Yolume ll Issue 130

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Lighf Aircraft ol
WbrldWbrll
Light aircraft were used, for all manner of tasks in World War
II, from everyday missions like artillery spotting and general
Seen here flying over the Suez canal,
theWestland Lysander failed in its
primary role as an army co-
Iiaison duties to clandestine flights behind the lines, carrying operation aircraft, as the Germans
enjoyed air superiority over France
agents. Aircraft like the Lysander and the ubiqtitous in I 940. It was later used on covert
Fieselet Storch performed valuable work throughout the war. mrsibns to occu pie d E u r ope.

Use of light arrcraft by tiie warring nations of World War II for operational
purposes (as drstlnct from training tasks) was widespread and covered a
host of duties. Reasons for their choice were equally diverse, ranging
irom ready avarlability, via low-cost production, operation and perform-
ance surtable for a specific task, to simplicity of training and flying.
In general terms the category of 'light aircraft' may be said to include
those whose normal loaded weight was below about 2750 kg (6 060 lb)
although in most instances the true light aircraft of World War II took off
at a third of this weight. At one end of the scale the UK's Westland
Lysander was a relatively large aeroplane but quallfied for incluslon in
the category on account of lts outstanding agility, short field perform-
ance and slow-speed capability, attributes which should have rendered
it ldeal for that nebulous duty undertaken by the RAF during the first half
of the war: army co-operatlon,
When it was drscovered that the Lysander (and the German Henschel
Hs 126) fell short of the requrrements whlch the true ground support role
demanded, for the harsh battle conditions of Blitzkrieg had never been
countenanced, the whole gamut of air operations over the battlefleld
changed: the true army co-operation duties (in particular artillery
observation) were undertaken by genuine hghtplanes (the Austers and
'Grasshoppers') while ground support moved up the scale to embrace
the capabllities of the high performance fighter-bomber,
For duties involving covert operations, such as transport of agents,
rescue of shot-down airmen from enemy territory and other duties
involving use of remote or confined sites, the lightplane was the obvrous
remedy, and of all the aircraft employed in these tasks none better than
the Fieseler Storch was ever produced: its agility became and remained
forever iegendary, even after the hellcopter had become an accepted
component of the world's arsenals.
The 'Grasshopper Fleet' of liaison and light observation aircraft was vital to
the war effort, butwere essentially barely modified civilian light plane
desigrns. These Piper L-4s are seen in an English field prior to delivery to the
frontin 1944.

aaai::;:::'::::a::::':..a):): .::4..::::::..::;a) .:a... -.:4.:. -.::'..:...

;:iit,.li!llal;:;u,:iial,ffi ;iit&&.ii:11,..
 British Taylorcraft Auster series
In 1936 the Taylorcraft Aviation Com-
pany was formed in the USA to design
and manufacture liQthtplanes for pri-
vate use Most successful of the pre-
war aircraft to emanate from this com-
pany were designated Models B, C,
and D, and rn November 1938 Taylor-
craft Aeroplanes (Enqland) Ltd was
established at Thurmaston, Leicester-
shire, to build these aircraft under li-
cence.
Sx American-built Model As were
imported into the UK, followed by one
Model B. Of braceo hLgh-wing mono-
plane confrguration, with a fabric-co-
vered wing of composite wood and
metal constructron, the aircraft fea-
tured a fuselaqe and tail unit both of
welded sleel tube with iabric cover'
ing, Accommodation withtn the en-
closed cabin was for trvo persons, sea-
ted side by side, and landtnq qear was
of basic non-retractable tailwheel
type with main unit shock-absorptron
by rubber bungee, Powerplant of the
imported Model As consisted of one
30-kW (40-hp) Continental A-40 flat-
four engdne,
The British-built equivalent to the
Model A was designated the British
Taylorcraft Model C, but this was soon
redesignated Plus C, reflecting the im-
proved performance resultlng from in-
stallation of a 4l-kw (55-hp) Lycoming
O-145-A2 enqlne.
Other than provision of splrt trailing-
edge flaps to improve short-field per-
>K Westland Lysander
formance, the arrcraft ofthe Plus-C de-
rived British Taylorcraft Auster series
were to change little throughout the
war, During this time more than I 600
were built for service use, the Auster
Mk I entering service with No, 654
Squadron in August 1942.
At the heiqrht of their utilization, Aus-
ters equipped Nos 652, 653, 657, 658,
659, 660, 661, 662, 664 and 665 Squad-
rons ofthe 2nd Tactical Air Force, and
Nos651, 654, 655, 656, 663, 666, 671 672
and 673 Squadrons of the Desert Air
Force. They were used also in small
numbers by associated Canadian and
Dutch squadrons. Their initlal deploy-
ment in an operational role was during
Mercury XII radial; the Lysander Mk
II, whlch was built in the UK by West-
land and in Canada by the National
Steel Car Corporation, had the 708-kW
(950-hp) Bristol Perseus XII radial; and
the Lysander Mk III, which was also
built in the UK and Canada, used the
649-kW (870-hp) Mercury XX or Mer-
cury XXX radral,
The Lysander operated rn its in-
tended role for only a short time ln the
war, European operations conflrming
that such large and relatrvely siow air-
craft were deathtraps in the presence
of determined opposition, both ground
and air. However, the type went on to a
The Auster AOP.6 was the last development of the wartime Taylorcraft desigm.
With amore powerful de Havilland engine and a larger propeller (making
Ionger wheel struts necessary) itwas actually a poorer performer in many
r e s p e c ts th an ifs predecessors.
the invasion of Alqeria and they were
to prove an indispensible tool ln the
Sicilian and Italian campaigns. Just
three weeks after D-Day, these un
armed lightplanes were in the iore-
front of the action as the Allied armies
advanced into France
Specification
British Taylorcraft Auster
Type: light liaison /observation aircraft
Powerplant: (Auster Mk V) one 97-kW
(130-hp) Lycoming O 290-3 flat-four
piston engine
Performance: maximum speed
209 km/h (130 mph) at sea level;
cruisingspeed 180 km/h (112 mph);
notably successful second career rn
alr-sea rescue, radar calibration and
perhaps most significantiy, aqent
dropping and recovery rn occupied
Europe. Total productionwas 1,368 arr-
craft.
Specification
Westland Lysander Mk I
Type: two-seat army co operation
aircraft and short-range tactical
reconnaissance arrcraft
Powerplant: one (664-kW) 890-hp
Bristol Mercury XII radial piston
engme
Performance: maximum speed
normal range 402 km (250 miles)
Weights: empty 499 kq (1,100 Ib);
maximumtake-off839 kq (1,850 ]b)
Dimensions: span 10,97 m (36 ft 0 in);
Ienqrth 6 83 m (22 lt 5 rn): herght 2,44 m
(B ft0 in): wingarea 15 51 mz1 |67.0sq
ft)
Armament: none
U ngl amor ou s an d u ng lamori zed
artillery observation aircr aft played
a decisive part in thewar: themain
British types were the five British
TaylorcraftAusters. This is the Mklll,
which had a deHavillandGypsy
Majorengine.
369 km/h (229 mph) at 3050 m
( 10,000 ft); climb to 3050 m ( 10,000 fi' :,
5.5 minutes; senrice ceiling 7925 m
(26,000 ft); ranse 966 km (600 milesl
Weights:empty 1844 kg (4,065 Ib)
normalloaded 2685 kq (5,920 ]b)
Dimensions: span 15.24 m (50 ft 0 Lr.
length9.30 m(30 ftO in); heiglrt3.5-
(, r ft 6 in;: wing area 24. I5 m'(26t : - -
ft)
Armament: two forward-fi ring 7.7 -::-..
(0,303-in) machine-qnrns in wheel
fairrngs and two 7,7-mm (0.303-in)
machrne gnrns rn'he rear cockpl: :. -
provision for eight 9.07-kq (201b)
bombs on stub winglets
Lgscnderin Action
The Westland Lysander was developed for light support missions and. army co-
oPeratio4 duties, but experience in France during 1940 proved its vulnerability- to
German fighters. However, the Lysander soon found itself a new role ferrying
agents in and out of German-occupied Europe under cover of darkness.

At the beginmng of World War II the Royal Arr German aircraft had been flown under the con- A Lysander of No. J3Sgn isseen in a field in France
Force rncluded the task of army co-operatron ditions of air superiority, while the Lysander during the winter of the 'Phoney War'. When the
well down rts list of operational priorities, this had been a 'sltting duck' in the conditions of German offensive of May 1940 burst through
despite the lact that collaboration with the Brit- Blitzkrieg that characterrzed the Battle of France, /osses among the Lysander squadrons
ish army in France had, during World War I, France, However, while the General and Air were high as they operated unescorted over the
been the raison d'etre of the RFC on the West- Staffs embarked on a fundamental reappraisal
battlefield in the face of Messerschmitt opposition.
ern Front, Between the world wars develop- of aircraft duties over the ground battle after
ment had continued of such aircraft as the Arm- the withdrawal from France, the Lysander the last six months of 1940 Although arr activity
strong Whitworth Atlas and Hawker Audax for squadrons were drspersed around the UK to over the Western Desert during this period
the support ofground forces, principally as the lick their wounds and re-equip, One of thelr was relatively 1igrht, No. 208 learned of the ne-
eyes of the soldiers engaged in pollcing activr duties dwing the summer of 1940 was to recon- cessity to seek fighter protection for its aircraft
tles on the North West Frontier of India and in noitre the whole of southern England, thelr (for even such ltalian fighters as the Fiat CR,42
the Middle East. In 1934, as token recognition crews carefully recordingr every likely field proved quite capable of shooting down an un-
that the blplane would dlsappear in due iarge enough to be used by German gliders ln escorted Lysander), so that by the time the
cotuse, the Atr Ministry issued a requrrement what was thought to be an imminent invasion squadron was sent to Greece it possessed
(Speciflcation A 39/34) for a monoplane to re- (so that obstacles could be erected); other air- three Hawker Hurricanes of lts own. Once
place the Audax and, on 15June 1936, the pro- craft were issued to squadrons for air-sea res- again German fighters severely limlted the
totype Westland Lysander two-seat high-wing cue duties, another task that had been wholly work done by the Lysanders, despite excellent
monoplane was flown at the RAF airfield at ignored by the RAF beiore the Battle of Britain; protection afforded by the Hurricanes. Follow-
Boscombe Down. Designed by Teddy Petter, in place of bombs the Lysander carried dinghy ing the end oithe Greek campaign the German
the Lysander made little attempt to extend the packs and smoke floats, radio announced'that 'No. 208 Squadron, that
operational capabilities beyond those of the Farther afield the aircraft continued to per- invaluable link between the army and the RAF
Audax: three machine-guns, a message pick- iorm the army co-operation role for whrch it in Greece, had been destroyed and all person-
up hook and a small clutch of light bombs were was originally intended, In the Mediterranean nel either killed, seriously wounded or cap-
the extent of its equipment. However, Petter theatre No, 208 Squadronhadflown Lysanders
Nos 6 and 208 Sqns flew the Lysander on tasks
recognized one vital quahty missing from the since mid- 1939, and when Italy entered the war approximating in
its designed role the Middle
earlier biplanes, an ability to fly very slowly, a in June the following year the squadron moved East.Aircratt of No. 208 Sqn are seen over Ismailia
performance characteristic much requested to Srdi Barrani, flying frequent artillery spotting on the Suez canal, during the period when they
by the service crews, Accordinqly by use of a sorties around Sollum and Bardia throughout saw actioninGreece, Crete and the desert.
higrh-lift winq wlth full-span slats, large trarling-
edge flaps and generous ailerons, the Lysan-
der was (in modern parlance) truly a STOL
aircraft, being capable ofclearing a l5-m (50-
ft) obstacle after a ground run of only 165 m ( I80
yards), and with a mrnimum fully-controllable
level speed, at normal operational weight, of
80 km/h (50 mph); normal landing speed
against a S-kt wind was about 56 km/h (35 mph)l
Lack ofescorts
Dwing the Battle of France Lysanders of Nos
2,4, 13, 16 and 25 (Army Co-operation) Squad-
rons were heavily committed, though the RAF
-ras extraordinarily slow to recognize the need
:o provide them with fighter escort, and casuai-
:es were thus exceptionally heavy. After all,
-,ne Luftwaffe had deployed large numbers of
Messerschmitt Bf I09Es for the very task of
<eeplng the skies clear oi Allied aircraft over
re ground battle, Out of I 74 Lysanders sent out
:: France between September 1930 and May
-:10 only about 50 returned. Although normai
-perations were intended to lnvolve only srng-
,: a:crafi, working with a specific ground untt
:: .cattalion strength ln a well-defined sector of
:= front (spotting for artil1ery or performing
:a::'-range reconnarssance with hand-held
::::-era in the rear cockpit) there were many
,::.sions when Irysanders were pressed into
--,+
- bombers, wrtness the attack by a whole
:;,-.-icn (usrng 18-kgi40{b bombs) on a Ger- rtll':ll.:i6,r':1, :iY4i,i,]:.&d
::j :aa:.:.:i. :. \.:::.4:
.a..:::!"1:ttaj.a. .-

