Military Aircraft History

BillTIZ

BillTIZ

Final Approach
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Where can I research the history of former military aircraft. Particular interest is a 1951 L-19 Bird Dog, s/n 51-7416. I expect the primary service was in Korea and Vietnam. This L-19 was converted to civilian use in 1972, Cessna 305A, and has been in glider tow service since that time. It has been in the same glider club since 1974.
 
Maybe you could contact the Army Aviation Museum at Ft Novasel (Ft Rucker of Past) and they could help…they have those type of records.
 
I can’t remember who I got it from (might’ve been the museum Warlock mentioned), but I got the record cards for my Staggerwing years ago…they were pretty sparse, basically the unit that it was assigned to.

It could’ve been interesting to follow that up, as it was the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, CA, which was formed by Jack Warner of Warner Bros., and some guy named Reagan was the XO for a while.
 
Since in 1951, the USAF was in existance for about 3 years, you could try the National Museum of the USAF @ WPAFB.
 
Bill: Just need to do a written request to the AFHRA at Maxwell AFB. They are the primary repository of the records, but NASM has a complete copy as well.
A little info here: https://www.rgprucha.com/prucha_bre...les/AFHRA1995_GuideToInterpretationOfARCs.pdf

I've got copies of the cards for both of my a/c. The amount of info you will glean from the cards is basic. Where the a/c was accepted from and where it went from there, in a general sense. It will usually only show the umbrella unit that received the a/c and not always the direct unit itself. In the case of my L-5, it delivered to a modification center, then eventually went to Brooks Field and was in an Operational Test unit for much of it's USAAF life. After that, it ended up in a CAP unit til surplussed.

Once you know the umbrella unit, you can then start chasing the units within it, and see which had the L-19's. From there, you jump to unit histories and operational records to see if there is more data and records on missions with that specific aircraft. Be advised, that for any of the unit data that is not already online, you will most likely have to make an appointment and go the AFHRA in person to manually search the records, or order the microfilm and/or fische that cover it.

Once you have the data, it will take a little bit of detective work to decipher it all and get it into a form that will make sense to you.

On writing Maxwell, several of the guys on another board have requested records and the turnaround time is several weeks to a couple of months these days.


From Joe Baugher's website:

7416 (MSN 22155) Accepted by USAF. Delivered to US Army. Last US Army report 15Sep68. Registered Dec 15, 1975
as N5673B to Greater Boston Soaring Club, Milfor, MA; expired Nov 3, 2008, restored Jul 17, 2013. current [Apr19]
 
If it still has a military data plate, just do a google search on that number as well as a google search on the current tail number.

I don’t know where you would find the military data plate, but on a small plane like that it shouldn’t be hard to find if it hasn’t been removed.
 
Craig said:
7416 (MSN 22155) Accepted by USAF. Delivered to US Army. Last US Army report 15Sep68. Registered Dec 15, 1975
as N5673B to Greater Boston Soaring Club, Milfor, MA; expired Nov 3, 2008, restored Jul 17, 2013. current [Apr19]
Click to expand...
That is the aircraft. Paperwork I have shows the sale from United States, Defense Surplus Sales Office, Fleet Station, San Diego, California in 1971. It was sold to a company in Pennsylvania and modified for civilian use following the Cessna conversion requirements to become a Cessna 305A. It passed around a couple of owners in Massachusetts before being purchased by the Greater Boston Soaring Club in June 1974 and has been there since. Sadly the aircraft may have met its demise last Sunday. It suffered a ground loop, left main gear snapped dropping the wing to the ground, breaking it. If another wing can be found, it might be resurrected. Large L-19 parts are hard to find, small parts, its just another Cessna 170/172/180/185/182.

The original N registration in 1971 was N5673. That number was sold to another individual in 1988 and this L-19 became N5673B.

I will try the different resources listed in other posts. Thanks!
 
BillTIZ said:
Where can I research the history of former military aircraft. Particular interest is a 1951 L-19 Bird Dog, s/n 51-7416. I expect the primary service was in Korea and Vietnam. This L-19 was converted to civilian use in 1972, Cessna 305A, and has been in glider tow service since that time. It has been in the same glider club since 1974.
Click to expand...
How extensive? Joe Baugher has extensive records ny serial number online, but not a great deal of information on individual aircraft.

51-7416 Cessna L-19A Bird Dog, redesignated O-1A in 1962
Accepted by USAF. Delivered to US Army. Last US Army report 15 Sep 68. Registered Dec 15, 1975 as N5673B to Greater Boston Soaring Club, Milford, MA; expired Nov 3, 2008, restored Jul 17, 2013.

 
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