The Stinson 108 Voyager Stinson 108's in Military Service http://personalpage.tdstelme.net/~westin By Larry Westin - November 1, 1999 UPDATED - Rev C - 02/20/09 Earlier Stinsons, notably the model 10, the model 76 (L5 Sentinel) and several Reliant versions, were used by several military air arms just prior, during World War II, and after. To the best of my knowledge only one country, Spain, used the Stinson 108 in military service. Many cases exist where Hollywood painted a Stinson 108 to look like a military airplane for a movie, but only the Ejercito del Aire, the Spanish Air Force, actually used the Stinson 108 operationally in military service. The Ej‚rcito del Aire acquired some 21 Stinson 108-3's for liaison duties. In Spanish Air Force service the Stinson 108-3 was designated L.2. Known serial numbers indicate these were not purchased as a single batch, in fact the Spanish Air Force may have purchased some from private owners. In service the Stinson 108-3's retained their civilian paint scheme with the addition of military insignia. Spanish roundels were painted top and bottom of each wing, and on each side of the fuselage. On the left side of the fuselage roundel appeared the squadron number. On the right side of the fuselage roundel appears the aircraft number within the squadron. As with all Spanish Air Force aircraft of this time period, the rudder was painted white with a black "X." On the vertical stabilizer the Spanish Air Force designation was painted, L.2, followed by a dash and ending with the airplane serial number, in Spanish Air Force use, for that type airplane. No doubt that sentence totally confused you. To clarify - the Stinsons carried designations from L.2-1 through L.2-21. Some publications indicate only 18 aircraft were obtained. The Stinson 108-3 in the Museo del Aire, hangar 3, carries the designation L.2-21, so I am assuming 21 were purchased. All were Stinson model 108-3's. The Ej‚rcito del Aire declared the L.2 aircraft surplus in 1965. Subsequently 9 aircraft were then civilianized, and registered to the Subsecretaria de la Aviacion Civil with Spanish civil, "EC," registrations. Known registrations are as follows: Stinson Registration Spanish Spanish AF Civil Serial # when built AF Serial Markings Registration -------- ------------ ---------- ---------- ------------ 108-5140 NC4140C L.2-01 95-x<105-x EC-AZN 108-5062 NC4062C L.2-02 95-x<105-x EC-AZT 108-5153 NC4153C L.2-03 94-2<104-2 EC-AZO 108-4362 NC6362M L.2-04 94-3<104-3 108-4298 NC6298M L.2-05 90-4x<91-4x Crashed Dec 23, 1950 at Poblet (Tarragona). Rebuilt with the spare fuselage of c/n 4288 and known as L.2-05bis since. 108-4334 NC6334M L.2-06 90-4x<91-4x 108-???? NC????? L.2-07 90-4x<91-4x 108-5088 NC4088C L.2-08 EC-AZU 108-5099 NC4099C L.2-09 91-46<101-46 108-4343 NC6343M L.2-10 91-47<101-47 EC-AZP 108-5130 NC4130C L.2-11 101-2<94-2 108-???? NC????? L.2-12 96-8<107-8 EC-AYZ 108-4342 NC6342M L.2-13 93-5<103-5 108-4338 NC6338M L.2-14 93-4<103-4 of Air Britain, for providing the serial numbers and civilian registrations. My thanks to Paco Rivas of the Muse del Aire, for providing considerable additional information about the Stinson 108 in Spanish Air Force service. Feb 1, 2009. My thanks to Jos‚ Ram˘n Valero for additional information about the Stinson 108's in Spanish Air Force service. Feb 3, 2009.