The French Army Aviation received a total of 200 L-19s.
64 L-19As were supplied under MDAP as from March 1954. Those machines were delivered in Indochina and after the French collapse the survivors were handed over to the South-Vietnamese Air Force in 1955.
10 L-19As were acquired from the US Army in 1956 for evaluation purposes. They were later converted to L-19Es
126 L-19Es were bought in three batches between 1957 and 1959. These machines had been ordered new from Cessna and therefore they had no US Army serial number.
The last L-19 was retired in 1993, after nearly 40 years of sterling service. Over the time these aircraft have sported very different styles of markings, and I have tried to portray the most important variations. This is only a preview, much work still has to be done and any comment will be welcome.
L-19A Army S/N 51-12850, 22eme GAOA, French Indochina, 1954
One of the machines supplied under MDAP, with large US serial number on the fin
L-19A Army S/N 51-12855, ES ALOA, Mainz-Finthen, Germany, 1956
One of the batch of 10 aircraft acquired from the US Army (for the "modest" price of $16.250 apiece!) and seen serving with the training school, then located in Germany: the very unusual proportions of the fuselage roundel are worthy of note
L-19E C/N 24582, GALAT N°3, Setif-Aïn-Arnat, French Algeria, 1958
Those are the markings first sported by the L-19 fleet in Algeria. The blue in the national markings is much darker than usual and the fuselage roundel is of non standard proportions
L-19E C/N 24511, 2PA 2eme DIM, Tebessa, French Algeria, 1959
This one is unusual both because of the shape of the code letters and because it sports the unit badge on the fin; here again, the blue in the national markings is very dark and the fuselage roundel is of non standard proportions
L-19E C/N 24557, PMAH 14eme DI, Oued Hamimin, French Algeria, 1962
As from 1959 machines going through a major overhaul received a silver paint scheme; this helped to make them more conspicuous to strike aircraft
L-19E C/N 24533, ESALAT, Dax, France, 1972
Once they returned to France the L-19s received an olive drab paint scheme again; this one is seen serving with the Army Air Force training school, hence the dayglo markings
L-19E C/N 24576, 6eme GALREG, Nancy, France, 1976
This one wears quite unusual black code letters and it has no black anti-glare panel (not an uncommon feature, however)
L-19E C/N 24524, 6eme GALREG, Nancy, France, 1977
Standard markings for the seventies period
L-19E C/N 24534, 3eme GHL, Rennes, France, 1983
As from 1981 aircraft started sporting the "armée de TERRE" writing on the fuselage sides
L-19E C/N 24572, DETALAT, Berlin, Germany, 1993
Aircraft serving with the Berlin station flight were unusual in having the round ARMY logo on the fin instead of the "armée de TERRE" writing on the fuselage sides; for obvious propaganda reasons, they were kept in pristine condition. "BVW" is seen here making a flypast over the Tiergarten with the Brandenburger Door in the background, possibly on its last flight which took place on 23 April 1993
Unfortunately, in real life all those aircraft, whatever the version or the period, had bulged wheel covers as per the o1_F.MDL file and not recessed wheel hubs as per the o1.MDL. On none of them is the antenna arrangement correct either, but this varied somehow from one period to the other, yet nearly all L-19Es in French service had a very prominent, twelve-foot tall VHF whip aerial located on the cabin roof.
And, quite obviously, no one of them had the glider towing hook. In fact, at least 95% of the pictures on airliners.net show that, even on currently flying L-19 warbirds, this unwelcome tow hook is not fitted. So might be it would be wise to feature it as a show/hide item, just like the external stores?
Let's hope those few details will be fixed in the future, together with numerous other problems which plague this airplane since it has been released