So, a few questions. But, some background.
Many years ago, a very close family friend passed away who had served with the 344th Bomb Group in World War 2. He was with them from '45-'46, with the Army of Occupation. During this time, he had use of the Group's 1945 L-4J. Thankfully, I have all of his photo albums, and there are numerous pictures of the L-4J. Its great....344th bomb group markings, nose art for his wife, etc. Since I was a kid, I have always wanted to find this plane. Pursuing that, I tracked it via all of the records (I had all the plane's serial numbers, etc...via NASM, Clyde Smith, etc...thanks to those photos!), and then traced the plane through to Holland, where it was a school plane (I actually came in contact with someone who flew the plane and had pics of it while in Holland), but the plane was written off in a crash in the 60s (I even have pics of the wreck....so far from a write-off by today's standards!) All subsequent efforts to find the dataplate, or anything have come to naught. The plane is gone. So, questions:
What about doing an experimental cub....but fully accurate. Is there anyone out there who can weld up a SPOT-ON L-4J fuselage? Is the modified univair the best way?
What would be the big challenges here, aside from the cost (we all are aware of that) of doing an exact L-4 replica?
Thanks all!
Pete
Many years ago, a very close family friend passed away who had served with the 344th Bomb Group in World War 2. He was with them from '45-'46, with the Army of Occupation. During this time, he had use of the Group's 1945 L-4J. Thankfully, I have all of his photo albums, and there are numerous pictures of the L-4J. Its great....344th bomb group markings, nose art for his wife, etc. Since I was a kid, I have always wanted to find this plane. Pursuing that, I tracked it via all of the records (I had all the plane's serial numbers, etc...via NASM, Clyde Smith, etc...thanks to those photos!), and then traced the plane through to Holland, where it was a school plane (I actually came in contact with someone who flew the plane and had pics of it while in Holland), but the plane was written off in a crash in the 60s (I even have pics of the wreck....so far from a write-off by today's standards!) All subsequent efforts to find the dataplate, or anything have come to naught. The plane is gone. So, questions:
What about doing an experimental cub....but fully accurate. Is there anyone out there who can weld up a SPOT-ON L-4J fuselage? Is the modified univair the best way?
What would be the big challenges here, aside from the cost (we all are aware of that) of doing an exact L-4 replica?
Thanks all!
Pete
