Stinson Firsts
Advertorial from Flying magazine, March 1945
AAF Combat Digest Features L-4 & L-5 – Video
Flying unarmed Piper L-4 Grasshopper, Stinson L-5 Sentinel and Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman light aircraft, the 159th Liaison Squadron flew courier and aerial reconnaissance missions and dropped munitions and supplies to American and Philippine forces fighting in the Battle of Luzon, and rescued many wounded soldiers. While the film is 20 minutes in length, the liaison…
Wing Talk – Grasshoppers
Collier’s for February 17, 1945Wing Talk, edited by Frederick R. Neely FROM Mrs. W. B. Mohney, Topeka, came the suggestion that “an article in your magazine on Grasshopper planes would be interesting—not the Grasshopper of the Air Corps, but of the Field Artillery. It is a very important part of the Army and most people…
Comparing the L-4 and L-5, WWII’s most commanding L-birds
January 20, 1945 – “In view of 12th Army Groups’ recommendation that two L-4s in the Arty Air Sections of Army, Corps, Brigade, Division and Group HQs be replaced by L-5s as the latter are received as replacements, the comparative information below should be of interest.” Advantages of the L-5 over the L-4 [true advantages…
Panzer vs. Cub
The fall of St. Lô In July of 1944, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel of the German Nazi forces, faced one of the greatest battlefield challenges of his Wehrmacht career. In spite of a large concentration of German tanks opposite Caen, the Allies were expanding their Normandy lodgment. Several armored counterattacks against the British Second Army…
Grasshopper Planes Used To Evacuate Wounded
Excerpted from Science News Letter for June 10, 1944. THE TINY grasshopper planes, or flying jeeps, are being used by the Army in the jungles of Burma for air ambulance work. Up to the present time these planes have been used mainly for reconnaissance work and directing artillery fire. This is the first time that…
Air OPs
Excerpted from The Field Artillery Journal, May 1944, By Maj. Edward A. Raymond, FA Organic air observation for artillery has come into its own after trial in Africa, Sicily, and Italy. The development of its use throughout the three campaigns is an interesting tale from the professional point of view, and it is a tale…
Combat Film Unit 1944: Grasshopper – Video
Sixth in a series of incentive films made “exclusively for the men and women of American industry,” this mid-1944 official US War Department film depicts the use of “pint-sized” planes in directing artillery fire. Beginning at the 09:35 mark, it shows the “Grasshopper” and features light aircraft used for observation and transportation. The roughly two-minute…
Lessons from the Italian Campaign
Excerpts from HQ North African Theater of Operations U.S. Army, 10 March 1944, by David G. Barr, BG Mountain Warfare The supply of isolated units by air was an innovation adopted in Italy because of necessity. Initially the dropping of supplies was undertaken by the use of A-36 combat planes [the ground-attack/dive bomber version of…
Grasshoppers
Excerpted from The Field Artillery Journal, September, 1943, by Col. W.W. Ford, FA Organic Field Artillery Air Observation has officially completed the first year of its life. On June 6, 1942, the War Department directed the establishment of this new facility. In the ensuing twelve months plans were made, personnel and equipment were assembled, and…