Korean War Service

One of the most common questions received by L-17.ORG is verification of Korean War service for a particular aircraft.  The question isn't quite as simple as it seems. All L-17 aircraft were purchased by the US Air Force due to the US Army being prohibited from purchasing fixed-wing aircraft.  The aircraft were accepted by the Air Force, and then transferred to the Army as these documents demonstrate ("Assigned to AFF").  Air Force Individual Aircraft Record Cards which track the assignment of individual aircraft are publicly available via the National Air and Space Museum or US Air Force Historical Research Agency.  Army record cards were not available in the past although I have a new contact effective 3/08 that I am pursuing. I submit requests regularly to ultimately have all L-17 record cards available via this site.

The 15 aircraft below are considered documented with Korean War service, with the documentation source provided. Photos as a source must be evaluated by the viewer as to certainty.  This is by no means a complete list - documentation indicates 26 L-17s served in-Theater, with 19 returning to the US.

Aircraft	Unit	Dates	Source
47-1307			Photograph
47-1316			Photograph
47-1328			Photograph
48-932			Photograph
48-936			Photograph
48-944	3rd Infantry Division		Photograph Unit identification by Del Coker
48-949			Photograph
48-950	1st Cavalry Division		Readiness Report and unit identification by Del Coker
48-961			Photograph
48-962			Photograph
48-972	7th Infantry Division		Photograph by Norm Zehr Unit identification by Del Coker
48-1027			Photograph
48-1030	1st Cavalry Division		Readiness Report and unit identification by Del Coker
48-1032			Photograph
48-1044			Readiness Report by Del Coker