-=:- ::otor convoy near Cambrai, On another

:=::-:- occasion 16 Lysanders and Hawker
i=:--:rs ian rnterim improvement of the Audax
:-,:---e, -were sent out to drop supplies to the
:e-::;:ered garrison at Calais, from which
-:-. :,ri: arcraft returned.
-:-:-::3r the Luftwaffe had employed its
--,=:-::-:- -+ 126 in exactiy the same role for
:-.-::- -:-= - t'sander had been rntended, the

2583
tured,' In fact there had been no casualties, but
all the Hurricanes and three Lysanders had
been shot down.
That other famous RAF Middle East squad-
ron, No. 6, had also been flying Lysanders in
1940, operating patrols in collaboration with the
Palestine Police to keep watch for illeqal im-
migrants, drug-running and to inspect blackout
precautions in the Suez Canal Zone, In June of
ihat year the squadron moved up to the Libyan
border and subsequently accompanied
Generai Wavell's desert forces on their adv-
ance into Cyrenaica, In the later retreat No 6
Sguadron was ordered to remain at Tobruk to
provide close support for the trapped garrison,
on one occasion shooting down a Junkers Ju
52l3m over Mechili,
At the beginning of 1942 the Lysander was
withdrawn from both Nos 6 and 208 Squadrons,
no direct replacement for army co-operation
duties arriving in the Middle East until the Aus-
ters of the air observation post squ6rdrons
accompanied the 'Torch' landrngs at the end oi
the year, However, the first operational Lysan-
ders to be sent to india had arrived in Septem-
ber 1941 at Kohat for service with No, 28 (Army
Co-operation) Squadron, These aircraft were
present throughout the retreat tn Burma, occa-
sionally being called on to bomb the advancing
lapanese forces. The makeshift jungle strips
proved inadequate even lor the lrysanders,
however, and there were several instances
when their bombs were torn from their racks
during take-offi destroying the aircraft, The
other lrysander squadron in Burma was No, 20,
this unit persevering wlth the aircraft for longer
than any other army co-operation unit, On one
occasion the squadron's Lysanders were cal-
led on to drop l8-kg (40-1b) bombs to stam-
pede elephants whrch had been spotted being
RAF mechanics in Indiawork on a Lysander. The
stubwings could carry lightbombs and smoke
markers, and for detensive purposes air-cooled
0.303-in (7.7-mm)Vickers in the rear cockpit. The
Lysander was used in the 1942 Burma campaign.
used by the lapanese to haul suppltes, No, 20
Squadron's Lysanders were not flnally re-
placed by Hurricane Mk IID anti-tank aircraft
until the late summer of 1943,
Despite being cloaked by strict secrecy at
the time, the Lysander's most dramatic opera-
tions of the war were those flown with ihe spe-
cial duties squadrons, formed to undertake
clandestine collaboration wrth the various re
sistance movements which sprang up through-
out German-occupied EuroPe,
Newunitformed
ln Augusl 1941 the flrst such untt, No 13:
(Special Duties) Squadron, was formed at Nern=
market wlth a complement of Lockheed Huc-
sons, Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys, Lysar--
der Mk IIIs, and later with Handley Page HaJ--
faxes. The squadron's task was to make contac
wrth and drop supplies of ammunition and e-l-
plosives to partisan forces in France, :i-=
Lysanders beinq called on to land and delii-e:
agents or to pick up a resistance leader :::
briefing by the Spectal Operations Execu:-''=
in London, On other occasions, having lani=:
an agent in France, the lrysander would re:-.:.'
to England carrying a shot-down Allied airn-=
who had been sheltered from the Germans :':
one of the underground movements,
Moving to Jhe secret airfield at Temps--::
where it was joined by a second unlt, No, 16l
Squadron (commanded by Wing Commander
Edward Frelden, former Captain of the King's
Fliqht in 1936) No 138 Squadron continued to
undertake an increasing volume of covert op-
erations, the Lysanders staging through Tang-
mere, Lympne or Hawkinge to refuel on their
way to France, However, as these operations
moved deeper into enemy territory, greater
range was demanded ol the aircrafi and the
specially-equrpped Lysander Mk IIIA was in-
:roduced. Painied matt black overall, this ver-
s-on leatured a large addrtronal fuel tank slung
*rCer the fuselage, as well as a iong boarding
-=Cder (iis rungs picked out in luminous paint)
:, :acrlitate speedy disembarkation and board-
:-g in enemy territory,
Night hazards
-re hazards of these operations were ob-
--'- Night navigation (without radio aids) to
q:lated
--, field in blacked-out France deman-
::i extraordrnary skrll from a pilot who fre-
'--::-:iyr flew without a navigator, The only
: ==- cf identrfying the landing point were
:-:=: .crches held by the 'reception commit-
-== was no means of knowing who
=C there
''-: :-:-irng the torchesl Few of the Lysander
::-..s=:- ]|eIS' names have ever been revealed,
., :,- -^;:r \,rinceni Auriol, later to become Presi-
dent of France, is known to have made at least The Lysander is best remembered for clandestine
one journey by Lysander. In all, the aircraft night operations into occupied Europe and were to
delivered 293 agents and other passengers prove the Lysander's finest hours. The Mk III, with
(Joes' as they became known) into France, and a large auxiliary fuel tank, had a range in excess of
2250 Im ( 1 ,400 miles) , while retaining the
more than 500 were brought out.
excellentSTOl performance of the original
Special duties Irysanders were also used in aircraft. Thiswas used to the full in the delivery
Burma, six Lysander Mk III(SD)s being ship- and collection of supplies and agents. Fitted with a
ped to Karachi late rn 1944, forming C Fhght of permanent laddet to the rear cockpit (sometimes
No, 357 (Specral Duties) Squadron based in marked with luminous paint), the Lysander would
turn at Jessore, Meiktila and Mingaladon in spendthe minimum time possibleonthe ground in
Burma, These aircraft differed from the 'Euro, the remote fields used by resistance groups.
pean' Lysander Mk IIIA in that they featured
specially strengthened landing gear and in-
cluded a large drinking water container in the
rear fuselage, They were heavily involved in
conveying agents to and from Force I36 in the
jungle and recovering intelligence officers
sent forward behrnd the Japanese hnes by the
14th Army, In nine months of these exceptional-
ly dangerous operations only one Lysander
was lost to enemy aclion.
A Westland Lysander of the School of Army Co-
operation in 1939. Although it gave its crew an
excellent field of vision, the aircraft was too large
and too slow to face modernfighter opposition.
Similar German aircraft like the Henschel Hs 126
could only operate successfully as the Luftwaffe's
fighters gained air superiority.
E i1*oi,:$sza
Tre Czech Letov company began tn
-932 the desiqn of a general-purpose
biplane for service with the Finnish air
:crce. An equal-span single-bay bi-
plane with fixed tarlwheel landing
:ear and conventional braced tarl unit,
-irs Letov 3 3za haa accommodation
::r a pilot and observer/gunner ln
separate open cockpits in tandem, The
S 328 F prototype for Finland was com-
pleted during 1933, its powerplant a
433-kW (580-hp) Bristol Pegasus IIM-2
radral engine. Armament comprised
rwo 7.7-mm (0,303-in) forward-firing
machine-gnrns in the upper winq, and
rvo more weapons of the same calibre
cn a flexrble mounting in the rear cock-
pit Although no production aircraft
ere ordered by Finland, political
-,ni
--hanges and growing tenslon in
Europe caused the Czech air ministry
ro order the type into production dur-
Lng 1934 for use by its own air force in
:he role of a bomber/reconnassance
a]rcraft. A total of j45 was built under
rhe desiqnation S 328, and most of
ihese were impressed for sewice with
the Lufhvaffe or the new Slovak air
-orce when Bohemia-Moravia was
cccupied by German forces in March
1939, but a small number were later
supplied to Bulgaria, When production
ended a total of 470 had been built, and
Lncluded 13 examplgs of a night-fighter
-iariant designated S 328 N which was
armed with four frxed forward-flring
ard two trarnably-mounted machine-
gmrs, Letov had plans tg produced de-
.ieloped versions, one S 428 prototypg
resultinq from the conversion of an S
328 production aircraft by replacing
:he standard powerplant with a 485-
kW (650-hp) Avia Vr-36 (licence-built
Hspano-Suiza i2Nbr) and with arma-
nent of four forward-f,rinq machine-
Slovak S 328 aircraft took part in the
ThisLetovS 328 was oneof threeflown bySlovakpatriots during the
Nationalist uprising of Augast I 944. The aircraft operated out of Tri Duby
airfield in the foothills of the Carpathians, largely on reconnajssance dufies
against Slovakia's erstwhile masters, the Germans'
campaign against Poland in 1940 and
were operating on the Eastem Front in
1941, but by 1944 there came a rever-
sal of loyalties, many Slovak pilots de-
fecting to the USSR in their S 32Bs to
take part in operations aqainst the Ger-
man forces on Soviet territory,
Spec$cation
Letov S 328
Tlpe: hvo-seat bomber/
reconnarssance aircraft
Powerplant: one 474-kW (635-hp)
Walter-built Bristol Pegasus IIM-2
radial piston engine
Performance: maximum speed
280 km/h (174 mph) at 1800 m (5 905 ft);
sewrce ceilrng 7200 m (23.620 ft):
range 700 km (435 miles)
Weights: l680 kg (3,704 Ib): maxrmum
take-off2675 ks (5,897 Ib)
Dimensions: 13,70 m (44 ft 11.4 in);
Iengrth 10.40 m (34 It 1.4 in): height
3.40 m ( I t ft 1,9 in): wrng area 67. 10 m'
(722,2BsqII)
Armament: four 7. 7-mm (0, 303-in)
machine-quns, two in upper wing and Widely used on theEasternFront by Slovak and Luftwaffe pilots, the S 328 was
two on flexrble mount in rear cockpit, operated in the battlefield reconnaissance and light bomber roles as well as
plusup to 500 kg (1,102 Ib) of bombs night harassment missions in I 943.

