There doesn't seem to be a single thread discussing the characteristics, mods, care and feeding, etc of the Bird Dog. If anyone has resources to share, let's do it here.

Thanks

-DP

Long time fan of that machine. Found this on YouTube the other day. More of a taildragger video than anything else, but it features the O-1/L-19.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8VW2ekDhMg

Its part VII of the series, I wish I could find the rest.

I've owned two of them, a G and a D. Flew one around in Central America and flew it back across the Gulf to Key West. They fly slow, have excellent visibility, land on a dime, do crappy acro and have limited crosswind capability. An absolute hoot to bring to air shows, especially if there is other dogs there as well. Dog owners tend to be party animals.

Parts are getting expensive. The engine has a bunch of components that are unique to that engine that are becoming scarce. The carburetor costs a minor fortune to overhaul, its pressure, not draft. Flap motors, electric fuel pumps, flap position indicators, generators and starters are also pricey overhauls.

Mods, get a cruise prop, better yet have both. You can re-pitch a climb (normal) prop to cruise. Only do it if you live near sea level. You can put it on floats. There are several different engine packages, the latest is a 540. Putting a bigger engine only gets it slightly faster, but you get a controllable pitch propeller. The -15 engine with the original controllable pitch propeller has become a real museum piece, with prop parts very scarce and apparently made from platinum. There are some weight mods along the way, but depend on your wing serial numbers. You can have a A model with D wings for example. When the Army or CAP did depot level work, they put on what they had in the supply system. So you may have different capacity fuel tanks from what the book says and you may be able to do paperwork to up your gross weight based on wing installation. There is light and heavy gear, no real difference there, just one is bouncier than the other. There is not much room to put stuff inside, very Cub like in loading.

For more fun go to the International Bird Dog Association' website. Get Menard Thompson's book, "The Lovable One Niner." If you get one, you best like traveling slowly veeerryy, slooowwly.

Mine:


Mine was painted and equipped to match my Buddy, Bob Moriarity's in Nam, based at Marble Mountain. Bob's late claim to fame, is having flown his Bonanza under the Eiffel Tower in 1987.


Getting ready to ferry back from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Had to put the crappy white stripe on it to get it home. Something about it being all black bugged people at borders. I don't know why, it was owned by the "US Council for World Freedom!"

the L 19 is one of my all time favorite aircraft. my ultimate dram is to fly in one. Im so jealous of you guys who have them. has anybody done them up as bush planes? if so how do they go?

Here is a cool Bird video a buddy did.. can't vouch for the soundtrack tho

http://canyonairphoto.com/birddog.html

I have about 100 hours in one, towing banners. They are great fun to fly and I really enjoyed the one I flew in. Had very well balanced controls. As was said...kind of limited in an x-wind. This is my favorite L-19 footage. A repost.

http://youtu.be/so9XRUbBGj8

D

Of course, no conversation about Bird Dogs can be complete without mentioning the "Ferrari" of the L-19, the Siai Marchetti S.M. 1019...



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIAI-Marchetti_SM.1019

A good book about Bird Dogs in Viet Nam: A Hundred Feet Over Hell by Jim Hooper

ive heard about that book, i hear its incredible

L-19 Birddogs, SuperDog I & SuperDog II
What we do know is that they are for some reason quite often overlooked, today a lot of pilots just don't know what a birddog is!
There is a birddog shop in northern Maine that is home to the new line of L-19 Birddog, SuperDog I & II. A tired 'ole dog goes in one end and comes out the other better than new! (All metal aircraft!). When it comes to back country performance, they are hard to beat, the SuperDog I has been the choice of the Canadian Air Force Air Cadet Gliding Program. A birddog, SuperDog has tandem seating, 360' visibility, factory new Lycoming 540 (250hp) with quiet 3 blade Hartzell hi thrust propeller,firewall forwards, 0-60' flaps, lots of stc's and mods available, gross weight increases, big tires, hydraulic wheel skis, floats, 3 seat tandem, cabin entry step, 180 style square tail mod, just to mention a few! Performance is hard to beat, a SuperDog will climb from sea level to a mile in 3:02! (there is a video of this on youtube, search SuperDog, Superdog II, Superdog 2) also there is some neat info and pics at http://www.birddogsbynoyes.com

That you, Steve?

The Canadian Air Cadets gliding program uses them to tow gliders, but my understanding is that they are going over to 182s and will be selling off a bunch soon (5 or 6)

Mods! How about a turbine! There's a marchetti for sale on barnstormers:

What is the takeof distance over a 50ft obstacle in one of these (solo with an hour of fuel)? I imagine it could hang on the prop pretty good.

http://www.barnstormers.com/classified_749784_1976+SIAI+MARCHETTI+SM+1019.html

If anyone need L-19 parts, I just saw this on the 150-152 club forum: http://www.cessna150152.com/forum/ubbth ... Post424165

Yes, the AGCP program on the west coast is going to highly modified 182's, some of their dogs have been re-distributed, and some sold, but in all the ACGP is still operating about 12 dogs. (6 SuperDogs & 6 Stock dogs)

as for the SM 1019, they are great machines, however they are strictly military, so in this country they have to be registered Experimental Exhibition Category, so if you can live within the constraints of the FAR's that govern that, they are fun. but due to this they cannot do much else. (let me know if you want one)

The Birddog / SuperDogs however remain in the Standard Category, so you can fly over congested areas, tow banners / gliders and do all other fun stuff!!

I always figured that if I could ever afford a warbird, it would have to be an L19. I probably spend at least half a day each year, ogling the L19s at OSH. Trouble is, I can't begin to afford 2 airplanes (heck, I can't afford my one airplane!), so it's not likely I'll ever get one. But they are super airplanes.

Here's a pic of 3 of them in formation over Marble, a couple of years ago:



Cary

Does the superdog2 have a trim tab or a trim jack?

On the SuperDog II,
it uses the elevator mounted trim tab, this way all the cockpit controls remain unchanged.
this was to keep away from the issues with the "flying" horizontal stab Jack Screws (expensive and run away problems)

Here are a few video links to a SuperDog II on AWB 2500 wheel skis


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk6mW6HbqfI takeoff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1Q8TPhNnc0 flying around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlQpE2Ssj78 landing

keep doggin'

steve

http://www.birddogsbynoyes.com

here is a SuperDog I doing some off airport work!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRpnfM0Q7fo


Cammo SuperDog I on Fly lite 3000 Skis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_Ygbu1y0s

SuperDog 5 takeoff, watch the ground for the glide tow, kinda neet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azMP_JeiROQ