Janey: A Little Plane in a Big War

Janey was Alfred W. Schultz's World War II artillery spotter plane, an L-48 Piper Cub. both JANEY and Schultz participated in the fighting from North Africa through Sicily, Italy, and southern France to Germany. JANEY was the only L-48 Piper Cub to survive the entire European War intact. In August 1945, JANEY was exhibited in Paris at the Eiffel Tower along with the bigger, fiercer, and sexier World War II fighters and bombers. JANEY and Schultz were General George Patton's air taxi and driver in Italy, taking Patton on dangerous flights to observe ground fighting, to check out German glider fields, and to meet wounded soldiers as they were being evacuated. Flying low over an artillery range in Morocco, JANEY was hit and almost brought down by a shepherd's staff. In Italy, JANEY and S halts lured a wily Messerschmitt 109 into a mountain and received credit for the kill.