Stinson L-1 Vigilant captured by D4 / 18-35AFS
On one of my many visits to Paul at Fantasy of Flight, he shared with me his next project, the L-1. He showed me historic photos of it, like someone drying their clothes on the leading edge flaps and Walt Disney’s conversion of it into a photo platform for the filming of the movie The Great Waldo Pepper. Then there were a couple shots of its life during WWII. Built in 1940, about 380 were built, many used by the military as an observation platform. Well, for nearly five years I would travel to Florida with each new big advance in the L-1’s restoration until the final day when it flew. It was such a historic and photographic rich project. It was years of sheer enjoyment!