NAvion L-17 pilots and restoration resources

[Bill Lattimer]

I'm the new, proud owner of Ryan NAvion L-17B USAAF 48-1007. Although
the aircraft is in flying condition, it will be a LONG trip back for
restoration.

I'm soliciting any help I can get from these groups on collecting data
and parts for the restoration. The L-17 seems to be the "forgotten"
liason plane; there seems to be very little information available. I
have all the manuals, etc...it's just that elusive operational
experience I'm looking for. Everything is helpful!

So if you have any information at all, drop me a line at
bil...@NOSPAM.warbird.org.

Thanks!

Bill

[Dudley Henriques]

Bill Lattimer wrote in message <3800ae7a...@news.gte.net>...

>I'm the new, proud owner of Ryan NAvion L-17B USAAF 48-1007.

Bill,

Is that a Ryan , as in "God, I wish I knew a bit more about hydraulic
systems, Navion?

DH

Dudley A. Henriques
Past President 1971- 1985
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship

[Orval Fairbairn]

A friend of mine (an army Sgt. pilot) flew an L-17 to a carrier during
Korea, for the planning of the Inchon invasion.

L-17's even served as light attack a/c on Korea.

[Bill Lattimer]

>Is that a Ryan , as in "God, I wish I knew a bit more about hydraulic
>systems, Navion?
>

No, it's a Ryan, as in "Boy, I'm glad I don't have to rely on a dinky
electric motor to put my gear down, Navion"

:-D

[Bill Lattimer]

On Sat, 09 Oct 1999 21:20:39 -0400, orfai...@earthlink.net (Orval
Fairbairn) wrote:
>
>A friend of mine (an army Sgt. pilot) flew an L-17 to a carrier during
>Korea, for the planning of the Inchon invasion.
>
>L-17's even served as light attack a/c on Korea.
>

I'd sure love to talk to him, if you could pass my email on to him. I
have copies of pictures of a NAvion running up and departing from
carrier, but the source and location of the original photo is unknown.

There were evidently 6 NAvions that were field modified with hard
points, none survive - and no pictures or records survive. Evidently,
the experiment was less than a success :-D

As a side note for you military trainer types, a specially modified
NAvion, the "Model 72", was in competition with the Beech T-34 Mentor
for a trainer - but the military preferred tandem seating, so...
Again, none survive, and very few pictures. One individual supposedly
owns the wreckage, but is evidently not willing to let others look at
how they attained +9/-6 with a NAvion :-D

Bill

[Ron Natalie]

Bill Lattimer wrote:

> As a side note for you military trainer types, a specially modified
> NAvion, the "Model 72", was in competition with the Beech T-34 Mentor
> for a trainer - but the military preferred tandem seating, so...
> Again, none survive, and very few pictures. One individual supposedly
> owns the wreckage, but is evidently not willing to let others look at
> how they attained +9/-6 with a NAvion :-D
>

Ahh, the infamous C model Navion. Someone showed up in the warbird
section of Oshkosh a few years back with a "recreation" of that model.

There was only one, I'm not sure what you mean by "wreckage" as far
as I know it was intact when Ryan scrapped it after they lost the
contract.

At lighter weights the Navion is already certificated in the Utility
category, so I'm not sure that whatever you'd have to do to go
full acro is really all that difficult. They did rip out the
rear seats and presumably other civilian ammenities.

[Dudley Henriques]

Bill Lattimer wrote in message <3800b7ee...@news.gte.net>...

Lots of luck with your new toy Bill. We used to have a Navion we used
for some charter work back in the sixties. I liked the bird, especially
on instruments...very stable.

We were operating some WW2 fighters at the same time, so hydraulic
hoses were always around the shop anyway

I think we owned some aeorquip stock...or at least we should have. = )

Regards,

DH