Piper Cub L-4 unit designation

[strafer]

Dear all,

could you please let me know whether there is any unit designation system (digitdigit-letter) of Piper Cub L-4s in U.S. Army made available? I am particularly interested in a ship coded "21-A" belonging probably to 90th or 2nd U.S. Infantry Division in May 1945. A picture of it can be seen at http://hloubkari.cz/forum/index.php?topic=685.0

Thank you. Regards, Filip Vojtasek

[Paul]

Hi Filip,

My friend Ken Wakefield asked me to pass this on to you:

With regard to the L-4 mentioned on the 12oclockhigh.net website, 21 was the unit code of the 8th Armored Division, which in May 1945 was in the Harz mountains area of Germany (incidentally, for some reason I was unable to open and view this photo). In a little more detail, the code 21-A indicates that the aircraft belonged to the Air Section of the Division's Headquarters. With regard to the 2nd and 90th Infantry Divisions, mentioned by Filip Vojtasek, the codes of these Divisions were 95 and 48 respectively. '

[strafer]

Many thanks, Paul! Oops - the correct code is "21-B"! Could you please ask Ken again to what unit this particular ship was attached to? Unfortunately, only registered users can browse photos at this board...
Regards, Filip

[Paul]

Filip,

Ken had some time to check things:

Both 21-A and 21-B were allocated to the Artillery HQ Air Section of the 8th Armored Division. The three Armored Field Artillery Battalions of the 8th Armd Div received 'squadron code markings' as follows: 21-C and -D went to the 398th Armd FA Bn; 21-E and -F to the 399th Armd FA Bn; and -G and -H to the 405th Armd FA Bn. Unlike Armored Divisions, which had eight aircraft shared between three Armd FA Bns and a Div Arty HQ, Infantry and Airborne Divs had four Battalions and therefore received ten aircraft, lettered A to K ('I' was not used to avoid possible confusion with the number '1'). This number/letter unit code system was used by the Armies of 12th Army Group (First, Third, Ninth and Fifteenth US Armies). A different system, employing two letters only, was used for unit identification in Italy and elsewhere in Southern and Central Europe by the Fifth and Seventh US Armies. This system did not provide for individual aircraft identification, the two or more aircraft of a battalion or other unit carrying the same two-letter code.

Filip, if you have more questions please ask.

[strafer]

Dear Paul, many thanks for your assistance! F.

[Alexander]

Hello,
This is a very interesting thread and I would like to ask Paul if he can give me some information about the next code of Piper Cup: 49-F or F-49
This one made an emergency landing because of low fuel in a field near the village of Racour (Belgium) on the 08 or 09 september 1944. I've seen a picture of this one and I could clearly read F*49 on the fuselage.
Thanks
Alexander

[Paul]

Alexander,

With help from Ken's great books 'The Fighting Grasshoppers' & 'Lightplanes at War' the designation 49 indicates the 2nd Armored Division.

Regards,

Paul

[Paul]

Just received this from Ken:


Further to the query on the unit code markings 44 and the photos of an L-4 at Fouron le Comte, I've now had a look at those photos and see that they really depict two different aircraft. One of them is certainly an L-4, but the other is a Stinson L-5 Sentinel, 44-J with the serial number 42-98522 (see attached copies of both photos). The question is, which of these aircraft landed at Fouron le Comte short of fuel? Or, as seems more likely, were they both temporarily operating from that strip?

[Alexander]

Hello Paul,

Thanks for the information about the code F*49. Is there a way to find out about the serialnr of that aircraft?

Concerning unit code markings 44/Fouron le comte: do you have the date or period when the pictures were taken?

Regards,

Alexander

[Paul]

Alexander,

For Fouron le Comte the text with the picture tells:

Grasshopper Piper Cub type L4 of the 30th Division in a field near the village of Fouron le Comte, Belgium, September 12th, 1944. Serial Number 298522. This is the last village before the Dutch border. Fouron le Comte was liberated by the 119th. These photos were provided by Vincent Heggen of Fouron le Comte.



Regards,

Paul