The Ls: ultimate collector planes for Normandy?

[Monostripezebra]

After the Ju52 and Po-2 the question is what would be the corresponding aircraft, that played an almost forgotten major role in the fights for Normandy?

 

And off course this place goes to the light observation planes that did incredible lifting despite their weight. From casulty evacuation to observation, artillery directing, recon, liasion, to even sporadic anti-tank missions the grandfather of the modern Carbon-Cub bushplanes still in use today, did it all, the L4 Grasshoppers as well with some of the similarly inclinded L5 Sentinels and other light craft. But some of the most exciting aviation history was done by the these light aircraft that remain somewhat overlooked today. And while most of their important missions may seem unspectacular, some of the very spectacular uses shall be detailed below, just to make the point for them:

 

Some pilots fitted anti-tank weapons to their planes to support ground troops:

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Carpenter_(lieutenant_colonel)

 

and they are even good for the pacific:

 

 In the Pacific, before the first airstrips where captured, there light observation planes flying from converted landing barges with a landing deck suitable for light aircraft and also the specialised "Brodie Landing System", which in essence is naval cablecar landing system:

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodie_landing_system

https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/si83-16835640jpg

 

 

Another article:

https://warontherocks.com/2019/08/airpower-orphans-part-ii-whatever-happened-to-liaison-aircraft/

The "small" carriers:

 

LST ships where converted to carrying observation aircraft with small flightdecks:

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_LST-16

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_LST-906

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Caroline_County_(LST-525)

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Monostripezebra

[-RR-Napoleon-]

I agree - an L-4 would be a really cool addition to the game. This would be a great addition to a Western Front Tank pack, it would be interesting to give recon aircraft some roles for AI fire missions, as well as updating enemy map markers.
Perhaps this is something that could be added with Air Marshall mode. To give the cmdrs current information on enemy movements.
 

An interesting thought about recon aircraft would be to record damage for multiplayer targets. For example a team would not get credit for destroying a target until it is confirmed via recon photos. Obviously this does not suite every mission/server style it would have to be optional.

Edited March 16, 2020 by -RR-Napoleon-