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OT My latest Restoration Project

O

O-1Driver

Charter Member 2011
Guys,

I wanted to share with you the progress on the 1942 Aeronca O-58A I acquired a couple of months ago. The aircraft was built three weeks before Pearl Harbor and is an A model serial #42-7796. Only twenty were built, only four survive and none are flying. Serial # 42-7797 is in storage at the Army Aviation Museum at Ft. Rucker. The aircraft had been in storage since 1954. The Army flew her 700 hrs before she was sold as surplus in 1945. We have completed most of the welding repairs and I have fabricated and installed several formers and the elevator pushrod guides and one spruce greenhouse former. The fuselage has been painted with epoxy. New spruce spars have been installed in the wings but I still need to fabricate and install leading and trailing edges. The engine is an original AAF O-170 Continental engine and the case is stamped with the two military overhauls done 4/21/1943 and 5/23/1945.

I hope you enjoy the photos
Best Regards,
O-1

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allthreeelevatorpushrodguidessideview.jpg


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Additional photos of engine and what she will look like when complete, the photo is of a later model with full greenhouse but mine will be painted the same OD with star and bar. Also a photo of log book page in 1945 with AAF flight time brought forward.

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LogbookentryNov1945.jpg


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Very cool Steve! I'm currently going through an A&P program right now, so this is all quite fascinating.
 
Right now the thought of welding all those clusters is more than a little daunting, but it must be pretty satisfying to end up with it looking as good as those pics.
 
Interesting Steve, how similar is that to the Piper Grasshopper? I saw one of them a fortnight ago at a '40s-themed weekend when it overflew the site.
 
hairyspin said:
Interesting Steve, how similar is that to the Piper Grasshopper? I saw one of them a fortnight ago at a '40s-themed weekend when it overflew the site.
Click to expand...

The most common grasshopper is the Piper Cub L-4, they built thousands of them and they were used in all theaters. The L-4 was lighter than the L-3 and was selected by the AAF as the primary artillery control aircraft because it had the best low speed handling and required less runway than the Aeroncas and Taylorcraft. It was more able to operate from small fields and roads in close proximity to the artillery forward positions. They were equipped with BC-659 radios and long whip antennas to communicate with the artillery battalions.

The Aeronca O-58 (L-3) stalls at a slightly higher speed than a L-4. On average an L-4 weighed in about 50 lbs less than a comparable L-3. That was almost a full tank of gas (12 gals@6 lbs/gal.) Only 1200 L-3s were built and mostly were used in support and transport roles. The L-3 saw service in Italy and in the Pacific as well as a training role stateside. Here is a picture of the last L-4 I had along with a video of me operating from a 900 ft cow pasture. :) The L-3 would not be able to operate from that strip. Video link is under the photo at the bottom.

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https://picasaweb.google.com/103374...key=Gv1sRgCJHSqLTr39u4lgE#5643580092310542418
 
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