rE l.ttoot..,..
Repiilogp6grydr Levente
=-:- October 1940 Repirlogp6gydr flew
re prototype of a parasol-wing two-
:eat pnmary trainer whrch it desig-
:-a:ed Repiil6grp6gydr Levente L This
';;- modified subsequently to serve as
--:-e prototype of an improved Levente
II xhich entered service with the
-i-::garian arr force durinqr 1943, By
::=::. Hurgary had allied itself wtth
3emany and had participated in the
:-.'asion of the USSR, The result was
-:a: ihe i00 Levente IIs built to serve
'.',-:- the au force as primary rrainers
-,';::e deployed with operation-
ur fact,
.' :qradrons where they were used in
:: ::nurucations/liaison roles until the
-:i :i the war.
Specification
RepuloSrp6qyalr Levente II
Tlpe: :r:o-seat llaison/training aircraft
Powerplant: one licence-built 78-kW
- :-:cl HLrth HM 504A-2 inverted
-:---:-: p'iion enqrne
?e:jormance: maxrmum speed
:,
'{:r : i L L2 mph); cruising sPeed
:l<:- : i99 mph)t sewice ceiling
=: , - :: . -4 765 ft); range 650 km
(404
:,-_=:
,'i=:-:hrs: il kq r 1.036 lbr' maxtmum
-- =-:--il -'kg(1,653 ]b)
span 9.45 m (3 I ft O in)l
: ::.:.:: -?:rll4in) heLghi
--l-::.e:sions:
-:'- :. i:: ,t'tngarea13.50m' TheLeventellwasusedon theEasternFrontasacommunicationsandliaisonaircraftbytheHungarianairforce.lt
waspoweredby alicence-builtHirth4-cylinder engine, giving amaximum speed of IB0 km/h (112 mph).
[?] ffiitr.ruishi Ki-15 Light Aircraft of World War II
In July 1935 the Imperral Japanese
Army drew up its specification for a
new tvvo-seat reconnaissance aircraft,
and Mitsubishi responded with a can-
tilever low-wrng monoplane, the Mit
subishi Ki-15. Servrce testing was com-
pleted without difficulty and the type
was ordered into production under the
official designation Army Type 97
Command Reconnaissance Plane
Model L In May 1937 a year after the
first flight, delivery of production air-
craft to the army began,
Just before that, however, military
observers in the west should have
gained some premonitron of Japan's
growing capability ln aircraft design
when the second (civil) prototype was
used to estabhsh a new record flight meter Nakajima engine, The im- Pacific war started, Given the Allied A Navy version of the Ki- I 5J I
time between Japan and England, proved version entered production for codename 'Babs', the type was rele- designated C1M, featured the small-
The army's Ki.lS-I had been re- the army in September 1939 as the Ki- qated to second-line roles in early diameter Ha-26-l engine. For its time
ceived in time to make a siqnificant I5-II, but before that the Japanese 1943, but many survived to be used in the'Babs', as itcame tobecalledby
impact at the begdnmng of the warwith nalry, impressed by the performance kamikaze attacks at the war's end, the Allies, had an excellent
China, the type's high speed givrng rt of this aircraft, ordered 20 examples of perform ance, su perior to som e
fieedom of the skies untrl China intro- the Kr-15-ll under the official designa- Specification contemporary fighters.
duced the Soviet Polikarpov I-16, tion Navy Type 98 Reconnaissance MitsubishiKi-I5-l
However, plans had already been Plane Model I, Mitsubishi designation Tlpe: two-seat reconnaissance aircraft Weights: empty 1400 kg (3,086 lb);
made to upgrrade performance of the CSML The navy acquired subsequent- Powerplant: one 477-kW (640-hp) maxlmumtake-off2300 kq (5,071 lb)
Ki-15-1, this being achieved by install- ly 30 CSM2 aircraft that were qenerally Nakajima Ha-B radial piston engine Dimensions: span 12,00 m (39 ft 4,4 in);
ing the 671-kW (900-hp), smaller-dia- similar except for installation of the Performance: maximum speed lensth B.70 m (28 ft 6.5 in); heiqht
meter Mrtsubishi Ha-26-l engine, its in- more powerful 7OB-kW (950-hp) Naka- 480 kn/h (298 mph) at 4000 m 3 35 m(11ft0 in); wingarea20.36 m2
corporation providing an opponunity jima Sakae (prosperity) 12 engine. ( 13, 125 ft); cruising speed 320 km/h (2 19, 16 sq ft)
to overcome what had been the major When productron ended almost 500 of (199 mph) at 5000 m (16,405 ft); service Armament: all versions had one 7.7-
shortcominq of the type, a poor for- all versions had been built, the major- ceiling 1 1400 m (37,400 ft); ranqe mm (0.303-in) machine-gmnon a
ward field of vrew past the largre-dia- ity berno in firstline seruice when the 2400 km ( 1,491 miles) trainable mount in the rear cockpit

'ilacfrif<awa Ki- 3 6/Ifi - 55

First flown in prototype form on
April 1938, the Tachikawa K!36 was a
cantilever low-wrng monoplane of all-
metal basic structure, covered by a
mx of light alloy and fabric, Landing
gear was of fixed tarlwheel type, the
main units enclosed in speed farrings
and power was provided by a 336-kW*
(450-hp) Hitachi Ha-13 radial engrne,
The two-man crew was enclosed by a
long 'qreenhouse' canopy and both
men had good fields of view, that of the
observer being improved by clear-
view panels in the floor. The type was
ordered into productlon in November
1938 as the Army Type 98 Direct Cc-
Operation Plane. Generally similar to
:he prototypes, the type was armed
-nth two 7 7-mm (0.303-in) machrne-
; urx and rntroduced the more power-
:l Hitachi Ha-l3a engine When con-
s:rrction ended in January 1944, a total
,- 1.334 had been burlt by Tachikawa
332) and Kawasaki (472).
The handling charactenstics and re-
-.r:lity of the Kr-36 made the army
-=.'lze that it was ideal for use as an
=:'.-anced trarner, resulting in de-
:,:pment of the Ki-55, intended
.;=:-lcally for this role and havingr
=lr:,ilent reduced to a single for-
r,'-i lring
machine-qun, Following
:-= .:srngof a prototype rn September
::: -re army ordered this aircraft as
:,= Arrny Type 99 Advanced Trainer;
-r.':=]] croductron wAs terminated rn
-..:=::er 1943 a rota.L of 1,389 had
:r=:, :,1i by Tachikawa (1,078)
1-=5..,11 (311)
:-.:- -,-elsrons were allocated the
-:-=r ::dename 'lda', and the Ki-36
r'-. -= :eployed wrth considerabie
,:- - l::s :- O:ina. However when con-
- -: :r : r- -]ed fiqihters at the begin'
-r: -: --:-: ia:ific War it was found to
-- -. - '-.=.- -: =::i le. being redep)oyed
.'. :.:-:= -. rras less hkely ro be
::.:- =i i; s-:ch arrcraft. It was also
20
The Chinese People's Liberation Army operated Tachikawa Ki-55 advanced
trainers in the years following I 945 . Large numbers had been supplied to the
Japanese puppetregime of Manchukuo, and thesefell into thehands of the
Communists (with the considerable assistance of the invading Russians).
considered suitable for kamikaze use
in the closinq stages of the war, being
modified to caffy rnternally a bomb of
up to 500 ks ( l, 102 lb).
Specification
TachikawaKi-36
Type:
Powerplant: one 380-kW (5 10-hp)
Hitachi Ha- i3a radial piston engine
Performance: maxrmum speed
348 km/h (216 mph) at 1800 m (5,905 ft)l
cruising speed 235 km/h ( 146 mph);
service ceiling 8150 m (26,740 ft);
range 1235 km (767 miles)
and Weights: empty \247 kg (2 7 49 lb);
maximum take-off 1660 kq (3,660 1b)
Dimensions:span 11 B0 m (38 ft B 6 in);
lensthB.OO m(25 ft31n); heiqht3.64 m
(11 ft I L3 in); wrng area 20.00 mz
(215.29 sq ft)
Armament: lwo 7.7-mm (0.303-rn)
machine-gnrns (one forward-firinq and
one on a trainable mountinq in the rear The Type 98 Chokusetsu-Kyodoki (Direct Co-operation Plane) was built by
cockpit) plus an external bombload of Tachikawa under the designation Ki- 3 6. Trainer versions were destgrnated
up to i50 kq (33 I lb) Ki-55 and were used for kamikaze attacks late in the war.

2587
 Henschel Hs
In 1935 Henschel developed the para-
sol-wing Henschel Hs 122 short-rangte
reconnaissance aircraft as a replace-
ment for the Heinkel He 45 and He 46,
but although a few of the 492-kW (660-
hp) Siemens SAM 22B-enetined aircraft
were built, the Hs 122 was not adopted
for Luftwaffe use. From it, however,
Henschel's chief designer Frtedrich
Nicolaus derived the Henschel Hs 126
whrch incorporated a new wlng. can-
trlever main landing qear and a canopy
over the pilot's cockpit, the obsewer's
position being left open. During 1937
Henschel built 10 pre-productton Hs
I26A-0 aircraft based on the third pro
totype, and some were used for oper-
ational evaluation by the Luftwaffe's
Lehrgruppe reconnaissance unit in the
spring ot I938, Initial productton ver-
sron was the Hs 126A- I, qenerally simi-
lar to the pre-production aircraft but
powered by the 656-kW (BB0-hp)
BMW 132dc radial engrtne, Armament
comprised one forward-firing 7 92-mm
(0.31 in) MG 17 machine-gun, plus one
similar weapon on a trainable mount-
ing in the rear cockpit, and five lo-kq
(221b) bombs or a stngle 50-kg (110-
lb) bomb could be carried on an
underfuselage rack, A hand-held Rb
12.5/9x7 camera in the rear cockpit
was supplemented by a Zeiss instru-
ment in a rear-fuselaqe bay, Sx of this
version were used by the Legion Con-
dor in Sparn during 1938, betng trans-
GERN,lANY
Fieseler Fi 156 Storch
Best-known of all the Fieseler desiqns
because of its extenslve use duringT
World War II, the Fieseler Fi i56
Storch (stork) was a remarkable STOL
(short take-offand landing) aircraft that
was flrst flown duringtthe early months
oi 1936. A braced hrgh-wing mono-
plane oi mixed construction, with a mainder of World War 1I the Storch
conventional braced tarl unit and fixed
tarlskid landrng gear with longt stroke
main units, the Fi 156 was powered bY
an fuqr-s inverleo-Vee pislon engine.
and rts extensively glazed cabin pro-
vided an excellent view for its three-
man crew As wrth the Fi 97, the keY to
:i-e success of this aircraft was its wing
-:::rporating the company's high-lift
:=. -:es The capability of this aircraft
.. := 'j.-.:- eiceeded its STOL ex:
::- : ': i -:: -..;ith little more than a
126
i,r:l1i::::ail.3
I
ferred later to ihe Spanish air force,
and 16 were delivered to the Greek air
force, An improved but similar He
I268- I was introduced during the sum-
mer of 1939, this incorporating FUG 17
radio equipment and either the Bramo
323A-1 or 671-kW (900-hp) 3234-2,
Production aircraft were built in Ber-
lin, at Schonefeld and Johannisthal,
from t93B and entered operational ser-
vice flrst with AuiklGr. 35. By the out-
break of World War II the re-equlp-
ment of He 45- and He 46-equiPPed
reconnaissance units with the Hs 126
was well under way, The type was
withdrawn progressively from front-
ligrht breeze blowrnq it needed a take-
off run of only about 60 m (200 ft) and
could land in about one-thrrd of that
distance.
Service tests conflrmed that Ger-
many's armed forces had acquired a
'qo-an1'where arrcraft, and for the re-
was found virtually everywhere Ger-
man forces operated, production of all
variants totalling 2,549 aircraft. The de-
srgna'ron Fi 156C-I applred To a varlant
intended to be deployed in haison and
staff transport roles, and the Fi 156C-2
was basrcally a two-crew reconnaiss'
ance version carrying a single cameral
some late examples of the Fi 156C-2
were, however, equipped to carry one
stretcher for casualty evacuation The
Fi I56C-3 was the first to be equipped
A Henschel Hs 1 268- I of the tactical Aufkldrungsstaffel 3.(H)/2 I as it appearcd
on the Don front inJanuary 1943. Stalingrad was about to fall, and the initiative
in the East was at last to swing decisively in favour of the Soviet army and air
force.
line servrce during 1942 on replace-
ment by the Focke-Wulf Fw 189. Just
over 600 arrcraft were butlt.
Specification
HenschelHs 1268-I
Type: two-seat short-range
reconnaissance arrcraft
Powerplant: one 634-kw (850-hp)
Bramo 323A- 1 radial piston engrne
Performance: maximum speed
3 10 km/h (193 mph) at sea level;
sewrce ceilinq8300 m (27,230 ft);
maximum range 720 km (447 miles)
Weights: empty 2030 kq (4 475 1b);
maximumtake-off3090 kq (6,812 lb)
for multr-purpose use the majority of
the type being powered by the im-
proved Argms As 10P engine, which
was also standard rn the generally
simrlar Fi i56C-5 whrch hao provision
to carry an underfuselage camera or
jettisonable fuel tank.
Because of their capability, Fi 156s
were used rn some remarkabie ex-
plorts. Best known are the rescue of
Benjto Mussol-nr irom Lmprisonment in
a hotel amid the Apennine mountains,
on 12 September 1943, and the fliqht
made by Hanna Reitsch into the rurns
of Berlin on 26 April 1945. carry.ng
Generaloberst Ritter von Greim to be
appointed by Adolf Hitler as his new
commander of the Luftwaffe.
h
Dimensions: span 14.50 m (47 ft 6.9 in);
length 10 BS m (35 ft 7.2 inl; hetght
3.75 m tl2 ft 3.6 rn): wing area 31.60 m'
(340. 15 sq ft)
Armament:two 7,92-mm (0,31-in) MG
17 machine-guns, plus one 50-kg ( 1 10-
lb) or five 10-kq (221b) bombs
An early Hs 1 26 in pre-war markings
displays the distinctive parasol wing.
A contemporary of the Lysander, the
H enschel was initially more successful
because it operated under a
protective umbrella of Messerschmitt
Bf 109 fighters and inconditions of
ne ar - to tal air su periority.
Specification
FieselerFi I56C-2
Type: two-seat army co-operation/
reconnarssance arrcraft
Powerplant: one 179-kW (240-hp)
Argus As 10C-3 inve rled-Vee pis'on
engme
Performance: maximum speed
170 km/h (i09 mph) at sea level;
economtcal cruising speed 130 km,4t
(B I mph); service cei[ng 4600 m
(15,090 ft); ranqe 385 km (239 miles)
Weights: empty 930 kg (2,050 lb)l
maximum take off 1325 kg (2,92 t lb)
Dimensions: span 14.25 m (46 ft 9 in):
lenqth9.90 m(32 ft5 B in); 3,05 m(10 ..
0 in); winq area 26 00 m? (279.87 sq ft.
Armament: one rear-firingt 7, 92-mm
(0. 3 I -in) machine-gun on trainable
mount
StorchinAction
The hard-won lessons of the final year of WorldWar I were forgotten by the victors in
a great many military fields, but none more so than in the field of airborne support of
the forces on the ground. As is so often the case, itwas the loserswho learned the
most, although it may be that the Germans went too far in their espousal of total
subordination of the air force to the army.

