Helio U-10D Super Courier
After the end of World War II, the general aviation market returned to prominence, and grew--now there were thousands of former pilots who might enjoy an aircraft of their own. The war had also opened up Alaska and the more remote areas of Canada; "bush" pilots needed a good, reliable light aircraft that could land in all conditions, on very short runways.
Two aircraft designers, Otto Koppen and Lynn Bollinger, founded the Koppen-Bollinger Aircraft Company in 1948, for the express purpose of building a short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft. The company's name was changed to the easier to market Helio name a few years later. Koppen's idea was a modified Piper PA-17, with a taller tail, larger flaps, and leading-edge wing slats, which would give his design superb STOL capability. For more cargo space, the fuselage was lengthened. With the final addition of a much more powerful engine, Koppen named his design the Heliopolis. It first flew in 1949. By the time production began in 1954, it had been renamed the Helio Courier. The Courier immediately found sales in the bush pilot community, and among missionaries in South America.
The USAF was interested as well. The Korean War proved that there was a need for aircraft that could operate away from airfields, in often very small landing zones. Though helicopters were coming into their own, the USAF still bought 120 L-28As as light transports; these could carry cargo and passengers, or evacuate casualties. With a stall speed of only 28 mph, it could drop into areas no other fixed-wing aircraft could reach. In 1962, the L-28 was designated U-10, though it kept the Courier name.
By the time the United States began to get involved in the Vietnam War, the USAF and US Army were both operating the U-10D Super Courier, a version with an uprated engine and longer range. Their short field landing capability was very valuable in Southeast Asia, and U-10s were not only used as light transports and liasion aircraft, but also as psychological warfare aircraft--the latter dropped leaflets and were equipped with speakers. The speakers could exhort Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers to defect, or demoralize them with Buddhist funeral dirges and terrifying ghost noises, usually played at earsplitting volume. The U-10 was very vulnerable to ground fire, but it could be used in low threat areas. A few were used in Laos as forward air control (FAC) aircraft, often by the CIA's "airline," Air America.
Though production of the Courier ended in the early 1980s, the aircraft remains popular with bush pilots. The USAF and Army retired their Couriers not long after the end of the Vietnam War, and a few of these have made their way into the hands of collectors as warbirds. Roughly 500 were built.
Three former USAF U-10s are known to be in museums. This aircraft, 66-4360, served with the USAF in Vietnam. It was retired in 1976 and passed to the USDA, which used it as an insecticide sprayer in Texas. When the USDA in turn retired 66-4360 in 1981, it was acquired by the National Museum of the USAF and restored back to its USAF Southeast Asia colors, though with a different tail number of an aircraft assigned to the 14th Air Commando Wing, based at Nha Trang, South Vietnam.
I initially had this listed as a Pilatus AU-23A Peacemaker counterinsurgency aircraft; I should've checked the NMUSAF's registry and realized they don't have any on display. I apologize for the error!
Helio U-10D Super Courier
After the end of World War II, the general aviation market returned to prominence, and grew--now there were thousands of former pilots who might enjoy an aircraft of their own. The war had also opened up Alaska and the more remote areas of Canada; "bush" pilots needed a good, reliable light aircraft that could land in all conditions, on very short runways.
Two aircraft designers, Otto Koppen and Lynn Bollinger, founded the Koppen-Bollinger Aircraft Company in 1948, for the express purpose of building a short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft. The company's name was changed to the easier to market Helio name a few years later. Koppen's idea was a modified Piper PA-17, with a taller tail, larger flaps, and leading-edge wing slats, which would give his design superb STOL capability. For more cargo space, the fuselage was lengthened. With the final addition of a much more powerful engine, Koppen named his design the Heliopolis. It first flew in 1949. By the time production began in 1954, it had been renamed the Helio Courier. The Courier immediately found sales in the bush pilot community, and among missionaries in South America.
The USAF was interested as well. The Korean War proved that there was a need for aircraft that could operate away from airfields, in often very small landing zones. Though helicopters were coming into their own, the USAF still bought 120 L-28As as light transports; these could carry cargo and passengers, or evacuate casualties. With a stall speed of only 28 mph, it could drop into areas no other fixed-wing aircraft could reach. In 1962, the L-28 was designated U-10, though it kept the Courier name.
By the time the United States began to get involved in the Vietnam War, the USAF and US Army were both operating the U-10D Super Courier, a version with an uprated engine and longer range. Their short field landing capability was very valuable in Southeast Asia, and U-10s were not only used as light transports and liasion aircraft, but also as psychological warfare aircraft--the latter dropped leaflets and were equipped with speakers. The speakers could exhort Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers to defect, or demoralize them with Buddhist funeral dirges and terrifying ghost noises, usually played at earsplitting volume. The U-10 was very vulnerable to ground fire, but it could be used in low threat areas. A few were used in Laos as forward air control (FAC) aircraft, often by the CIA's "airline," Air America.
Though production of the Courier ended in the early 1980s, the aircraft remains popular with bush pilots. The USAF and Army retired their Couriers not long after the end of the Vietnam War, and a few of these have made their way into the hands of collectors as warbirds. Roughly 500 were built.
Three former USAF U-10s are known to be in museums. This aircraft, 66-4360, served with the USAF in Vietnam. It was retired in 1976 and passed to the USDA, which used it as an insecticide sprayer in Texas. When the USDA in turn retired 66-4360 in 1981, it was acquired by the National Museum of the USAF and restored back to its USAF Southeast Asia colors, though with a different tail number of an aircraft assigned to the 14th Air Commando Wing, based at Nha Trang, South Vietnam.
I initially had this listed as a Pilatus AU-23A Peacemaker counterinsurgency aircraft; I should've checked the NMUSAF's registry and realized they don't have any on display. I apologize for the error!