L-15 Scout: Boeing's Smallest Airplane

As World War II drew to a close, Boeing, realizing that its huge Wichita factory would be out of work at war's end, began working on a light personal airplane.

It nabbed the contract for what became the L-15 Scout despite the plane's third-place finish in a 1946 U.S. military liaison aircraft competition. Although the aircraft ultimately was not mass produced, Boeing's engineers created proposals for both military and civilian follow-ups.

This book tells for the first time the full story of the L-15--the competition and the competitors, the evolution of Boeing's entry into the prototype XL-15, the plane's specifications, the rivalry between the U.S. Army and Air Force, and the government's decision to adopt a different plane instead.