The Fieseler Fi 156 Storch (stork) was an excel-
lent example of a sound basic design concept
being expioited, cheaply and effectively, to
undertake a wrde range of duties wrthout de-
terioration of its superb handling qualities,
Product of the fertlle brains of Gerhard Fies-
ler and his chief designer, Rheinhold Mewes,
the Storch was the result of an RLM requrre-
ment issued ln 1935 for a light liaison aircrait
capable of operating from hastily-prepared
landing strips close behrnd the front line. At
that time it was not envisaged that such an
aircraft would be required to undertake oper-
ational tasks, being regarded, on account ofrts
implied low speed, as too vulnerable to small
arms fire from the ground,
Beatlng competrng designs from Messer-
schmitt and Siebel (as well as the Focke-Wulf
Fw I86 autogiro), the Storch entered produc-
tton late in 1936 and the first productron versron,
the Fl 156A-1, appeared the following year,
With its small Argus inverted-Vee air-cooled
engine the Storch quickly demonstrated amaz-
ing flying qualities, being capable of getting
airborne after a ground run, against a S-kt wind,
of only about 55 m (60 yards) and a minrmum
fully-controlled level speed of around 53 km,ltr
(32 mph) Such performance was achieved by
use of a high-aspect-ratio, hlgh{lft wing with
full-span slats and flaps, The cabin, capable of
accommodating up to four occupants, was pro-
vided with extenslve glazing wrth bulged side
panels, which gave rise to the nicknames
Glashasten (glassbox) and Gewachshaus
(greenhouse) and enabled the occupants to
see almost directly below the aircraft while
flyinQr with wings level! The Storch's long-
travel, wide-track landing gear allowed it to
operate from just the sort of rudimentary strips
envisaged by the RLM,
Before World War II Stdrche were used
almost exclusively as staff transport and com-
munications arrcraft, although a Ke/te of Fi
156A'-lswas sent to Spain in 1937 for battlefield
work, flying from Burgo de Osma; after two of
these had been shot down by Republican
fighters the others were flown on general com-
munications work behlnd the Nationalist lines,
These losses prompted the RLM to ask Fiesel-
er to rntroduce a machine-gun mounting in the
rear roof of the cabin to provrde a measure of
self defence, In service with divisional staifs in
Germany, Storche were commonplace sights
parked in the motor transport pool, their wrngs
folded to avoid damage by careless driversl
The new gun-armed Fi l56C series
appeared in 1939, subvariants including the Fi
I56C-l with marginally lmproved comfort for
staff officer accommodation, the Fi I56C-2
equipped for short-range battlefield suwelll-
General Etwin Rommel confers with a captain in
the Luftwaffe, the pilot of a reconnaissance Storch.
Rommel made extensive use of this versatile
aircraft, as did those Allied commanders whose
forces captured them in operating order.
ance, the Fi I56C-3 with improved Argms en-
gine and interchangeable wheeVskr landing
gear, and the Fi-156C-5 wrth provision for a
small long-range fuel tank (which almost tre-
bled the Storch's range). A few pre-productron
Fi l56C-0s had been sent to Sparn earlier rn the
year, but these were on their way back io
Germany when World War II broke out ur
September,
The Storch was present durlng the Polsh
and Norwegian campaigns, though almost ex-
clusively as a staff transport; it was however
being used increasingly to fly slightly woundei
A,n Fi 156 Storch from Kurierstaffel Ob.d.L. (Courier
Squadron, Luftwaffe High Command) takes off
from an improvised landing strip on the Don Front,
I 3 Augu s t I 9 4 2. I n ten days' time, the 6 th Army w as
to reach theVolga and begin the battle for
Stalingrad.

,id,3i.3
 !Et!.iii!. ru
$
-- .*iri

Without doubt the Fieseler Storch was the prime

example of an army co-operation and observation
aircraft, and was certainly the desigm by which
other types operating in these roles were iudged.
This view oI an Fi 156C-3 in Eastern Front colours
clearly illuskates the purposefuI design of the
undercarriage with the long compressrbn /egs
incorporating long-stroke, oil-damping shock
absorbers of high vertical descent rates. Such was
the success of the Storch in its intended role that
trials were conducted around supply-dropping,
coastal patrol and light bombing roles, although
only as secondary operations.

lfi:
Light Aircraft of World War II
Storch in Action
personnel out of the front line. Not until late
1940 or early 1941 did the first dedicated ambu-
lance version, the Fi I56D-1 Sanjf:itsflugzeug,
enter service with accommodation for a slngle
stretcher, access for which was through a hing-
ed panel in the starboard side of the rear fusel-
age. This version was widely used in Western
Europe during the latter part oithe Winter Blitz
against British cities, ferrying wounded air-
crew from the bomber bases back home to
German military hospitals. It also accompanied
the Luftwaffe to the centra] Mediterranean in
early 1941, and during the Balkan campaign in
April, and soon after this to North Afrtca; tropi-
calized versions (the Fi 156C-5/Trop and Ft
156D-liTrop) were widely used, particuiarly
for the rescue of shot-down pilots stranded in
the Western Desert, General staff officers,
especially such well known commanders as
Generalfeldmarschall Aibert Kesselring and
General Erwrn Rommel, are said to have in-
finitely preferred the use of their personal Stor-
che to that of their larger, more presttgious
transports, on account of their abtlity to move
about the front hne with much greater informai-
ity, For such movements by senior officers,
headquarters X Fhegerkorps was assigned no
fewer than 15 Storche.
Desert service
Some of the longest serving aircraft were
those of the Iwo Witstennotstaffeln (desert res-
cue squadrons), the Storch being afforded par-
ticular care and maintenance, so important
were they regarded by the operatlonal air-
crewl By the time the Axis forces had retreated
23 lulv 1944. andWinston Churchill sits in the
St6rin @itotea by Air Vice-Marshal B roadhurst)
which is to take him on a tour of the Normandy
beach-head. The aircraft was captured in North
Africain 1943.
caot
' AFieseler Fi 156C-3/TropStorchof
2. (H ) / I 4 AufHerung ss taffel
' operatingunderAfrikaKorps
a control in the spring of I 94 1. In its
'' spotting role the Storchwas essenfial
to successful mobilewar across the
expanses oflfte deserf.
into northern Tunisia in the spring of i943 about behind the Soviet lines, one of the units re-
a dozen had fallen intact into Ailied hands and, sponsible for this hazardous work being Luft-
apart from a few which were shipped back to landeqeschwader (air landrng group) 1,
the UK (where they were flown in RAF mark- Final dramatrc wartime flight recorded by a
ings), they were eagerly sought by RAF squad- Storch in Germany was made when Hitler sum-
ron commanders as belng a much more enjoy- moned Generaloberst Robert Ritter von Greim
able means of transport than anything the to the supreme command bunker in Berlin; this
Allied Communicattons squadrons had to offer, was for his formal promotion to take command
Other examples managed to make good their of the Luftwaffe on 23 April 1945 following the
escape from Tunisia to Sicily where, amid the disgrace of Hermann Goenng, Flown by the
chaos created on Axrs airfi.elds and on the famous woman piiot, Hanna Reitsch, the Storch
roads by Allied bombing, they were often the carried von Greim from Gatow airfield, landing
only form of transport available between com- in a street in the centre of the devastated
ponent fighter G-i'uppen dispersed throughout capital,
the island, Oberst Johannes Steinhofl the Ge-
schwaderkommodore of JG 77, provldes am-
ple testimony to the value of the Storch in Sictly
in his Dje Strass von Messina: Tagebuch des
Kommodore, a vrvid account of the Luftwaffe's
attempts to defend the tsland.
Before leaving the Mediterranean one other
exploit involving the Storch is worth mention.
On 12 September 1943, shortly after ltaly's sur-
render, Benito Mussolini was imprisoned on
the Gran Sasso in central ltaly, a mountain for-
tress that was virtually inaccessibie by conven-
tional ground forces. On direct orders from
Hitler himself, the posrtron was stormed by
German airborne forces led by Oberstleutnant
Otto Skorzeny before the deposed dictator was
spirited away aboard a Storch, only to suffer
death by lynching at the hands ofhis oum coun-
trymen later in the war.
On the Eastern Front the Storch served oper-
ationally during the early period of German air
superiorrty, being flown by Heeresaufldrungs-
gruppen (army reconnaissance groups) 14 and
21, often equippedwith ski landing gear durtng
the first two harsh Russianwinters. Storche pro-
vided almost continuous artillery spotting in the
course of the desperate fighting around the
Demyansk pocket in Aprll 1942. They were
aiso used to dellver small groups of saboteurs
A Storch brings a senior officer onto the PLace de la
ConcordeinParis following the fall of France' Not
many aircraft could land safely even in such a large
urban open space, but itwas little problem to a
Storchpilot.
An F i 1 5 6C -3 S torch in the markings
of Lehrgeschwader (test wing) 2, but
in fact operated by the Kurierstaffel
Ob.d.L. (C ourier S quadron of the
Lu{tw affe H igh C ommand) on the
Don Sector of the EasternFront
during the 1942 drive for the
Caucasus.

Such was the excellence of the Storch

that many were built in the years
after thewar both in Czechoslovakia
and France, where production had
been startedby theGermans.This is
the M orane-S aulnier M S 5 00 C riqu et
(as the French modelwas called).

