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Description
| Manufacturer: | Piper | |
| Base model: | L-21 | |
| Designation: | L-21 | |
| Version: | B | |
| Nickname: | Grasshopper | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1942-1962 | |
| Basic role: | Liaison | |
| See Also: | ||
Specifications
| Length: | 22' 7" | 6.8 m | |
| Height: | 6' 6" | 1.9 m | |
| Wingspan: | 35' 3" | 10.7 m | |
| Wingarea: | 179.0 sq ft | 16.6 sq m | |
| Empty Weight: | 950 lb | 430 kg | |
| Gross Weight: | 1,580 lb | 716 kg | |
| Max Weight: | 1,750 lb | 793 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 1 | ||
| Powerplant: | Lycoming O-320-D | ||
| Horsepower (each): | 125 | ||
Performance
| Range: | 461 miles | 742 km | |
| Max Speed: | 115 mph | 185 km/h | 100 kt |
Known serial numbers
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| Air Heritage Museum & Aircraft Restoration | Beaver Falls | Pennsylvania |
| Mid-Atlantic Air Museum | Reading | Pennsylvania |
L-21B on display
Air Heritage Museum & Aircraft Restoration | Mid-Atlantic Air Museum |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Robert J. Stokely San Diego, CA | L-21's were used as the primary flight training airplane at the US Army's Liason Pilots Training School at San Marcos, TX (re-named Gary AFB)during the Korean War. They were not new airplanes. They were bright yellow, and were called the Yellow Deamons.
Instrument traing was done in another aircraft since the L-21's had only the most basic instruments for IFR flight (turn needle and bank-ball) and no radio navigational aids. Upon completion of the flight training at San Marcos, the pilots went to Fort Sill, OK (about 50 miles north of Lawton) and completed their training in the L-19 (Bird dog)which was the TO&E workhorse plane assigned to combat units and used by Liason pilots for all sorts of missions, but particularly for forward observation for field artillery. The single engine, land (SEL) Liason aircraft of WWII, the Korean war, and the Viet Nam war have been completely replaced by helicopters for more than a decade due to the greatly superior versatility and capability of the helicopter. Although the helicopter replacements cost at least 5 to 10 times as much to operate as the SEL Liason aircraft, there appears to be no justification and therefore no chance that SEL Liason aircraft will again be a significant war horse in the foreseeable future. 12/03/2005 @ 01:59 [ref: 11866] |
