L-16A L-16B

[Seanext]

I am looking at a fuselage that is supposed to be a L-16A. However it has the larger tail welded on, and it is setup for hyd brakes. This is just a bare fuselage with no P/W but my understanding is the A model did not have the big tail or hyd brakes. With no paperwork I don't know for sure if these were added later in life on a STC or 337. In looking at the welds and the placement of all the extras it looks like a factory job or it was done by an expert welder. It has all the fitting for the greenhouse, the tab for the door exjection handle, and all other tabs that would make it a L16. Any help or idea?

[MikeB]

The L16A didn't have a big tail or hydraulic brakes as far as I know. My L16A also had a big tail welded on at some time or another but nothing in the logs. Probably not too unusual on a 60+ year old plane with some questionable record keeping and it was a basket case when I bought it. I actually have a picture of the plane when the CAP owned it with rounded windows and a headliner. It came with all the L16 green house hardware when I bought it....go figure..... . I have a friend who owns another L16A and that has Citabria type window frames welded in along with a headliner, Piper muffler system and a big tail. All done by the CAP under 337's. His logs were gone but was lucky enough to be able to reconstruct them from the FAA CD and a former A & P who worked on the plane for the CAP.

If you have a "N" number you should be able to get records from the FAA for about $10. Military records are also available if you can find the military serial number but they're pretty sketchy.

MikeB

[Paul Agaliotis]

Melvin,
The greenhouse can be installed on any 7 series via a Service Letter. With no paperwork it could be anything you want it to be. You see a lot of planes out there claiming to be L16's with serial numbers that are 7AC-XXXX that's a dead give-away that it was a conversion. Unless there is some kind of paper with the parts it's anybody's guess to what it was built as. The fuselages are getting harder to find so if the price is right I would go for it. If you don't want it let me take seconds on it.
If you get out to CA I have my L16 at the flight school if you need any more information.
Paul

[markl]

Sounds like a B model to me