.>a'-.-

Fieseler Fi 156C-2 Storch cutawaydrawing key

1 Fixedtab
2 Rudderconstruction
3 Rudderbalance
4 Navlgation light
5 Tailplanebracing strut
6 Tailplanetab 56 Downwardvsi:-
7 Elevatorconstruction windows
57 Trimcontrol
58 Controlcolur:
59 lnstrumenioe:: s--:-:
60 lnstrumenr acc:s: i:-:
6T Engine cowi:.OS
detachable
62 Oiltankiiiler
3l Cartridge case co lector 63 EngineoiltarK 2j: -:
box ga1/1 1 litre€oac:.
32 Rearcabin bulkhead 64 Argus As 'lCC-3-: .-,:
33 Cabln roof construction 65 Engine mouxl:r-c :€:*
34 Radloaeria (forFuGXVll) 66 Schwau twGb a::''::-
35 Stubwing sparattachment pitchwooden oi::€ :-
36 Flapoperating rod 67 Propellerboss
37 Portflap 68 Airintake
38 Wing root fueltank 6.28
(T 69 Exhaustpipeia'^l :-::
lmp ga /74 lltre capaclty) 70 Starboard exl'a.s:: :€
porl and starboard 71 Pon mainwhee
72 Main underGr.ae : : ::
stay
73 Accessslep
74 Brakepipe
75 Starboardmeir/,-::
76 Main under€..a9: 3:
77 Shockabsorbe's:--:
78 Undercarriage -:--: -:
framework
79 Rudderpeda
B0 Control roci lir<3::
81 Entrystep
82 Cabindoor
83 Pilot sseat
84 Obseruer's gun:e- : :-,::
85 Ammuniilor mac:: -::
(two of 5Grour:--:a::.
86 Starboardflap
87 Plywoodflapcc-s:--: :-
88 Faphinge
89 Lattlce ribs
I Wooden tailp ane 90 Wing bracing Ve: s:--::
construction 39 Rearwing braclngstrut 91 Strut supportin_.
9 Lowersurface elevatorslat 40 strutattachmentrib f ramework
10 Elevatorbellcrank 4'1 Wing fabric coverlng 92 Leading edge fixe: s ::
1 1 Tailplane pivot mounting
42 Aileronbalancetab 93 Slatattachme^:
12 Finconstructlon 43 Portalleron 94 Leading edge cc-s:--:: :-
13 Finleadinqedqe 44 Portwing tip 95 Alleroncont.o:'c: -<3::
14 Elevatorfabric covering 45 Navigatlon light 96 Fabric bracing s::::
15 Porttallplane 46 Leading edgefixed slat between ribs
16 Elevatorbalance 47 Aileroncontrol rod 97 Wooden mai. sc:-
17 Tailplanetrlmjack 48 Searchllght 98 Aileron hinge
T 8 Tailskid strut cuff
49 Pitothead 99 Aileron balance r,: l-:
19 Teiilskid 27 Stowage ockerdoor 50 FoMard wing bracing strut 100 Balancetab
20 Tailskidsupportstrut 28 Gun sight 51 Flapoperatingjack 10T Starboardaile'c-
21 Welded steeltube 29 7.9 mm MG 15 machine- 52 Port undercarriage 102 Plywood ailerc^
uselage framework 24 Rudderpush pullcontrol gun (provlsion forthree 50 framework construcrior
103 Aileron ouiei. -,::
f
22 Taiplanetrlm cables rod round magazines) 53 Access step
23 Elevator push-pu I control 25 Fuselagefabriccovering 30 LL-Kmachine-gun swivel 54 Windscreen 104 Wlng tip corsl-J:: :-
rods 26 Zipjastened access pane mounting 55 Compass 105 Navlgation isF:
EI F.l.ll"-wulf Fw I8e uhu
In February 1937 the Reichsluftfahrtmi-
msterium issued a specihcation for a
short-range reconnaissance aircraft.
Focke-Wulf responded with the
Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu (eagle owl),
an all metal stressed-skin low-wing
monoplane that had an extensively
glazed fuselage pod, and twin booms
carrying the tail surfaces, The crew
nacelle provided accommodation for A Focke-Wulf Fw 1 89A-1 Uhu (owl) of Aufkldrungsstaffel 1.(H)/32 basedaf
pilot, navigator/radro operator and en- Kemi, Finland, in the summer of 1942. The lateryears of the war were to see
qdneer/gmnner, and power for the pro- the Fw I89 as the Wehrmacht's primary tactical 'eye in the sky', particularly on
totype was supplied by two 321-kW the Eastern Front.
(430-hp) ArEn.rs As 4lO engines, Con-
struction of this aircraft began in Aprtl
1937, and desrgner Tank performed
the flrst flight in July 1938, It was a
dual-control trarner version which
gained the first order in the summer of
1939. These Fw I89B aircraft preceded
the Fw IB9A into manufacture and ser-
vrce. some berng used as conversion
trainers by 9 (H)/LC 2 during the
spring and summer of 1940. In a stmilar
manner the construction of l0 Fw E
! L inverted-Vee prston AFocke-Wulf Fw I894-2of the
189A-0 pre-production aircraft beqan Argius As 410A-
in 1940, some of them being dellered numbers to the Slovakian and Hunga- engines Hungarian 3 / I S hort R ange
to 9 (H)/LG 2 for operational trials, and rian air forces operating on the Eastern Performance: maximum speed Reconnajssance Squadron based at
being followed by the initial produc- Front, in which theatre the type was 335 km/h (208 mph); cruising speed Zamocz, Poland, in March I 944. The
tion Fw I89A-L Further developments deployed most extensively by the Luft- 315 km/h (196 mph); service ceiling A-2 model differedfrom the A-1
ofthis version rncluded the Fw I89A-i/ waffe but at least one Staffei used the 7000 m (22,965 ft); range 670 km (416 solely inhaving twinMG 81s inthe
Trop whrch carried desert survival type operationally in North Africa miles) dorsal and tailcone positions.
equrpment, and the Fw 1B9A-1,{12 and Weights: empty 2805 kq (6, 184 tb;
Fw I89A-IAJ3 which were equipped Specification maximum take-off3950 kg (8,708 Ib) Armament: two trarnable 7, 92-mm
as personal transpods for the use of Focke-Wulf Fw I89A-I Dimensions: span lB 40 m (60 ft 4 4 m); (0 3l-rn) MG 15 machrne-guns and two
Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring and Type: two-seat short-range length 12,03 m (39 ft 5,6 rn); heisht fixed 7,92 mm (0.3]-in) MG l7
General Jeschonnek respectively. The reconnaissance aircraft 3 10m(10 ft2 in); wingarea38,OO m2 machrne-guns, plus four 5O kq (11O-lb)
remarninq Fw lB9A variants inciuded Powerplant:two 347 kW (465-hp) (409.04 sq ft) bombs
ihe Fw 189A-2 introduced in 1942,
ivhich had the trainably mounted MG
15 machine-guns replaced by twin
7 92-mm (0,31-in) MG BlZs; the Fw
l89A-3 two-seat duai-control trainer
rvhich was built in limited numbersl
and the light ground-attack Fw IB9A-4
','rhrch was armed with two 20-mm MG
i51/20 cannon and two 7.92-mm (0.31-
.r; machrne-gnrns in the wrng roors.
and had armour protection for the qr:?.;,irr":i.j.$rr::iii:$,_i44
rnderside ofthe fuselage, engines and
ruel tanks,
Total productron of the Fw lB9 then
amounted to 864 aircraft including pro-
ictypes, built not only by Heinkel but
also by Aero in Praque from 1940 to
i943, and by SNCASO at Bordeaux-
M6rignac unt1l 1944,
Fw 1B9s were supplied in small

Fw I 89A- 1 s lined up fresh from the

f ac tory, aw aiting arm am ent. V ery
tough machines, they handled
superbly and some reportedly
returnedminus one tail boom as a
result of ramming attacks by Soviet
afucraft.

usA
e*:
: stinson L_I vigrilant
The tlvo-seat light observation atrcraft
had been an essential adjunct to US
Army operations, the concept dating
back to World War L In the years be-
tween then and the late 1930s,
observation aircraft had, of course,
been developed to offer much im-
proved performance, some with high-
hft devices whrch made it posstble for
them to operate into and out of quite
small unprepared areas,
When, in 1940, the US Army Air
Corps realized the need to reinforce
its aircraft 1n this cateetory, specifica-
trons were circulated and resulted in
several contracts, Stinson was
awarded a contract for 142 of its de-
sigrn, a braced hiqh-wing monoplane,
with an all-metal basic structure, part
metal- and part fabric-covered, desrgT-
nated Stinson O-49. To provide low-
speed and hiqhlift performance, the
whole of the wing leading edge was
provided with automatically-operated
slats, and the entire trailing edge was
A Stinson O-49F casualty evacuation
plane fitted with twin Edo
amphibious floats comes in to land. It
was re-designated as the L- I in I 942,
when the' observation' classification
was changed to'liaison'.

2594
Stinson L-l Vigilant (continued) Light Aircraft of World War II
::cupied by wrde-span (almost two- superseded by the more effective
:rds) Slotted flaps and larqe slotted Ilqhtweight Grasshopper family,
Jerons which drooped 26" when the Nevertheless, Vigrlants saw quite
--aps were fully down. The non-retract- wide use in both the European and
i:le tailwheel landing gear was de- Paciflc theatres, the RAF operating
s-qrned specially for operation from many of its arrcraft for artillery liaison rn
'-rprepared strips. The powerplant Italy, Sicily and Tunisia,
:rnsisted of a 2 13-kW (285-hp) Lycom-
:q R-680-9 radial engine with a two-
:lade constant-speed propeller, An Specification
:nclosed cabin seated tlvo in tandem, StinsonL-IA
-rd the pilot and observer had an ex- Tlpe: two-seat light lialson/
::llent field ofview all around, above observation aircraft
rnd below, Powerplant: one 22O-kW (295-hp)
A second contract covered the con- Lycoming R-680-9 radial pisron engine
struction of 182 O-49A aircraft, which Performance: maximum speed
dffered by having a slightly longer 196 kr/h (122 mph); service ceiling
:uselage and mrnor equipment 3900 m (12,800 ft); range 451 km (280
:hanges. Desigmation changes in 1942 miles)
resulted in the O-49 and O-49A be- Weights: empty i211 kg (2,670 Ib);
:oming the L-i and L-IA respectively, maximum take-off 1542 kg (3,400 lb)
Soth versions were supplied to the Dimensions: span 15.52 m (50 ft i 1 in);
iAF under Lend-Lease, and these Iength I0,44 m (34 ft 3 in; height3. I0 m
;ere glven the British name Vigilant, ( I 0 il 2 in): wing area 30.56 m' (329 sq A U nite d S tates Army Air F orce L- I F is seen in Burma. C onver ted fr o m a
No filther production of new Vigi- ft) standardL-lA, itis metallic silverexceptfor the top surfaces, which have
-at aircraft followed, for the type was Armament: none been sprayed olive drab.

fl"vtor" raft L-z Grasshopper

-: 1941 =the US Army conducted an
:perational evaluation with four of
rear fuselage and the lntroduction of
trailing-edge cut-outs at the wlng
Taylorcraft were tnvolved in the
traimng progffamme of military glider
Continental O- 170-3 :- .- :-
flai--: ::
:ach of three types of two-seat light roots. Other alterations to fit the aircraft pilots, involvinq 43 impressed civil Performance: maiorlL-r. i: --:
::rcraft for use in the artillery spotting for its specralized tasks included an machines which were used to provide I42krnlh (BB mpht: ser.-.--= ::-'
ld liaison roles, the three tlpes beinQf an initial powered flying course, 3050m(10,000fil rarg-
-.- ' -:

:]e Taylorcraft YO-57, the Aeronca

observer's seat which could be turned
around to face the rear, and the in- The company also developed a light
-
miles)
r O-58 and the Piper YO-59; all were stallation of radio, In this form the type training glider versron which was Weights: empty 391 k; : . : r
-<iown as Grasshoppers. The success- was designated O-57A and 336 were known as the Taylorcraft ST-100 and maxrmlxnlake-off59C k: -,.. -
^l use of the aircraft during the US manufactured, given the desigmation TG-6. The front Dimensions:spanIJ l: : : . : .-.
-:rmy's manoeuvres, operating direct- A further 140 were built under the fuselage was extended and a 'glass- lenqth6.93 mrZZfi) : -: -r-- - -
-_.- wrth ground forces, resulted in in- designation L-24, US Army aircraft of house' canopy fitted, the landingr gear (B il 0 in): wrng area -: : - :. -: . . -
:leased production contracts for all this class havinq been reclassified, simplified and a skid added under the Armament: none
::ree, although the Piper design was to from obsewation to liarson in 1942, The nose: the lengthened nose necessi-
:: the most proliflc, YO-57s and O-57s were reclassified tated increased frn area, Production
The flrst four Taylorcraft YO-57s L-2 and the YO-S7As were redesig- totalled 253, including three for US
',';ere standard civil Taylorcraft Model nated L-2A. Some 490 aircraft with spe- Navy trials. ATaylorcraft L-2A liaison a-:::ej: -
ls. powered by the 4B-kW (65-hp) cral equipment, built for service with seenin l942.Thiswas a f;-';
l.:ntLnental YO- 170-3 flat-four engrne. the fleld artillery, were designated L- Specification militarized version of the c.',--:z:.
::-d were followed by 70 basically- 28 and the final variant, urth a produc- Taylorcraft L-2A T ay lor cr af t M o d e I D. wi t! -=-:.-: :'+--
-.-milar O-5? aircraft, However, the tion run of 900, was the L-2M, identified Type: two-seat liaison aircrafVtraining rear vision and tr ailing ei ge :; : - : : :
-=-:ed to provide an all-round view re- by the fully cowled enqine and the glider at the wing roots. Tfie de-":_- ;'aj :::
. ired in modifications to the cabin and frtting of wing sporlers. Powerplant: one 48-kW (65-hp) progenitor of the Britsh Auste:.

r!:ii:i:
i:::;:l:
llar:il;.

