Warbird Information Exchange

As the title says, where is the L-5's data plate? We have a bird that was once from the Pittsburgh Chapter of the CAF that was used for a parts plane for their other aircraft and I'm trying to determine if we have a data plate or not.

I know with our '46 Funk Model B, the serial number is engraved in the tubing of the fuselage, so it does not have a "plate". Is the L-5 like that as well?

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Tyler Pinkerton
Active Member of Air Heritage Inc. of Beaver Falls, PA.
Aircraft: C47B, C-123K, Fairchild F-24, Funk Model B, L-21B, T-28B, T-34B
Static: F-4C Phantom II, F-15A, T-3 Provost

The dataplate is on the right fuselage root rib if I remember correctly. Mine's in storage so I can't run look. The fuselage has a construction number stamped into the forward left gear mount I believe. It's been a lot of years since I looked at mine. As of now, there is not a known correlation between construction numbers on the fuslage and the assigned serial number.

What model is the one you are working on?

Honestly, I have no clue as I am not that familiar with Stinsons and It's always been in storage since I have been a member, and it was never worked on by us. The CAF branch did a lot of damage to it and it will pretty much be a complete ground up restoration including replacing a lot of the metal tubing.

However, it came with two sets of wings and all the major structures.

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Tyler Pinkerton
Active Member of Air Heritage Inc. of Beaver Falls, PA.
Aircraft: C47B, C-123K, Fairchild F-24, Funk Model B, L-21B, T-28B, T-34B
Static: F-4C Phantom II, F-15A, T-3 Provost

Tyler: A couple of quick clues...Look at the front carrythru for the wings. If there is a triangle shaped mount with a vertical tube welded onto it, it's a E, G or OY-2, and it's for the droop crank. Now look the firewall and see if it has a dish in it, fairly high centered above the rudder pedals. If so, then an E-1, a G or OY-2. If I remember correctly, the dish for an E-1, will be screwed on, while the others will have it riveted on.

That ought to get you closer to what it is.

The AAF plate is on the right match rib facing the inside of the cockpit. The Stinson data plate is on the boot cowl, inside the fuselage, about where your left knee goes. It is a bigger version of the component parts, and will have 76-33000 stamped on it plus a four digit number which is the aircraft's serial number.

The C/N on the MLG boss does have a rough correspondence with serial numbers except with the G models. But it is not exact and varies through production. Jim Gray of the Sentinel Owner's and Pilot's Association (SOPA) has a database of this information.

If you are working on the L-5, you need to join the SOPA, at www.sentinelclub.org. It's cheap and will give you access to a wealth of L-5 information not easily found without heavy research.

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