Chapter 10

The wings were along side of the fuselage and the empennage (French for tail) and other parts were in the fuselage (French for body.) Thank god the wings are wings. The L-4's came in several flavors: trainer, spotter, single seat, general's taxi, stretcher carrier (ambulance ... not a stock flavor), rocket shooter (bazookas mounted on the struts.), fighter (it is to laugh), and prisoner capturer.

Assembly was straight forward. Two men and a Jeep could do it. A pair of healthy seventeen year olds had no problem. It was easier and took less time than a balsa model ... when it was built, the aircraft was pre assembled at the factory and tested and then broken down in as few pieces as possible and shipped. In England, they were assembled in snow covered fields, in the rain, in the mud ... they flew.

Our crates were trainer ... two rudimentary seats and controls. Actually ... everything about the L-4 was plain Jane. Compass, throttle, choke, altitude, horizon (also bank and turn indicator.) The brakes sucked ... which was alright ... you could ground loop on a dime. You could fly backwards in a reasonable breeze. They weren't a delight to fly, but if you could keep it in the air anything else the Army threw at you was simple. Turns required pedal, stick, throttle and body english. Lean just so and you could force it around tightly, (as a Bf-109 fighter pilot found out ... to the detriment of the Messerschmidt.)

As we discovered, the tail came up quickly ... with a minimum of ESS turns on the runway, dirt road, plowed field ... wherever. They were slow enough to shoot down with a KAR98 and fast enough to make it a sporting event.

I soloed in one day ... but it was a full eight hours. Up ... down ... gas ... up ... down ... gas ... Headwinds, tailwinds, crosswinds, grass strips, farmers fields ... landing on pavement ... flew out to Lake Michigan and landed on the beach. Anything someone else had done with a Cub, we learned. Even the pole, swivel and rope takeoff. That was fun.

Using a cut-off telephone pole with a ball bearing swivel on top, we had a rope the pilot held on to and taxied around the pole until the speed was fast enough to get the wheels off the ground ... let go the rope and fly off ... whee!!! Slingshot!!!

I bought a set of floats and we practiced water landings and takeoffs. By the end of the week we had 36 hours in and we would pick up the rest Saturday.

The check ride came on Monday. Harold couldn't give us the final ... it had to be done by an FAA examiner. I thought we were going to have problems with the L-4's, but they had exactly the same hours we had.

"These planes were built in 1945 ... where's the rest of the paperwork?" he asked.

Harold came to the rescue, "They've been hanging from the rafters since they were new. They were trucked in their original crates to Lansing from Selfridge and never assembled."

"Proving that's going to be up to you. I can't certify them until you do."

"That's easy ... come on in the hangar."

There was one crate still hanging and the open crates over against the wall. The crates had the same stenciled numbers as the planes The truck and trailer were parked on the back wall. The license plates were original from 1946 ... the registration was still in the cab.

"The students grandfather paid for the storage ... since he left the truck and trailer ... we stored them, too." Mr. Franklin said.

"Ok ... I'll sign ... wait ... who did the assembly?"

"They did ... they used the Army manual and I watched every nut and bolt. These planes are factory new." Harold grinned, "The kids have a closet full of new spare parts ... complete wings, tires, and two new Continental 65's ... still in the crate. The original Army bill of sale is here somewhere." Harold started going through the files ... he was thorough. "Oh, wait a minute ... it's in a box with the spare parts."