:;:!i'!:liii+lii,r.::i
i:ir:iiiit:ili:
:ti::i:::iii:itl:::t ;

iiri:i::tiil::
.,:, 1.., i
Armg Co-operation
The close co-operation of the Luftwaffe wilh the German army played an important
partin the Blitzkrieg victories of 1939-41. By contrast, theRAF had paid litile
attention to the army, and it was to be several years before air and ground forces
f ough t tog e the r s uc ce s sfully.
When the l,uftwaffe was reborn in 1934, it was
planned first and foremost as a support arm of
the German army, all other tasks berng elther
means to that end or deliberately subordinated
to it. In other words, almost all the combat
aircraft pianned for the Luftwaffe's inventory
would to some extent be employed in 'army
co-operation', The UK's air force, on the other
hand, was a totally autonomous service and
performed a much greater range of tasks of
whrch the 'army co-operation' role was consi-
dered to be of relatrvely minor importance,
being confined to gunnery spotting short-
range reconnaissance and battle area surveill-
ance; the qround-attack fighter-bomber, for in-
stance, was unimagtined. World War Ii
changed all ihat,
The only aeroplane which, by the nature of
iis operational requirement, the RAF em-
ployed as a matter of course over the bat-
tiefield at the begrnnrng of the war was the
Westland Lysander, the Fairey Battle and Brls-
tol Blenheim light bombers operatinq some-
what farther afleld. The Germans by contrast
flew large numbers of Henschel Hs 126s, air-
craft of concept very similar to that of the
Lysander and operated in much the same man-
ner; yet this was only a part of the apparatus of
Blitzkrieg, and it operated successfully in an
environment of German air superiority won by
the Messerschmitt, Junkers and Heinkels over
ihe land battle.
Both srdes took stock of the lessons learned
rn the first year ol the war, however, and the
RAF in particular realized that the business of
army co-operatlon had to be upgraded (and
quickly) if the British army was to survive turth-
er onslaughts by Blitzkneg tactics, The Lysan-
der had been required to spot for the army and
drop bombs over the battlefield in skies
dominated by modern flghters, and had suf-
fered accordinqly, And so the fighter-bomber
was conceived as a bomb-carrying adaptation
ol the interceptor which could also dlspute air
superiority over the land battle, Indeed the
Luftwaffe had begun this process in Spain, and
took it much further with its bomb-carrying
Messerschmitt Bf I09s and Bl 110s in 1940.
This drvestment of the combat role by the
traditional'army co-operation' aeroplane now
rendered obsolescent aircraft like the Lysan-
der and Hs 126, both of them relatively large,
Such machines were by no means rudimentary
and had never been capable of being oper-
ated from what today would be termed 'dis-
persed sites', What was needed instead was an
aircraft capable of the same short-field per-
formance, much simpler to fly and maintain in
the fleld, and yet able to perform the same
battlefield tasks as hitherto.
Communications duties
The Luftwaffe of course already possessed
such an aircraft in the superb Fteseler Storch,
although It had thus far been used more as an
'aerial staff car' for communications behind the
battlefront than for operational duties, but from
1940 onwards this light aircraft came to be
employed for such tasks as artillery spotttng,
short-range reconnaissance, casualty evacua-
tion and aircrew recovery, delivery of sabot-
age teams and recovery ofagents lrom behind
enemy lines. It was of course no less vulnerable
to fighters and ground flre but, being more
manoeuvrable and simpler to fly, it stood a
much better chance of suwiving a forced land-
The campaign in the Western Desert saw the
Iiaison aircraftused to the full, with aircraft such as
the Fieseler Storch giving commanders an overall
view of the wide expanses of desert and keeping
scattered forces in communication with each
other.
ing, Its modern counterpart rs the helicopter,
The RAF took rather longer to formulate its
requirements for the battlefleld, other than pro-
ducing bomb- and rocket-carrying figthters,
and the Lysander soldiered on in its traditional
role in the Mediterranean, At home lt came to
be employed for a very different purpose, that
of deliverrnQr agents to and from occupied
Europe, But foilowrng its massacre in the Battle
of France during 1940, it was firmly wlthdrawn
from operational army co-operation,
As the old Lysander squadrons (still known
as army co-operation units) converted to such
aircraft as the Curtiss Tomahawk and North
American Mustang reconnaissance fighters,
which did not prove entireiy suitable for work
at low level, a new generation oi army co-
operatron units came into being rn I941, the air
observation posts (AOP), staffed jointly by RAF
and army personnel.
Trials using a Taylorcraft Model D (a Brtttsh-
built version of the American sporting light-
On atield in Greece two types of German aircraft
make an interesting contrast, the larger Henschel
being typical of the pre-war thinking on army co'
operation and the Storch typifying the light 'L'
liaison plane thatwas ultimately to prove more
useful.
l\e Westland Lysander went to
I r ance in I 940, with the RAF
.rpecting to use itin the direct
-:pport of the ground forces.Within
:aur years, its tasks were to be taken
a; very different types, including the
"ght plane and the high-
pedormance fighter.
:-ane) with the School of Artillery early in the
:,','ar
had resulted in the creation of D Flight of
jie School of Army Co-operation at Old Sarum
: February 1940; thrs flight was actually tn
:ra:rce at the time of the German attack tn the
-,iiest
on 10 May, but took no part in the cam-
paign and was hurrledly withdrawn Jn du9
:cwse the Air Mrnistry ordered 100 Taylorcraft
?lus Ds (named the Auster Mk 1) and these
:ventually served wrth D Flight, proving to be
:xcellent ab initio trainers for Royal Arttllery
:ircers who could be given only the rudiments
-i flyrng training,
On 1 August I94l No, 651 (Arr Observation
?cst) Squadron was formed at Old Sarum Dur-
rg the next 12 months four more AOP squad-
:ons were formed and two ol these, Nos 651
-nd 654, accompanted the British lst Army in
-:e
'Torch' landings in North Africa in Novem-
ier 1942. Other squadrons were lormed subse-
quently, worktng wtth British land forces dur-
,rg the Srcilian and Italian campaigns, the Nor-
:randy landings and the reconquest of north-
:rn Europe, No, 656 Squadron, with Auster Mk
,lls, embarked for India in August 1943 and
supported the 14th Army rn Burma from Janu-
ary 1944 until the end of the war.
Army co-operation ln the American air
irces had also been long established, dating
as far back as i919 wrth the creation of the
-lrmy Surveillance and Army Observation
3roups of Juty-October that year, flyrng DH 4B
-nd DH,4M aircraft, Gradually the 'Observation
: orce' expanded wrth such aircraft as the Cur-
Falcon and Douglas O-series aircraft dur-
-s
rg the years of peace until, on the eve of the
JSA's entry into World War Ii, the US Army Air
Jcrps possessed eight observation qroups
'.',rtlr a total of 26 squadrons, equipped with a
:eteroqeneous collection of Douglas O-38s and
l-46s and North Amertcan O-47s; of these
squadrons 21 belonged to theAir National
l:ard,
Some weeks before Pearl Harbor the flrst of
S',*
s
a series of large-scale training exercises (the
Carolina Maneuvers involving infantry,
armoured and artillery units of the US Army, as
well as nine observation squadrons) was held,
the conduct of which determined the iuture
course of US Army Air Corps co-operation with
the ground forces, much along the same lines
as current thinking in Europe. Bombing and
strafing would henceforth be undertaken by
flghters and light bombers, whtle artillery spot-
trng, short-rangJe reconnaissance and similar
tasks would be carried out by a new class of
liqhtplane, often referred to as Grasshoppers.
Tie hrst ol these, the Stinson L-1 Vrgilant, had
already flown as the O-49 but was now re-
qarded as beinq still too large and heavy' and
was soon overtaken by the Aeronco L-3, Piper
L-4 and Stinson L-5, arrcraft whose all-up
weights ranged between 590 kq (l 300 ]b) and
907 kq (2,0001b), compared with the 1542 kq
(3,400lb) of the 1,-1 (and almost 2722kgl
]b of the Lysander).
6 000
Within three years of the USA's entry into the
war the USAAF flelded no fewer than 13
groups (wlth the equivalent of 47 squadrons),
their Grasshoppers performing such bat-
tlefleld tasks as 'artillery adjustment', weather
reconnaissance, bomb/barrage-damage
assessment, despatch carrying, casualty eva-
cuation and photographic mapping Whlle
several of these groups remained 1n the USA
for training and replacement purposes, others
(now simply termed reconnaissance groups)
accompanied US armres overseas to the South
West Paciflc, North A-frrca and Europe The
Grasshoppers were flrst deployed in large
numbers durtnq the Tennessee and Lcu:s:a:-.
Maneuvers of October and November
--?=Z
before being transferred overseas.
The Soviet alr force contrived to brt-ng 'g::
aircraft up to the battlefields of the Eas:el:-
Front, as much frrr short-range (vrsual) rec::--
naissance as for artillery collaboration, b:i. -:s-
ses amongr the Poiikarpov U-2 (later Pc-2' :--
planes, which were also freguently '':sei --
broadcast propaganda wrth loudspeakers -.:
the German troops, were astronomica- :- -:=
face of early Luftwaffe air superion:.- j-:-::
aircraft were also wldely used lor n-g::: ::*'
sance raids over the German lrres. I a:el -
the LuJtwaffe was forced by fue] shcra;r=.' ::
abandon patrols to rid the skies over -:= :::-
tlefield of these small aircraft, they rn'ere -i-= ::
operate with impuntty, and were s-:- -,-::-;
much in evidence rtght up to the end :: -::
-'',--
in Europe,
Perhaps the most sustained A-ll-tec -= ::
artillery spotting aircraft was dun::gr --:: 1'-
vance through northern Ewope ioiic-'',-:;: :-=
Normandylandings, a total of I I USAi: - I - -
RAFsquadrons(Nos652, 653, 657 63t aa: ::-
661, 662, 664 and 665) supporting the -S ::-*=:-
-:.e
and Canadian armies, During the ia::j-:-;s
Austers and Grasshoppers were i:;;- ::::
special carrlers to direct gnrnfire on :3 -=:-:-:-;
areas, By way of testtmony to their ';a-:: i'-:---;
that flnal viclortous campaign it -s ,',::.--- :--:-'
ing a passage from the records :: := ,,---'
Panzer Division: 'The grealest nr--c--:= :: =
are the slow-flying artillery spc::=:s ','.:-:--.
work with utter calmness over c';r !:-<--:-=j
just out of reach, and direct artiller-'- :l= _:- j
forward posltlons.'
_
AnAuster IV of the 652nd Air Observation
Squadron attached to the 3rd Canadian In!ar.4'
Division of I BritishCorps is wheeled out o{ a aias:
pit near Cresserons during the Normandy
campaign. Such aircr aft provided valuab le
information to the Allies.
 H"ron"a L-3 Grasshopper
=
he name Aeronca Aircraft Corpora-
:cn had been adopted in 1941 by the
3.mpany established in late l92B as
re Aeronautical Corporatron of Amer-
rca. One of its most successful products
-rias the Aeronca Model 65 highwing
monoplane, developed to meet com-
mercial requirements for a reliable
Cual-control tandem two-seat tralner,
The four of these aircraft supplied in-
1tially to the USAAC became desig-
nated YO-58, and these were followed
by 50 O-58, 20 O-58A and 335 0-588 AnAeronca L-38 of a US Army Air Force liaison/obsewation unit is seen in a
arrcraft, serving with the USAAF late war colour scfieme. The various L-3 models differed only in equipment fit,
(established on 20 June l94l), In the with A, B and C models being extemally very similar. Over I ,400 L-3s had
foliowing year the O (Observation) de- beendeliveredby 1944.
srgmation was changed to L (Liaison),
and the O-58, O'5BA and O-5BB de-
sigrnations became respectively L-3, L- veloped an unpowered version of the evaluatron were identified as LNR, englne
3A and L-3B Grasshopper. An addi- Model 65, This retained the wings, tail Production of Aeronca liaison aircraft Performance: maxrmum speed
tional 540 aircraft were delivered as unit and aft fuselage of the L-3, but contrnued after the war, wrth planes 140 kn/h (87 mph); cruisingspeed
L-3Bs and 490 L-3C aircraft were introduced a new front fuselage pro- supplied to the USAF under the de- 74krnlh(46 mph); sewice ceiling
manufactured before production en- viding a third seat forward for an in- sigmation L-16. 3050 m(10,000 ft); ranse322 km(200
ded in 1944. The designations L-3D/ structor, the original tandem seats
-3FJ -3F / -3G/ -3W-3J were applied to being used by two pupils: all three Specification Weights: empty 379 kg (835 lb);
civil Model 65s with varying power- occupants had similar flying controls AeroncaL-3 maximumtake-offS9O kq (1,300 lb)
plant installations and rmpressed into and instruments, A total of 250 of these Tlpe: two-seat ltght liaison and Dimensions: span 10,67 m (35 ft 0 in);
military service when the United training gliders was supplied to the observation monoplane length 6,40 m (21 ft 0 in): height 2.34 m
States became involved in World War USAAF under the designation TG-S, Powerplant: one 4B-kW (65-hp) (7 ft B in): wing area 14,68 m'(158 sq ft)
I1 and three supplied to the US Navy for Continental O- 170 flalfour piston Armament:none
Most L-3s were generally similar,
-,vith small changes in equipment rep-
resentinq the variatron from one to
arother, AII shared the welded steel-
iube fuselagre/tail unit with fabric
covenng, and wings with spruce
spars, light a11oy rrbs and metal frame
arlerons, all fabric-covered. Landing
Eear was of non-retraciable tarlwheel
rype, with the main units divrded and
-:corporating oleo-sprinq shock-
absorbers in the side vees.
With the requrement for a trainer
sutable for glider pilots, Aeronca de-

