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Reply To: Unknown fuselage at Dillingham Airfield, Oahu, Hawaii

Home Forums Historic Aviation Unknown fuselage at Dillingham Airfield, Oahu, Hawaii Reply To: Unknown fuselage at Dillingham Airfield, Oahu, Hawaii

#905961
J Boyle
Participant

In terms of historic interest the question is whether its a former military L-17…and who made it. Navions are so common I doubt anyone (other than a dedicated tail spotter) is likely to have a cn or N number. Unlike its “big brother” the Mustang (I’ve heard it was made on the former P-51 lines and used some Mustang parts) they were so common few kept track of them.

North American made 83 L-17As in 47-48 and Ryan made 158 more funded in 1948. They were used in Korea as liaison aircraft.
North American designed the plane anticipating the post war general aviation boom in the U.S. but couldn’t make a profit (in party because larger companies have higher overhead…the same reason Douglas, Grumman and Lockheed scrapped their light aircraft designs and Republic lost money on the Seebee) and sold the design to Ryan.

All told NA produced 1029 aircraft, Ryan made another 1424. Later firms redesigned the fuselage to have regular doors and produced almost another 200 aircraft.