Stinson L.5

Well, fancy this thread turning up after all this time. It pretty well fills in the blanks except for it’s unltimate fate. Thank you gentlemen.

John

A quick scan of W&R 3 reveals no Sentinels listed, let alone 299015. So I wonder whether, when in 1958 this one “vanished into thin air”, it had been removed to Brigadoon. If so, someone better keep their eyes open in 2058!

I’m surprised to see that no-one has, so far, sought to consult ‘Wrecks & Relics’ on this topic as this Sentinel gets a mention, under Worksop, in the first (1961) and second (1963) editions!

W&R 1 says:

“The Sentinel 299015 ‘FT-Z’ was reported to be in a transport contractor’s yard in 1958. It was moved from Lasham about that time’

and W&R 2 says:

“In 1958 the Sentinel 299015 ‘FT-Z’, which had lain at Lasham for years, was transported north, and vanished into thin air after having been observed in a transport contractor’s yard in this town”.

However in W&R 3 (1968) there is no entry for Worksop and I haven’t trawled through the volume to see if this Sentinel makes an appearance under some other geographical entry. However ten years after it “vanished into thin air”, this seems a rather remote possibility.

The Air cadets are based just down the road – maybe it was a static trainer?

299015(42-99015 ) was stored in the “glider” hangar at Lasham from at least 1955 to late 1956. When I first saw it ,it was dismantled – no wings visible , covered in dust bird droppings and dead spiders, up against the southern side of the hangar . How it got to Worksop I have no idea.

From RAF Flights Since 1918 Book 3 by Peter Dancey:

Bomber Command Communication Flight formed 12 May 1942 at RAF Halton by re-designating an element of the Station Flight Halton re-designated the Bomber Command Communication Squadron from 1 February 1956 equipment:
Percival Proctor III DH Tiger Moth II Taylorcraft Plus DH Hornet Moth Percival Q-6 Stinson Sentinel US serial 299015 …

FT was allocated to Mildenhall Station Flight, but may be irrelevant here.

Prtland Comp

To be honest it looks like the library block of Portland Comprehensive in the background with the lower building being the home Economics block – the buildings look new and the school was opened in 1956.

Can’t think of any other buildings around town that look like them!

Edit – in this photo the plane would be in the trees on the left http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/frontend.php?action=printdetails&keywords=Ref_No_increment%3BEQUALS%3BNCCN001675 the ground looks quite flat here but I can assure you it isn’t.

Blimey – that tower block brings back memories of French lessons on the fourth floor!!!

Hello James
I heard you were in Oz, I was in the Yarra valley in April on my way to see my son in NZ (and Wanaka) and I trust you are well also.
The last time I encountered L.5’s was at Treviso in the late 60’s as on the civil side there were a couple of hangar queens

In reply to Jeepman, I did go back to Worksop some years ago and I couldn’t even find the junkyard and I lost touch with my college friend when I joined the RAF. I think sadly it is long gone.

And thanks to Box Brownie (which my pics were taken with) for the gen.

Cheers

John – where was it in Worksop?

I’ll nip round tomorrow and see if it’s still there

Finders keepers!

Could it have been instructional at Worksop College – I think they had a Tutor at one time – or could it have been disposed of via RAF Worksop?

As Australia was in the Pacific war, they’re not exactly uncommon here, and there’s a few airworthy ones.

This machine’s based at Lilydale in the Yarra Valley area, seen here that the Tyabb airshow in 2005.

Not very relevant, but why not.

And nice to hear from you again, John. Trust business is good. 😉

Apologies for moving the thread off track again, but to put some flesh on to Alberts’ raw data, the first thirty L5s’ were delivered to the Indian MU at Jodphur. Here they were assembled and test flown by John Dunbar, his only reference material being the pilots’ notes. This was the first time that any of the pilots had seen an L5. When one fuselage was removed from its’ crate, it was found to have American markings on one side, and British markings on the other side.
On arrival in Burma (Imphal) the pilots and aircraft were split between 4 Corps, 15 Corps and 33 Corps. Of the 100 aircraft delivered, 60 were written off in take off or landing accidents in the Burmese jungle.

I recently had the chance to have a good look around a UK based L5 and was retty impressed by it.

How interesting that this thread should appear today. Only yesterday I took the man who formed the only unit to operate the L5 in RAF service, to the Cold War Museum at Cosford. John Dunbar flew on over 400 occasions from jungle strips, quite often behind the Japanese lines. He also flew Lancastrians on 103 trips during the Berlin airlift.

Hello Dave

You have now raised a doubt regarding the roundels there was I think only one left on the fuselage and as you say they were on the drooping fabric. I must concede they could have been “D” type and I don’t recall if there was another letter. The proportions of the fin flash are incorrect though. This was nearly 50 years ago!

But a mystery just the same.

Cheers

John

An intruiging mystery John – you say it had ‘C’ roundels – were they visible on the hanging down bits of fabric – the fin flash looks like the post-war (‘D’) marking.

Had a quick look in Air Arsenal North America, and it only mentions the LG552 one. No mention in the Flintham/Thomas codes book of a suitable ‘FT’ used post-war – nearest was 10 ANS, which used ‘FFT’

Hopefully someoneelse can come up with more!

BTW, here’s LG552!

Gentlemen, thank you for your replies. One in particular jogged a long forgotten memory that somewhere in the distant past, Lasham was mentioned.

I did have a letter published in the Nottingham Evening Post about 15 years ago in the hope some one might know what happened to it (the L.5) but there were no replies. From the serial lists kindly posted I deduce that the serial on the photo is made up from the (4)2 99015 and that indeed this one has slipped though somehow.

I have found that in other areas of research there can always be errors in published data.

This is the only other pic I have.

Cheers

John

There was a Stinson L5 operated in the UK with RAF markings at the end of the War, 42-98552, marked as ‘LG552’ (later became G-AKYF). Presumably an ‘unofficial’ transfer. mayeb John has found another?

Serial would be 42-99015, Baugher’s notes on US serials notes:

99015 noted derelict at Lasham, UK Sep 11, 1955

http://home.att.net/~jbaugher/usafserials.html

One source of research would be to contact the USAF Historical Research Agency, who can usually supply a copy of the Aircraft Record Card (and itis , or used to be,free!) http://www.au.af.mil/au/afhra/

Would the serial, perchance, be that number that is visible on the back of the aeroplane in the picture?

John, not sure if you have quoted the correct serial there. The RAF had 100 Sentinels with serials as follows:

42-99487 to 42-99506
L-5
20

KJ368 to KJ387
Sentinel I

42-99549 to 42-99558
L-5
10

KJ388 to KJ397
Sentinel I

42-99539 to 42-99548
L-5
10

KJ398 to KJ407
Sentinel I

42-99591 to 42-99610
L-5B
20

KJ408 to KJ427
Sentinel II

42-99673 to 42-99689
L-5B
17

KJ428 to KJ444
Sentinel II

42-99700 to 42-99702
L-5B
03

KJ445 to KJ447
Sentinel II

44-16969 to 44-16988
L-5B
20

KJ448 to KJ467
Sentinel II

Source: Air-Britain publication “The British Air Commission and Lend-Lease”.

Note: The aircraft delivered to the British were originally allocated to the USAAF and were not part of a separate requisition, therefore these 100 aircraft should not be added to the wartime production total of 3,590 aircraft.

As far as is known, all 100 aircraft were delivered to combat units operating in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater. Many that were not damaged beyond repair or otherwise “struck off charge” were returned to U.S. ownership after the war. A number of these aircraft were donated to the Indian, Burmese, Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese governments, serving for some years in civiliand and government roles.