing and she was due for a 100hr so we converted it. She went back on the line for the weekend and that saturday he flew it again and she went up on its nose. We had good reasons to convert them as most were 150hp and up. 100hr runs were interesting on one particular PA-18 that was 180 hp with stock brakes lets just say the static check was done with LOTS of room!!!

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Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005