TAYLORCRAFT 0-57

I can vouch for that. 75mph cruise if you’re lucky.

But a stalling speed of about 35mph and benign slow speed handling make up for it!

In comparison the Taylorcraft can bite surprisingly fast you if you start getting too slow. I guess that’s how the US Army lost a few.

CSheppardholedi

As I’m sure you’re aware, the L-3 was the 0-58 Aeronca

Definitely not fast, even in its civilian format.

Bolmas

I’ve got four drawings, about 2.5Meg each, showing
a) Fuselage insignia detail
b) location of above on the TG-6 glider version (will be similar on the powered 0-57)
c) Wing insignia detail (has the US Army colour codes & dimensions)
d) location of the above on the wing.

If you PM me an email address, I will email them to you on Friday earliest.

Hope this helps.

KM

My Uncle flew the L-3 in North Africa, he was a US Army staff liaison officer with Patton and the Free French there. He related to me once that he was racing a car in his L-3 and the car was winning until the road turned! Not a fast plane!!!

I’ve got a complete set of 0-57 drawings if that helps…particularly with markings, locations thereof etc.

PM me if interested.

There’s a good link to pictures of the Commemorative Air Force’s example at: http://www.rgvwingcaf.com/airplanes/tcraft.html

thanks very much, at least i know what to look for in a colour scheme.

Taylorcrafft and Pipers are different aircraft but closely related.
I’ll give a (very) simplified history:

In 1928 C.G. Taylor starts the Taylor Brothers firm to produce his first aircraft, the “Chummy” in Bradford, Pennsylvania. William Piper, a successful local businessman is one of the investors. By 1930 it is bankrupt.
Piper buys the assests from the bankruptcy court and becomes the new owner. The firm is renamed the Taylor Aircraft Co. C.G. is president and owns half the firm. By 1931 they introduced the first plane with the “Cub” name, the E-2. It looks similar to what we know as “Cubs” today except for the rear fuselage deck does not meet the trailing edge of the wing so it looks a bit like a parasol plane. By 1935 the plane was a hit and it was re-worked as the J-2 (J for Jamouneau, the chief engineer who make it a bit more modern).

Piper and Taylor had a falling out (Taylor said he was forced out with only $5000 for his half of the company) and he left to form the new “Taylorcraft” firm.

Meanwhile back at his old company, now renamed Piper Aircraft, the J-2 was soon developed into what we know as the Piper J-3 “Cub” which became the L-4 of WWII.

At his new firm, Taylor produced side-by side models (A and B) and a tandem model (D) which were very popular. (Also, by 1939, they were being made under license in the UK, that firm eventually became Auster).

After successfully testing loaned planes in a wargame, the US Army adopted “Grasshoppers” for Army co-operation roles which included communications and artillery spotting. The Taylorcraft became the O-57, (later redesignated L-2), Aeroncas became the O-58 (L-3)and Pipers became O-59 (L-4). All were ordered by the Army. As the largest producer, Piper got the largest orders

Taylors soon received a bad reputation for slow flight stall/spin charateristics after several were lost in training accidents. That, and to ease logistics, prompted the Army to standardize on the L-4 for overseas combat assignments. L-2s and L-3 were used in the states for training. Their colors appear to be standard olive drab or later silver. During the period when it was known as the O-57, I would expect the color to be OD…possbly with the (pre-1942) national emblem with the red circle in it.
I have no record of L-2s being used operationally overseas.
A few L-3s were shipped overseas (some say by mistake) and were assigned to the Free French forces in North Africa.

After the war Taylorcrafft resumed making aircraft with the popular side by side BC-12-D model. By 1947 the firm was out of business when the expected post-war aviation boom ended. The design was resurrected a couple of times after that, most recently in the 80s with limited production countinuing into the early 1990s.