Collection

A Stinson L-5 'Sentinel' of the 25th Liaison Squadron scours the coastline of northern New Guinea in search of another downed Allied aircrew, sometime in early 1944. The 25th Liaison Squadron deployed to the Southwest Pacific theater of operations in November 1943, making them the first AAF liaison squadron deployed to a combat area. The unit was more popularly known as "The Guinea Short Lines", utilizing a kangaroo motif taken from an Australian coin to signify its "short hop" missions around New Guinea. It pioneered many techniques which are now an integral part of today's Air Force operations, including search and rescue, forward air control, aerial medical evacuation. The unit moved north to the Philippine Islands following their invasion in late 1944; by the end of World War II, the 25th had been awarded two Presidential Unit Citations. Stinson's L-5 was a rugged design with three times the horsepower and twice the speed of Piper's ubiquitous L-4 Grasshopper. Later variants featured a re-design fuselage bay capable of carrying a stretcher patient. First entering production in late 1942, the Air Force's last L-5 (re-designated U-19) was retired from use at the USAF Academy in 1961, where it was being used as a tug for the Academy's sailplane program.