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VULTEE (O-49) L-1A "VIGILANT"


All Data and Picture Collected From the USAF Museum


                     SPECIFICATIONS        PERFORMANCE                    REMARKS
   Span: 50 ft. 11 in    Max speed: 122 mph Engine: Lycoming R-680 of 295 hp
Length: 34 ft. 3 in Cruise speed: 109 mph Cost: $21,000
Height: 9 ft. 10 in.           Range: 280 miles Armament: None
Weight: 3,385 lbs. Service Ceiling: 18,000 ft.
 
The L-1 liaison aircraft, originally designated O-49, was the miltary version of the civilian Stinson Model 74. It marked the transition between heavier and larger observation aircraft used by the Air Corps in the 1930s and the lighter liaison grasshopper" type aircraft represented by the L-series during WW II. Between 1939 and 1941, the Army Air Corps ordered 142 L-1s and 182 L-1As with a 13-inch longer fuselage. Equipped with full-span automatic slats on the leading edge of the wings and pilot-operated slotted flaps on the trailing edge, Vigilants were well suited for operations from short fields.

Due to its versatility, the Vigilant was used for a variety of missions both in the U.S. and overseas during WW II, including towing training gliders, artillery spotting, liaison duty, emergency rescue, transporting supplies, special espionage missions behind Japanese lines and even for dropping light bombs.  Some Vigilants were converted as ambulance aircraft, sometimes fitted with skis or with floats for water take-offs and landings.

This L-1A, painted as an ambulance conversion, was donated by Mrs. Lawrence Flahart, Anchorage, Alaska, in memory of her husband who began rebuilding it but died before finishing it. Restoration was completed for the USAF Museum by the Department of Aviation Technology, Purdue University;  it went on display in 1979.

All Data Collected From the USAF Museum


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