An Aeronca L-3C is seen during the

last months of the war Togetherwith
the T aylorcr att and Piper mode Is of
the Grasshopper, the L-3C was
powered by a 65-hp 0- 170-3
C ontinental pis ton engine.

fio", L-4 Grasshopper

=
5valuated for the role of artillery spot-
:ng and front-line liarson, four exam-
pies of the Piper Cub Model J-3C-65
-,';ere acquired for this purpose by the
US Army Air Corps ln mid- 194 1, These
-r,'ere allocated the desiEmation YO-59
and, alrnost simultaneously, 40 addi-
:onal examples were ordered as O-59
aircraft,
Experience on manoeuwes made it
orssrble lo procure a new version
nore specifically tailored to the US
Army's requirements, This, desig-
:ated O-59A, was of braced high-wing The original designation of the wartime military Cub was O-59, but these early
nonoplane conflguration and was of aircraft were subsequently identified in the 'liaison' category as L-4s when the
:cmposite construction comprising redesignation of 'obsewation' aircraftwas carried out in 1942. This L-4H is
'r, ooden spars, light alloy ribs and fab- painted in standard Army drab. Thewire and cork fuel indicator is clearly
rc covering, The fuselage and braced uisible.
:arl unit had basrc structures of welded
sreel tube and were fabric-covered,
-anding qear was of the fixed tail- type was later redesignated L-44. and both pupils were provided wtth Army's L-4s, and these were used as
-rhee1 type, and the powerplant of the In 1942 Piper was requested to de- full flying controls, A total of 250 was primary trainers. TWenty similar air-
C-59A comprised a 4B-kW (65-hp) velop a traininq qrlider from the basic built for the USAAF under the desiqna- craft procured at a later date were de-
lontinental O-170-3 flat-four engine. L-4 design, this involving the removal tion TG-8, plus three for evaluation by signated NE-2, and 100 examples of
Frrmary requrrement of the O-59A of the powerplant and landing gear, In the US Naw which desisnated them the Piper J-SC Cub which were ac-
speciflcation was improved accom- its modifled form it had a simple cross- XLNP-I, quired for ambulance use (carryingr
nodation for prlot and observer, which axle landing gear with hydraulic Apart from the three XLNP- ls which one stretcher) were origdnally HE-l,
',tas achieved urth a modified enclo- brakes, and the powerplant was re- the US Nalry acquired for evaluation, When, in 1943, the letter H was allo-
srre for the tandem cockpits to pro- placed by a new front fuselagre to this service also procured 230 NE-I cated to identify helicopters the HE- ls
-.--de better all-round visibility. The accommodate an instructor, and he aircraft basically similar to the US were redesignated AE-I.
Piper L-4 Grasshopper (continued) Light Aircraft of World War II
Specification
PiperL-4
Type: rwo-seat lighrwerght larson
atcraft
Powerplant: one 4B-kW (65-hp)
Jontrnenlal O- i70-3 flat four psron
engine
Performance: maxrmum speed
-37 lsn/h (85 mph); cruising speed
-21 km/h (75 mph); service ceiling
2835 m (9,300 ft); ranse 306 kn (190
miles)
Weights: empty 331 kq (730 1b);
maxrmum take-off 553 kq ( t, 220 lb)
Dimensions: span 10,74 m (35 ft 3 in);
lengdh6.TL m(22110 in): height2.03 m
16 ftB in); wingarea I6 63 m'z(l79sqft)
Armament:none

The Piper Cub was built in improved

versions up until 198 I , and has been
used by a great many air forces. The
Israeli air force, operators of this
late-modelSuper Cub, have been
using the type since its creation in the
late 1940s.

H,inron L-5 Sentinel

=
The Stinson (part of Vultee) 105 Voya-
grer was an attractive three-seat civil
during the Korean War, The RAF was
allocated 100 of these arcraft under
lightplane, and in 1941 the US Army Lend-Lease, and these were used
acqutred six of these civil aircraft wrdely in Burma for liaison spotting
which it evaluated for use in a light and air ambulance duties under the
liarson role, Successfirl testing resulted name Sentinel. The US Marine Corps
ur an initial order of l94I for 275 aucraft acquired a total of306 L-Ss ofdiffering
to be powered by the Lycoming O- versions, but all were desigmated OY-
435-1 flat-four engrine. The following I, the Y siqmifying origrin foom Consoli-
order covered I,456 similar arcraft, dated after a merger with Vultee in
under the designation L-5. early 1943. The US Marine Corps de-
Construction of the L-Ss was ployed its SentLnels for similar mrssions
changed from that ofthe orrginal Voya- to those of the RAF and USAAF in sup-
qer desigm following a decision to re- port of its operatiors in the Pacific.
serve alloy materials for the construc-
:ion of combat aircraft. Instead of the Specification
mrxed construction which had been StinsonL-5 miles) Above: Two of the I AA Stuson
'.sed for the wrng and tail unit of the Type: two-seat light liaison arcraft Weights: empty 703 kg ( 1,550 lb); Sentinels supplr d un d er lcnd -
Voyager, those of the L-5 were all- Powerplant: one I3B-kW ( l85-hp) maximum take-otr9 16 kg (2,020 ]b) Leaseto theRAF in Bunnaflyover the
wood, but retarned the welded steel- Lycoming O-435-1 flat-four piston Dimensions: span 10,36 m (34 ft O in); paddy fields. They were used for
:ube fuselage structure. Other enqrne Iength 7,34 m (24 ft I in): height 2.41 m artiJlery spotting. air am-buJance and
:hanges included rearrangement of Performance: maximum speed (7 ft 1 I in): wing area 14,40 m'1i55 sq general Earson dutix.
}e enclosed cabin to seat two in tan- 209 krn/h (130 mph); semce ceiling ft)
iem, a reduction in height of the rear 4815 m (15,800 ft); range 676 km (420 Armament: none
::selage to provide an rmproved rear-
;qard view and the provision of clear
larsparent panels in the roof. The on-
q:ural mng design had included lead-
-rg-edge slots and slotted trarling-
edge flaps, and these were retained,
lhe main umts of the non-retractable
:ailwheel type landing gear were
::odified so that the stroke of the oleo-
:-oring shock-absorbers was almost
ioubled,
The L-SC, of which 200 were built,
provision for the rnstallation of a
-d
Ji-20 reconnaissance camera. In addi-
:cn to the aircraft procured directly by
--:e US Army, eight commercial Voya-
;ers were commandeered in 1941 and
:--signated AT-194 (later L-9A), and
-2 others as AT-I9B (t-98).
Used extensively by the USAAF
-::ougrhout World War II, especially in
-:e Pacific theatre, many L-Ss were
.-ll in use to provide valuable sewice

Developed lrom the Stinson I 05

lfoyager, theL:.5 Sentinel was used
eztensively by lhe USAAF, especially
n the Pacific. This example is from
:ne / 63rd.Ljais on S qu adron, b ased
an Okinawa in the middle of I 945.

