Aeronca L-3 “Grasshopper”

The restored Aeronca L-3 “Grasshopper,” nicknamed for its resemblance to the insect, bears the variegated markings of the Allied Air Forces that identified friendly aircraft to ground gunners. Although it was not used in connection with the D-Day landing in France, the L-3 served during the Normandy campaign as a light observation aircraft for missions including reconnaissance, surveillance, and adjustment of artillery fire. It could carry two people and had a cruising speed of 75 mph. Its canvas covering offered little protection, but the aircraft could keep flying even as projectiles passed through it. Also associated here are three propeller blades from a C-46, an aircraft used for both troop transport and glider delivery. Rucker Tibbs and his colleagues at the New London Airport restored the L-3, which Morton Lester of Martinsville, Virginia, donated to the Memorial, and the Fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City, Florida, donated the C-46 propeller blades.

Bedford, Virginia · United States