"FLYING JEEP"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 52, 2 March 1943, Page 7

"FLYING JEEP"

NEW OBSERVATION PLANE "EYES UPSTAIRS" Detroit, Mich, Nov. 13. A "flying jeep'"—described by its designers as intended lor use as the "eyes upstairs" of the artillery, cavalry, armoured forces and infantry —was one of two planes introduced recently by the Stinson Division of Vultee Aircraft, I'm*. Dedication of the new aircraft during an employees' rally, attended by Army and Navy officers and representatives of the British Naval Aircraft Service, disclosed, for the. first time the nature of carefully guarded war work at the Stinson plant. Mrs Eddie Stinson, widow of the noted llier, sponsored, the small L-f>, described as a "Flying Jeep,'" while Mrs Richard M. Smeeton, wife of Lieutenant Commander Smeeton, Assistant Naval Attache for Air at the British Embassy in Washington, did similar honours for the AT-19 trainer craft. The "Flying Jeep," which has a wing span of but 34 feet and is 24 feet long, carries a pilot and an observer. and can hover and maintain altitude at an exceptionallyllorw r speed, while directing artillery fire or the movement of tanks or troops below. In many operations, it replaces the "sausage" observation balloons used during World War I. Weighing only 2100 pounds, it can be pushed around by its, own crew and hidden under trees. It can get in and out of la cow pasture or plunk itself down on a highway. Mrs Stinson named, the L-o the Sentinel. Mrs Smeeton gave the name Reliant to the AT-19, which is essentially a war model of the peace-time Stinson Reliant which was used extensively by business executives and sportsmen and also by air lines for keeping pilots up to. the mark on instrument flying. It has a wing span of 42 feet, its length is 30 feet., and gross weight 4000 pounds. Details of its performance and the. extent, to which the design has been changed from the peace-time model cannot be disclosed. The AT-19 is being built under direction of the United States Army Air Force for assignment, to the British Government under the LendLease agreement.