t coo
U Po[karpov U-2
Occupyrng a unique position in Soviet
aviation history, the Polikarpov U-2
pnmary trainer biplane had an tnaus-
picious stafi. The U-2TPK prototype,
which appeared in early 1927, had
been built to achteve economy in re-
pau and maintenance. the wtngs com-
prrsing four identical thick-section in-
terchanqeable rectangular panels
u'rth square tips. Similarly, a common
control surface was used for ailerons,
elevators and rudder, The result was a
biplane with very poor flight charac-
tenstics, It had thus to be redesigmed,
appearinq as a neat, manoeuwable bi-
plane havinq staggered single-bay
wing with rounded tips, conventional
cross-axle landing gear, and tandem
open cockpits for tnstructor and pupil,
Powered by a 75-kW (100-hp) radial
engine, the.new prototype made its
f,rst flighl on 7 January 1928. An im-
mediate success, it was placed in
quantity production, deliveries start-
ing in 1928, and by the time of the
German invasion of the Soviet Union in
mid-1941 over 13,000 had been com-
pleted.
Though its principle role was Pnm-
ary traimng, the U-2 was soon modified
as a light passenger transport air
ambulance and agricultural aircraft,
Productron continued on a massive
scale during World War II, and the U-2
took on an even wider range ofduties,
inctuding liaison, light attack, night nui-
sance raider and propactanda aircraft
complete with microphone and loud-
speaker.
After Polikarpov's death, on 30 JulY
1944, the U-2 was redesignated Po-Z in
€4 iilriaionali
Meridionali, then named Officine Fer-
.o\rane Mendionali, flrst became in-
volved in the ltalian aircraft industry in
i923, beginning manufacturing activi-
:res two years later by licence-con-
struction of Fokker designs. Subse-
quently, after two years under the
lame Romeo, the title Industrie Mec-
caniche e Aeronautlche Meridionalt
IIMAM) was adopted in 1936,
In 1934 the company had started de-
siqin and production of a two-seat
:iqhter/reconnaissance biplane under
:.nedesiqnation Romeo Ro.37, This was
an unequal-span single-bay biplane of
nxed wood and metal construction,
Iis design included fixed tailwheel
landrnq gear, all three wheels beingt
provided with speed fairings; a braced
.arl unit incorporatrng a variable-rnct-
dence tailplane; and accommodation
:cr two in tandem enclosed cockpits.
Power was provided by a 522-kW
1700-hp) Fiat A.30RA Vee engine. An
-rnproved Ro.37bis was developed
s'Libsequently and this introduced an
: ptional radral powerplanl comprslng
euher the Praggio P,lX or P,X super-
:narqed engdne. Both models proved
pcpirlar for their day, with production
:: ihe Ro,37 and Ro.37bis exceedingt
,30 and 475 respectively, and export
:lders were received from Afqhanis-
:an Hungary and from countries
l:niral and South America.
Ro.37 and Ro.37bis aircraft were in-
-.-clved in the Spanish Civil War from
3ctober 1936 and were used exten-
s,-,'ely by the Regia Aeronautica dur-
-:-g Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia
':e:ween
October 1935 and May 1936
ld during the ltalian occupation of
his honour, and post-war it continued
in production in the USSR for several
years, T?arner and ambulance variants
were built on a large scale in Poland
from 1948 to 1953, Po-2s served with
many Sovret al[es and a smal] number
still remain in flying condition in the
USSR and several other countries. The
total built rs credibly reported to be in
excess of 40,000,
Specification
PolikarpovU-2VS
Type: trainer and multi-purpose
aircraft
Powerplant: one 75-kW (I00-hp) M- I I
radial piston engrne
Performance: maximum speed
156 km/h (97 mph); service ceiling Built ona large scale in Poland as tfte CSS-/3, the Polikarpov U-2 (known as the
4000 m (13,125 ft); ranqe 400 km (249 Po-2 after the designer's death in 1944) was used in awide array of both civil
mrles) and military roles, and has probably beenbuilt in greater numbers and in
Weights: empty equlpped 635 kg morevariants than any other aircraft in history.
(1,400 tb); maxrmumtake-off89O kg
(I,962 lb)
Dimensions: span I1,40 m (37 ft 4,8 in);
lengrthB. l7 m(26 ft9,78 in); heiqht ^
3, 10 m(10 ft2 in); wrnqarea33. 15 m'
(356,84 sq ft)
Armament:none
A Soviet built U-2 supplied to the
Polish forces at the end of WorldWar
II, presewed at aPolishmuseum.
Over 100 regiments, each of 42
aircraft, operated the'Kuburuznile'
('CornCutter') at theheightof the
war,
Ro.3zbis
that country until 1941. Some 275 aircraft sq ft)
Ro.37bis arcraft were in sewice wrth Powerplant: one 4 1B-kW (560-hp) Armament: two fixed forurard-fl rinqt
the Regda Aeronautica when ltaly be- Piaggio P.IX RC.40 radial piston 7 7-mm (0.303-in) machrne-guns and
came involved in World War II, and engne one gun of same calibre on trainable
these saw first-line service ln the East Performance: maximum speed mount in rear cockpit, plus up to 180 kg
and North African campaiqns and in 330 km/h (205 mph) at 5000 m (397 ]b) of bombs on underfuselage
the Balkans. After withdrawal from (16,405 ft); cruisinqspeed 250 km/h racks
first-line service they found a varrety of (i55 mph); sewrce ceilingrT20O m
uses, but all had been retired before (23,620 ft); maxrmum range I 120 km
italy's armistice with the Allies on B (696 miles) The Meridionali Ro.37 s aw its heyday
September 1943, Weights: empty 1585 kq (3,494 1b); during the S panish C iv il W ar. A few
maximum take-off2420 kq (5,335 lb) soldiered on into World W ar I I, this
Specification Dimensions: span I I 0B m (36 ft 4 2 in); example being captured during the
Meridionali Ro.3Zbis lengrhB,56 m(28 ft I in); heig,ht3.l5 m batile for Monte Cowino near
Tlpe: wo-seat fi ghter/reconnaissance
I
(10 ft4 in); wingarea3l 35 m2 (337.46 Salernoin 1943.
in
Armed Forces of the World
Portugal
--til very recently Portugal was a colonial power
'. -n troops stationed overseas in Angola, Guinea,
- ^lor and Mozambique. Today the armed forces
-: only two main f unctions, f irst as a member of
-:"'eNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization which the
-:.lntry joined in 1949, and second as a counter-
- sr rgency/internal security service. The strength of
^3 Portuguese armed forces reached a peak
' 174, when they totalled 282,000 officers and men
,-d defence expenditure accounted for7.4 percent
,':ne gross domestic product (GDP) With the with-
:-:wal from the colonies the total strength was
-:c dly i-educed, and today the Portuguese armed
'-rfces total about 64,000 officers and men with
:eience expenditure accounting for around 4 per
rent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
For many years the Portuguese armed forces
,',ere starved of modern equipment as most of the
-oney went on equipment suitable for use in the
::unter-insurgency and internal security role, espe
: aily inf antry weapons such as rif les, machine-guns
'rdin mortars.
the last few years some modern equipment
-:s started to arrive in Portugal, much of it from
:lner NATO countries including West Germany, the
- K and the United States. There is so much obso
:re equipment still in service, especially with the
.'my and air force, that it will be many years, if at all,
::fore the Portuguese armed forces can be consi
r:red a potent force by NATO standards.
The army
The army has a total strength of 40,000 officers
.^d men, of whom 30,000 are conscripts. This force
. crganized into six territorial commands, of which
': rr are within Portugal itself and the other two are
i : *-Eruese infa n try a r me d with T. 6 2 mm (0. 3 - in )
-
I j :rJ7es sfand jn the rain during a disturbance in
:,e capital. The 1974 coup ousted the Salazar
*"
:atorship and ended the bloody wars in Angola
z;.: .'tozambique thatwere such a drain on
in
rsland commands. An interesting collection of armoured vehicles
Units include one mixed brgade, three cavalry belonging to a regiment which stayed loyal during
regiments, 11 rnfantry regiments, three indepen- the 1 97 5 coup attempt advancing on Lisbon. From
dent infantry battalions, one commando regiment, left to right: an M24 Chaffee, an M47 Main Battle
T ank and a World W ar I I vintage Humber
one anti aircraft regiment, two field artillery regim- armoured car.
enls, one coaslal artillery regirrent, two engineer
regiments. one signals regiment, one military police
Below : The traininEr sft ip Sagres was
regiment, and special forces. commissioned in the Pottuguese navy in 1972.
Most of the modern equipment is issued to the First commissioned in 1938 as a training ship of the
1st lndependent Mixed Brigade, which is ear- Germannavy, itwas takenbytheUSAin 1945 only
marked for NATO deployment. This brigade con to be sold to Brazil in I948, where it served until its
sists of one tank battalron, one mechanized infantry sale to Portugal.
battalion, two infantry battalions, and one artillery
battalion with M109 self propelled howitzers
The tank battalion has one company of M4BASs
with 'l 05-mm {4.13 in) gun, two companies of M47s
with 90-mm (3.54-in) guns, and a reconnaissance
company with M4BA5 tanks, M 1 13A1/M 1 13A2
armoured personnel carriers (including some with
the Hughes TOWATGW system)and M10642 mor-
lar carriers wrth 107-mm (4.2 in) mortars.
Equipment rncludes 27 M47 tanks, 23 M4BA5
tanks f rom West Germany and the United States, 1 1
M24 Chaffee light tanks, 43 Panhard EBR heavy
armoured cars and EBR ETT armoured personnel
carriers, 63 Panhard AML-90 and AML 60 armoured
cars, a small number of Panhard M3 armoured per
sonnel carriers, 32 Ferrer scout cars, 100 M113
armoured personnel carriers (rncluding some with
TOW), nine M557A2 command post vehlcles, 86
Chaimite armoured personnel carriers (bullt in Por-
tugall,24 139 7 mm (5 5-in) towed guns, 36 105-
mm M10141 towed howitzers, l2155 mm (6 1 in)
M10942 self-propelled howitzers, and about 40
coastal artillery weapons of various calibres.
Much of the new equipment (especially the
M 1 13A2 armoured personnel carriers, M 10942
self propelled howitzers, TOWs, trucks and Jeeps) rifles, SS.11 ATGWs mounted on locaLly prodrce3
has been supplied since 1 977 by the USA under the 4x4 Jeeps, and Hughes TOW ATGWs
Military Aid Programme (MAP). For some years Portugal has been i,,irtra i'' se'-
lnfantry weapons include 9-mm Walther P'1 pis sufficient in infantry weapons at least. '," :r \'l::
tols, 9 mm FMBP63 sub-machine guns, 7 62 mm (lndustrias Nacionais de Defesa EPr n a--'ac:,'-l
(0 3-ln) G3 rif les, 7.62-mm NK 21 ,1 .62-mm MG42l the West German Heckler & (ocr C3 -': --:='
59 and 12.7-mm (0 5-in) lr/2 HB Browning machine licence, as well as a cornpleie i-ange := A:--^- 2.i-
guns, locally built 60-mrn (2.36-in) and B1-mm (3.2- ,") and Bl-mr 13.l ;n' ^ on3's i^c l-:' ::--l :.:l
-05 rr
in) FBP mortars, French 120-mm (4.72-ln) Brandt ammunitron. Small arms an-rrln ior ar-c
mortars, 88.9 mm (3.5-in) rocket-launchers, 75-mm artillery ammunition are also manuiactured n Por
(2 95-in) M20 and 106'mm (4.11-in) M40 recoilless tugal, as are 4x4l ght vehicles. while Bravia manu-
 tt1
Armed Forces of the World ( /_-
factures a complete range of 4 x4 and 6xG trucks as
well as the Chaimite 4x4 amphibious armoured
personnel carrier, of which 400 have been butlt for
the home and export markets, and the Commando
4x4 internal security veh cle.
Air-defence weapons include less than 20 Brrtish
Short Blowpipe SAM launchers, 18 West German
Rheinmetall twin 20-mm Rh202 cannon and 20 old
Bofors 40-mm (1.5 in) L 60 anti aircraft guns.

The navy
This has a total strenqth of 15,000 officers and
men including marines, of whom about 4,000 are
conscripts. The main naval bases are at Faro and
Lisbon (Alfelte), and warships lnclude three French
built 'Daphn6' class submarines commissioned be-
tween 1967 and 1969, four'Comandante Joao Belo'
class frigates built in France and commissioned be-
tween 1967 and 1969, three 'Almirante Pereira de
Silva' class frigates built in Portugal and commis-
sioned between 1 966 and 1 968 (these are based on
the American 'Dealey' class escorts and two are
being converted for offshore patrol duties), four
'Baptista de Andrade' class frigates built in Spain
and commlssioned in 1974-5 (these have provision
for the French Exocet MM.38 surface-to-surface
missile, but such have not been fitted), six 'Joao
Coutinho' class frigates commissioned in 1970-1
(three built in Spain and three built in West Ger
many), 10 'Cacine' class large patrol class bullt in
Portugal and commissioned in 1969-73, two 'Dom
Aleixo' class large coastal patrol craft commissioned
in 1967, three Cheverton patrol craft of GRP which
operate at the mouth of the River Tagus, 14 Portu-
guese-built'Albatroz' class coastal patrol craft, and
four Portuguese-built 'Sao Roque' class coastal
minesweepers which are similar to the British 'Ton'
class. Support craft include one landing craft tank,
two 'Bombarda' class landing craft tank, 10 landing
craft mechanized and one landing craft assault.
There are also tugs, survey ships, tankers and har-
bour launches.
The marines total 2,500 off icers and men, lnclud-
ing 1,000 conscripts, and are organized into three
battalions plus supporting units. Equipment rn-
cludes Charmite 4x4 amphibious armoured person
nel carriers and mortars.
Many of the warships of the Portuguese navy are
urgently in need of modernization (including new
sensors and weapons). ln recent years there have
been talks of Portugal purchasing one of the Dutch
'Kortenaer' class frigates, with a further two to be
built under licence. But as with a number of other
such projects, sufficient funds for this proposal have
yet to be found.
Equrpment on order or being delivered to the air
force includes 12 ltalian Agusta A 109A helicopters
of which four will be fitted with the TOW ATGW
system, three Lockheed C-'130 Hercules transports
and a further 30 refurbished Vought A-7 attack air-
craft.
The parachute group consists of one battalion and
two companies.
The Portuguese air force has started to receive
more modern equipment in recent years, especially
with the acquisition f rom the USA of the refurbished
Vouqht A-7 single-seat ai{ack aircraft. The whole
air-defence system is in need of modernization, and
surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns are
needed to protect the airfields.
Reserves and paramilitary forces
Reserves for all three arrns total 1 70,000 officers
and men. Paramilitary forces include 14,600 in the
National Republrcan Guard whose equipment in-
cludes the Bravia Commando Mk lll 4x4 internal
security vehicle, 15,000 in the public security police
and 7,000 in the Fiscal Guard.
The rate of modernization of the Portuguese
armed forces depends on a number of key factors.
These include a steady growth in the economy,
which has failed to happen in recent years, and a
lowering of inflation which reached 3B per cent in
The Portuguese air force has begun to receive
more modern equipment in the last few years,
including 20 refurbished Vought A-7P Corsair II
attack aircra{t. The A-Z can carry up to 6804 kg
(I 5,000 lb) of ordnance.
'1983. NATO is helping with deliveries of more mod-
ern equipment, especially to the army and air force,
but massive deliveries are needed if the Portuguese
armed forces are to be completely re-equipped.
For manyyears the USA has made extensive use
of Lages airf ield in the Azores, and this played a key
role in the resupply of lsrael in the 1973 conflict. lt
would also be most useful to the recently estab-
lished Central Command.
A group of left-wing off icers staged a successful
coup d'etat in April 1 974 and succeeded in ending
the 40-year dictatorship of Salazar. The following
year the communists made a bid for power but
democratic elections took place in 1976 and since
then Portugal has moved more to the right and
become more stable.
Joio Coutinho rs the nameship of a six-strong class
of frigates, of which three were built inWest
Germany and three in Spain. Displacing I ,380 tons
at full load and capable of up to 24.5 kts, whether
they will receive much-needed modernization
remains uncertain.

The air force

This has a total strength of 9,500 officers and men
including the parachute group of '1 ,800; of this total
3,500 are conscripts.
There are three fighter/ground-attack squadrons,
one with 20 Vought A7Ps, one with 20 Aeritalia
G91R/3s and eight G91T/3s, and one with 20 G9'1 R/
4s and two G91T/3s. There is a single reconnaiss-
ance squadron with four Spanish CASA C-2128 air-
craft, and an operational conversion unit with '1
2
Northrop T-38s. Troop transport is provided by one
squadron with five Lockheed C 130H Hercules and
one squadron wlth 12 C-212s. Search and rescue
cover is provided by three squadronl, one with six
C-212s and two with a total of 12 A6rospatiale SA
330 Puma helicopters. There are also two helicopter
squadrons with a total of 37 A6rospatiale Alouette
llls. A total of 32 Reims-Cessna FT8337Gs is used
by two lraison squadrons. There are also three train-
ing squadrons, onewith 30 de Havilland Chipmunks,
..e w,th 24 Cessna T 37Cs and one wrth two C
l- 2.s and ihree A ouette ll helicopters.