Colin Powers meticulously restored a 1945 Piper L-4J, which served in World War II and is now EAA’s 2016 Sweepstakes aircraft. Visit www.EAA.org/sweepstakes for more information and to enter.
Her story continues overseas! She started her second tour of duty, this tim in the ETO since the beginning of 2021! I will take care of her as she is my own daughter and keep telling the L-bird story over and over again!
If I ever won this L-4J, I'd be tempted to give it to the man who so meticulously restored, appreciates and would like to have it: Colin Powers. Congrats to him.
Do not despair about the "thumbs down" naysayers here .... They have no understanding or appreciation of aviation history and all the work and love that Colin Powers put into this important restoration project. Bravo, Colin!
Colin, great restoration. Your plane reminds me of my father's first ride in a small plane. He was a First Sergeant making a special delivery to a tribal elder, he carried a pig in his lap. He didn't talk much about the Pacific war, but taking him up in a Cessna one day coaxed this story out of him. I hope I win your plane. Thanks for getting her back in the air.
Thank you for your labor of love on this L-4. My Uncle Phil flew an L-4 in Europe as an artillery spotter during WWII. Though most of my family were Navy; including my Dad; both my Uncle’s and my Father’s love of WWII aviation is what led me to join the USAF. One of my great joys as a boy was helping a friend of my Father’s to reskin his J-3 Cub. Again, thank you for this effort of love and respect.
First video I think I have ever seen that has 0 thumbs downs! Totally awesome, this man did a fantastic job and I hope it goes to a good home with a owner who can truly appreciate everything this guy did to it.
God bless you sir for your beautiful restoration of the L-4J and for your love and respect for this country and for the souls who have given their lives to protect us in dire times. Thank you.
God bless you sir for all that you have done and continue to do. I'd love to win it but I don't deserve to.I restored a 1939 J3 and had an opportunity to buy it but it slipped thru my hands like most everything seems to as one grows old.
My uncle has a L-3 that he purchased in 2017 to restore. In 4 months we stripped it to frame, rebuilt the wings, covered , painted and reassembled it . When I was reworking the wings I found the autographs of the women that built it in 1942 , behind that was a signature of a John McClean in Berkeley Ca that restored it in 1976 , so I added our names and date .
Important plane to South Korea as well! It was the first aircraft in ROKAF inventory and used during Korean War. Thank you for the aircraft in great condition. :-)
The Last Time I saw the L4-J was on Static Display in a Hot Air Balloon fiesta Recently at the Former Clark airbase. I embraced the good old Cub. Wonderful plane. I flew it on the late Eighties during my teens.
My dad landed on Omaha beach on D-Day. He watched L-4s fly around directing artillery fire. Also saw one flying under the Eiffel Tower to evade a Me109.
Wonder where this one ended up? Somebody won it and sold it probably? What dedication Mr. Powers had to bring this L4 back to its war mission life. I tip my hat to him.
I want this, but I hope it goes to someone who deserves it and they will take good care of her. I love the L 3E, the L 4, the Piper J3 cub, Aerico, they are awesome! This is awesome!
I would love this plane. I would fly it to every air show so that others could see it and learn about the liaison pilots who started out as Sgt pilots. A lot of them got a second chance to fly after being washed out of the Army flight school , but had already soloed. Later promoted to flight officer, what are warrant officers today.
Very Nice Video! If one would build one of these and not care about the historical accuracy of the material he could use the Oratex6000 Olive drab and get the plane build without spraying paint! This way one could easily build one in an attached garage or even a living room, with no toxic fumes, solvent stench or overspray... The old Buthyrate and Nitrate Dope spray-paint finishes used back then on these planes were not as toxic as todays Urethane spray paints for the legacy fabrics... so if you have to spray paint, protect yourself adequately. Thanks for posting, EAA !
I do not believe the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum could have restored it any better than this man did. They could fly it back there, land it, and wheel it in and have a perfect exhibit!!
Very nice. I entered a few times. My birthday is the date of the giveaway. Would be nice to own a piece of history. I have flown the T-34 as a student in the Navy and the T-28 as a gift from an air show performer... it would be nice to spread the flying wealth with this beauty!
Superb video and aircraft. Anyone know where I can get the metal scat tubing shown in this video? Also, anyone have Dressler Tire Company’s phone number?
