Hello all,
I thought this stuff may be of some interest here. I also thought that I could possibly find out some more information.
I guess I will start at the beginning. Growing up, my father had a very close friend and mentor, who became the same for me, and he is one of the big reasons for our life-long passions for aviation. This man served with the 344th Bomb Group in World War 2. My entire life, from childhood, on I was fascinated by his wartime service. As I got older I always asked more questions, and the only pictures he could find of "his" airplane, was of a Piper L-4 with his wife's name on the nose. I thought this was odd, a Cub in a B-26 unit. Anyhow, when he passed away, my father inheirited his estate, and of course, I found all of his photo albums. Turns out, he was a flight engineer on B-26's with the 344th. He arrived very late in the ETO, and had only a few missions before the war ended. He remained with the Group until late 1946, with the occupation forces. He flew prior to the war, but could not become a pilot because he was too old...in his early 30s! Anyhow, right after the war, the group got a handful of Piper L-4's, one of which quickly became "his," and he painted his wife's name on the nose..."Elynore" (I knew her too.) He flew the L-4 all over Germany it seems. Very strange, but I guess things were quite relaxed after the war, and even though he wasn't a rated pilot, nobody seemed to care that he flew this L-4 all the time. After he passed away and I got my hands on his photos, I came across alot of photos of this L-4 (as well as all the B-26's etc), and I scanned the loose ones, as the others were in the albums. I got very deep into L-4 research because of this plane. I ended up tracing it's history as best I could, and was quite lucky. After the war, the plane ended up going to Holland. I tracked a man down in Holland who learned to fly in the L-4 and he sent me photos of it from the late 40s-60s in Holland, including it's final crash. I desperately wanted to get my hands on the wreck, or parts of it, or the dataplane...but alas, I wasn't that lucky. SO, here are the raw details, then the photos.
Piper L-4J Piper s/n 13329, Army s/n 45-4589
Built: Feb. 15, 1945
(Fuselage s/n: 13159, Right Wing s/n 14565, Left Wing s/n 14647)
Exterior Paint Colors: Olive Drab and Grey
Shipped to ETO: March 24, 1945
Gained Back from Army Ground Forces: September 7, 1945 (prob went to 344th Bomb Group at this point)
Diverted to Holland, via FLC: April 30, 1947
Dutch Civil Registration: PH-UCP
You'll notice in the photos that this L-4, being a J, has the Beech-Roby prop, and also has the clear wingroot glass. It also had the "low drag" rear glass as well (I have a photo in an album of the plane on its nose where the one piece rear glass is very clearly visible.) You'll also note the white triangle on the tail: the 344th BG insignia.
I thought this stuff may be of some interest here. I also thought that I could possibly find out some more information.
I guess I will start at the beginning. Growing up, my father had a very close friend and mentor, who became the same for me, and he is one of the big reasons for our life-long passions for aviation. This man served with the 344th Bomb Group in World War 2. My entire life, from childhood, on I was fascinated by his wartime service. As I got older I always asked more questions, and the only pictures he could find of "his" airplane, was of a Piper L-4 with his wife's name on the nose. I thought this was odd, a Cub in a B-26 unit. Anyhow, when he passed away, my father inheirited his estate, and of course, I found all of his photo albums. Turns out, he was a flight engineer on B-26's with the 344th. He arrived very late in the ETO, and had only a few missions before the war ended. He remained with the Group until late 1946, with the occupation forces. He flew prior to the war, but could not become a pilot because he was too old...in his early 30s! Anyhow, right after the war, the group got a handful of Piper L-4's, one of which quickly became "his," and he painted his wife's name on the nose..."Elynore" (I knew her too.) He flew the L-4 all over Germany it seems. Very strange, but I guess things were quite relaxed after the war, and even though he wasn't a rated pilot, nobody seemed to care that he flew this L-4 all the time. After he passed away and I got my hands on his photos, I came across alot of photos of this L-4 (as well as all the B-26's etc), and I scanned the loose ones, as the others were in the albums. I got very deep into L-4 research because of this plane. I ended up tracing it's history as best I could, and was quite lucky. After the war, the plane ended up going to Holland. I tracked a man down in Holland who learned to fly in the L-4 and he sent me photos of it from the late 40s-60s in Holland, including it's final crash. I desperately wanted to get my hands on the wreck, or parts of it, or the dataplane...but alas, I wasn't that lucky. SO, here are the raw details, then the photos.
Piper L-4J Piper s/n 13329, Army s/n 45-4589
Built: Feb. 15, 1945
(Fuselage s/n: 13159, Right Wing s/n 14565, Left Wing s/n 14647)
Exterior Paint Colors: Olive Drab and Grey
Shipped to ETO: March 24, 1945
Gained Back from Army Ground Forces: September 7, 1945 (prob went to 344th Bomb Group at this point)
Diverted to Holland, via FLC: April 30, 1947
Dutch Civil Registration: PH-UCP
You'll notice in the photos that this L-4, being a J, has the Beech-Roby prop, and also has the clear wingroot glass. It also had the "low drag" rear glass as well (I have a photo in an album of the plane on its nose where the one piece rear glass is very clearly visible.) You'll also note the white triangle on the tail: the 344th BG insignia.
