Anyone towed behind a Cessna BirdDog before?

A lot has to do with the atltiude of your airport.
The Bird Dog has the same engine as a C-182,
a Cont.O-470, but it's derated to 213 horses unless
you are flying an "E" model Bird Dog with the constant
speed prop which has a bit more power.
But, as has been pointed out, they are becoming popular
as War Birds and are therefore more expensive. On the
other had they are more fun to fly and you can carry a pax.
The Cessna 188 ag plane is nice if you can find one and they
have the O 520 with essentially the same wing as the Bird Dog
and do a great job of towing......about the same as a Pawnee.

Zulu

The Cessna 305 (L-19) is a great tow plane.* I routinely tow in an
L-19, Pawnee, and 235 HP Maule and find the L-19 is not only more fun
to fly, but outperforms the others.* If you read the history of the
L-19 (the Loveable 19er by M Thompson) you can understand why.* In the
late 1940s Cessna developed this aircraft to meet the specifications
of the Army Air Corps for a liaison and utility battlefield aircraft.*
It was designed to climb fast and land and take off in very short
rough fields.* It is not fast or fancy, but in meeting these specs
winds up being a great tow aircraft.* Have you friend look at the
International Bird Dor Assoc. website www.ibdaweb.org (or Google Bird
Dor Association if I remember the site name incorrectly).Skip Guimond

Wurtsboro used to have Birdogs - maybe they still do? I remember they
had a lot of spare parts in the hangar - wonder if the are still
there. Engines in cans, rows of wings stacked up. George used to hand-
prop the L-19 when I was flying there, not sure if the starter was
failed or missing, or if he just enjoyed hand-propping.

The author of the Bird Dog book, Minard Thompson has an office just
down the hall from my office here.

Jim

Sky Soaring (outside of Chicago - http://skysoaring.com) has an L-19
that the tow pilots and glider drivers absolutely LOVE. It tows
anything to 3K AGL in 7-8 minutes flat. We have also did a dual tow
for fun and excitement - the tow pilot reported not much of a
difference from a single tow. I am on the board and insurance hasn't
been onerous.

That being said...

1) We have had quite a bit of maintenance on the ship over the last
year which we are able to do in house. I cannot speak to the question
if the L19 requires more maintenance and/or fuel than a Pawnee. If
you are really interested in the details on our maintenance history
please drop me a line and I will forward your contact info to our
maintenance chief.

2) We are actively looking for a second tow plane - specifically a
Pawnee (anyone know of one available?) - which we would use as the
primary tow plane while we determine which ship is "better".

My $0.04.

- John DeRosa

One other point. We have not had much of an issue with finding
parts. Most of the wear items like engine, gear, etc is pretty
standard stuff. We fabricate our own sheet metal so we haven't run
into having to find those kind of parts.

The Royal Canadian Air Cadets use a mix of Bellanca Scout and L-19
tugs and they're happy with them. However, they're only towing 2-33's

I remember the Scout from my training many years ago: the tug would
"Split S" after the release and direct to landing. Never had problems
with them. Apparently, they do the same with the L-19.

On Oct 19, 10:31*am, Nimbob wrote:
Wurtsboro used to have Birdogs - maybe they still do? I remember they
had a lot of spare parts in the hangar - wonder if the are still
there. Engines in cans, rows of wings stacked up. George used to hand-
prop the L-19 when I was flying there, not sure if the starter was
failed or missing, or if he just enjoyed hand-propping.

The author of the Bird Dog book, Minard Thompson has an office just
down the hall from my office here.

Jim

George used to have seven L-19's. Three of them were flying, and four
were a source of spare parts.
He did hand-prop for the same reason he was towing with an almost dry
tanks. He believed that there is no point of taking heavy starter or
unneeded gas... up and down, hundred times a day.
Richard
BTW. George Baron and his father were a Great American Aviators. They
are worth of some sort of historical biography. Now , when they are
gone, nobody seams to care for who they were, and what they did for
American Soaring.. Very soon nobody will remember their names.

Originally Posted by RRK

On Oct 19, 10:31*am, Nimbob wrote:
Wurtsboro used to have Birdogs - maybe they still do? I remember they
had a lot of spare parts in the hangar - wonder if the are still
there. Engines in cans, rows of wings stacked up. George used to hand-
prop the L-19 when I was flying there, not sure if the starter was
failed or missing, or if he just enjoyed hand-propping.

The author of the Bird Dog book, Minard Thompson has an office just
down the hall from my office here.

Jim

George used to have seven L-19's. Three of them were flying, and four
were a source of spare parts.
He did hand-prop for the same reason he was towing with an almost dry
tanks. He believed that there is no point of taking heavy starter or
unneeded gas... up and down, hundred times a day.
Richard
BTW. George Baron and his father were a Great American Aviators. They
are worth of some sort of historical biography. Now , when they are
gone, nobody seams to care for who they were, and what they did for
American Soaring.. Very soon nobody will remember their names.

Nimbob and RRK -

I work as CFIG at Wurtsboro and we are still using 2 of the original 3 L-19s that George used. They were completely overhauled and repainted in military colors about 3 years ago. They are great airplanes!

About your remark of the Barones being forgotten, we are currently working on a small museum and information room here at the airport about soaring and the Wurtsboro Airport history. Would love to have any old pictures or stories about the Airport that you guys might have!

Stop by sometime,
-Warren