Warbird Information Exchange

Sorry for the poor image but I am trying to pinpoint the different units this aircraft served with along with the locations and dates. If I am reading the card correctly the aircraft was assigned to the 109th Observation Squadron and sent to Camp Beauregard, LA. where it flew 230 hrs during November 1942 as part of the 1942 LA. Maneuvers. I would appreciate other interpretations of the card.

Quote WIkipedia
"Construction of the airport, originally called Camp Beauregard Army Field, for the United States Army Air Corps began in 1940. In the summer of 1940 and throughout 1941 the area was used for the Louisiana Maneuvers. The Air Corps used the airfield extensively during the maneuvers, with the 67th Observation Group stationing the 107th Observation Squadron at the airfield between 28 October 1940 and 14 December 1941. In addition, the 109th Observation Squadron used the airport from 27 February 1941 until 18 December 1942 flying light observation planes. End Quote"

December, 1942 the aircraft was assigned and flown from LA. to Mitchel Field, Long Island New York flight time 21 hours. The aircraft was then flown to Pope Army airfield in North Carolina in December and flew 112 hours. It logged 8 hours to Beauregard La. that same month and then returned to Pope where it logged an additional 141 hours.

The aircraft was then flown back to Mitchel Field, Long Island New York but the date shows yera 2 and month 1 and remained till year 2 and month 3 and flew a total of 130 hours.

The aircraft then returned to Pope year 2 month 3 and logged 181 hrs during this posting. The aircraft was then flown back to Mitchel that same month and logged an additional 240 hours, total time flown was 646 hours. An additional 392 hours were logged the following months at Mitchel bringing the total hours flown to 1038.

After Mitchel the plane was flown to McFarld where it flew and additional 1210 hours bringing the total to 2,248. Last date assigned MCfarld was year 3 month 11. The aircraft was then sent to Tinker.

The sequence dates don't make any sense and there is no mention of any other unit assignments during it's service life except for assignment to Pittsburg Kansas 6-5-42 but no unit change

In Summary it looks like this:
Date accepted 11/18/1941
Initial assignment Camp Beauregard

Pope Field 12-15-41

Mitchel Field 1-2-42

Pittsburg, Kansas 6-5-1942

Pittsburg, Kansas 3-18-43

The aircraft was eventually flow all the way to Washington State where it was sold as surplus to it's first civilian owner from Oregon.

Would appreciate an interpretation by more knowledgeable individuals.

Best Regards,
Steve

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My Dad was in the 109th at that time. The two squadrons, the 109th and 107th, were participating in the Louisiana manuevers at the time. both squadrons were assigned O-47A aircraft. I suspect this L-3 was a squadron hack.

Prior to WWII the AAF thought large heavy observation aircraft would be the best route to go and there were several designs like the O-47 that were large, powerful, they were great for pilot ego but they were not effective in the role they were designed for. Their weight, size and complexity made them unusable for close support of artillery and low close forward tactical observation. During the La. maneuvers you mentioned the Army learned that they needed very light aircraft that could land on roads and small, rough and soft fields and operate in close proximity to the units they were supporting. The Piper L-4 excelled at it and eventually went on to be the primary artillery fire direction combat aircraft with the Aeronca L-3 serving as a primary trainer, glider pilot trainer, and as limited use to train artillery pilots who would later on change over to the L-4 when sent over seas. A few L-3 aircraft served in Italy and the Pacific but they were not as god as the L-4 which was lighter and could fly slower.

The O-47 was too large to be effective as an Observation aircraft and too vulnerable and slow to serve in any combat role.

Quote" Training maneuvers in 1941 demonstrated the O-47's shortcomings. Lighter airplanes proved more capable of operating with ground troops, and fighters and twin-engine bombers showed greater ability to perform reconnaissance and photographic duties. Therefore, the Army relegated the O-47 to towing targets or to flying coastal and antisubmarine patrols."

I would bet however that your Dad really enjoyed flying them with the1,000 hp engine

The L-3C we are also restoring spent it's entire life as a primary instructional aircraft with Sooner but this L-3A appears to have had a different history and I am trying to find out what is was doing during its service.

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Steve: Are you sure that those flight hours don't have a missed decimal point? To put 240 hours on an a/c in a single month would require averaging 8 hours a day flight time for 30 days.... It's possible that they are correct, but if so, that would have left little time for maintenance and required inspections. I don't think my L-5 put more than 100 hours on in a month despite being in a training squadron. I'll have to find my copy of it's card up on it one of these days.

It appears to be 23.0 hours - not 230 hours. At the end of its first month (AGE column), it has 23.0 hours. Now add 2.1 hours at Mitchel, 11.2 hours at Pope, and .8 hours at Buregrd for a total of 14.1 hours and at the end of its 2nd month it had 37.1 hours TT. Add 3.5 hours at Mitchel and at the end of its 3rd month, it had 40.6 hours TT, and so on.

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The hours looked pretty high to me as well. The three column headers are :

This Month.................Since Last Depot Work.....................Since First Commissioned

How long would it take to fly an L-3 from La. to Long Island New York and then down to North Carolina. It sure covered a lot of ground.

Here is the logbook entry when brought over from Army Logs. I think the TT of 756 hrs is probably accurate. I initially thought the 756 was an error.

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I think you are correct, here is the card on my L-3C and it was a trainer with Sooner.

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I think you guys have helped me confirm the hours flown and would appreciate any further help you can provide on the locations other codes and why the aircraft was flying all over the country and for what reason. I have been trying to research the Army airfields at each location but the dates on the aircraft card are very confusing. I would like to pinpoint what the 109th was doing on those airfields on those dates.

Thanks again guys,

Steve

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Archie at Maxwell HRA is the card expert. I suspect you can contact him via their website.

http://www.afhra.af.mil/

'bout 2 hours to pull the wings, load it on flat car and tarp it up

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Hi Steve

You need to get Bob Mann’s "Aircraft Record Cards of the United States Air Force, How to Read the Codes”. Which is an understatement! As you can see they are like translating the Rosetta Stone.

Briefly both cards are on Air Materiel Command’s Format A.1. The line print-out at the top is the duplicate of a punch card of the monthly hours totals to date, note the date is in the fiscal year not the calendar year. The small typed notations are remarks that are cram in. All in all the AMC entries are fairly easy to read.

Then in December of 1942, the USAAF Statistical Control Units (SCU) assumed responsibility for the preparation and maintenance of the IARCs. Their system was on a gain/loss basis not hourly, one base reports a loss in inventory another base reports a gain in inventory.

This reporting has nothing to do with the columns on AMC formant but the duplicate of the punch card data which is different than the AMC data. As the SCUs received new mechanical computes, no electronic computers in those days, the line print-out changes. Both look like they have three line print-out types each of which have they own data style.

It is interesting that 43-1612 is transferred to the CAA for the controversial pre-flight training at the aircrew college training detachments.
I will give a try at translating the SCU entries but it will take some time.

All the best

Tom

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That is correct, the O-58A was not there for the 41 maneuvers, they used Aeronca YO-58 aircraft (defenders). That was a great thread with lots of excellent photos, thanks for the link. The 42 and 43 maneuvers were on a much smaller scale than the big show in 1941.

Steve

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Tom, thanks for the heads up on the Bob Mann's book, I will see if I can find a copy. Did the fiscal year run thru January with Feb. being month 1 ?

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.

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