HI all . . .
In the FWIW column, I spent most of today at the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation at Tara Field, Clayton County, GA. That's across the street from Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, and yes the NASCAR crowd was making a bunch of noise practicing, even though the temperature today was a whopping 35 degrees.
The kind folks at AAHF handed me the keys to hangar 3, wherein a pristine (but damaged) Piper L-4B resides. The damage came from a car's front bumper, and the empennage is twisted about 15 degrees.
The AAHF L-4 is painted to represent "Janey", an L-4 which among other things supported every landing in the ETO and MTO, and which is reputed to be the only "L-Bird" to shoot down a German fighter (Bf-109).
The story goes that the 109 driver thought he'd make short work of the L-4, and found out how quickly the L-4 can turn. In the overshoot, the hapless 109 driver also found out what a smoke rocket from an L-4 can be used for besides marking targets on the ground.
Anywell.
The point of the visit was to get the sort of detail photos that aren't usually included in a photo pack, of which I have three. Details such as the latch that holds the upper window open, what the rear seat structure looks like (not at all like a J-3), how the 'greenhouse' structure is _really_ arranged, where the tail hand-lift handle is (on the right side), and how the _left_ window opens (completely different from the hinged right side window).
If anyone needs detail photos of a Piper L-4, lemme know.
I'll be in the building shed to making a dozen or so detail changes on the 1/3 scale version I _was_ about to cover . . .
Cheers, Fred McClellan The House Of Balsa Dust