WW2 Recon Plane Hand Start and Taxi
YouTube / The Iron Armenian aka G.I. Haigs
Simply Fascinating!
In this footage, we get to see a World War II recon plane, the L-4 Grasshopper, being hand-started, as it made a brief taxi. The L-4 was built in 1943 and what’s awesome about it is that it remains airworthy up until now.
What’s fascinating about the Grasshopper is that US carriers were able to launch them sideways or perpendicular to the ship’s length. This is from an open lower deck, so it can launch a scout plane without stopping the operations of another plane on the main deck. The plane also doesn’t have flaps with a very low stall speed of approximately 40mph, which explains why it can do that kind of take-off.
Would you want to fly this awesome warbird? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
