Piper L4 Grasshopper
Based on the ubiquitous Piper J3 Cub the military version known as
the L-4 and nicknamed the “Grasshopper” was a two or three-seat, single-engine
aircraft and the most widely used US liaison aircraft of World War
Two.
The L-4 was employed in many different roles including transporting
VIP’s from airfield to airfield, medical evacuation and general aerial
observation. However, it was in this latter role as an artillery
spotter for the US Army that the L4 reigned supreme. Relatively easy
to fly and maintain the L-4 Grasshoppers took off from advanced landing
fields and often flew at treetop height giving the enemy little chance
of spotting them, they would then “pop up” and relay the enemies
position back to the artillery who would reign down fire in advance
of the attacking ground forces.
Most L-4 Grasshoppers were sold after World War Two, but a few were
used by the US Army and Air Force during the early months of the
Korean War.
Not really a warbird; well maybe it is!
Whist not normally considered a combat “warbird” as such, an L4
crewed by Lts. Duane Francies and William Martin en route to scout
an area around Berlin during the last days of WW2 reputedly engaged
in the last "dogfight" between Americans and Germans in
WW2. They took on a German Fieseler "Storch" spotter plane
and firing their pistols from their L-4 Cub, forced the Storch to
land and its two occupants to be captured by an American troop convoy
that had watched the action from below.
EFL 5025 Piper L4 Grasshopper 250 ARF
E-flite has captured all of the war time character of the full-size
aircraft with this superb lightweight rendition of a WW2 L4 Grasshopper.
Designed to fly using a Park 250 motor this almost-ready-to-fly
model comes complete with a fully painted and detailed lightweight
balsa airframe covered in Ultracote™ in an Olive Drab colour scheme
based on an L-4 that entered service with USAAF during 1944 and served
with the 30th Infantry Division of the Twelfth Army Group wearing
the code 44-E.
In addition to the accurate colour scheme the L4 also features pre-formed
crystal clear cockpit glazing, a pre-painted fibreglass cowl with
dummy flat four cylinder Continental engine detail and ”doughnut”
style Cub wheels.
The wing is held in place by a unique method that features a carbon
wing tube with magnetic plug-in wing panels that do away with the
need for wing-bolts, whilst the pre-painted wing struts simply plug-in.
To reduce build time even further the tail plane and control surfaces
come ready installed without the need for any additional building
or gluing. Access to the flight battery is via the magnetic battery
hatch and this is quickly and easily removed when it’s time to change
or recharge the batteries with no need to remove the wing.
The L4 Cub is a very stable flyer and when throttled back in large
halls or on calm days outside full advantage can be made of its docile
nature with realistically slow flight being the order of the day
especially during the landing approach, when very scale-like flights
can be achieved.
E-flite’s comprehensive hardware pack and a photo illustrated assembly
guide complete this handsome model. |
