The Fighting Grasshoppers: US Liaison Aircraft Operations in Europe, 1942-1945
Ken Wakefield - The Fighting Grasshoppers: US Liaison Aircraft Operations in Europe, 1942-1945
Midland Publishing | 1990 | ISBN: 0904597784 | English | 160 pages | PDF | 79.91 MB
Midland Publishing | 1990 | ISBN: 0904597784 | English | 160 pages | PDF | 79.91 MB
The term liaison aircraft is applied to an unarmed and unarmored single engine airplane characterized by low horsepower and light wight. By design this type of aircraft is particularly well adapted for observation, reconnaissance and general utility service blind the front lines or when unopposed by ho tile air raft or anti-aircraft fire. Of primary importance to the ground forces is the ability of this type aircraft to operate from relatively small, unprepared fields or roads. Minimum maintenance requirements are an outstanding feature of liaison aircraft. Two models of liaison aircraft were widely used in the European Theater. These were the L-4 type, used generally as the organic field artillery aircraft, and the higher powered L-5 type, with which the Army Air Forces liaison squadrons were equipped. Although obsolete, a small number of L-I aircraft also were used on occasion.
From a Report (G-3 Study No 20) compiled in 1945 by The General Board, United States Forces, European Theater.