Cessna O-2B Skymaster
By 1966, the Vietnam War was in full swing, and the USAF was noting the alarming rise in losses among its Forward Air Control (FAC) community, at that time flying mostly Cessna O-1 Bird Dogs. The O-1 was a good FAC platform, but single engined; the FAC role required low and slow flight, making it vulnerable to ground fire. The USAF’s requirement for an “off-the-shelf” interim replacement for the O-1, which would retain the O-1’s good visibility from the cockpit and have better survivalbility, was suited well by Cessna’s Model 337 Skymaster. The Model 337 used a unique “push-pull” twin engine setup, which had better performance and reliability than a single-engined aircraft, but did not require twin-engined certification to fly. The USAF immediately ordered 532 Skymasters as O-2A FAC aircraft and loudspeaker-equipped O-2B psychological warfare aircraft, with the first reaching USAF units in March 1967.
The O-2, nicknamed “Oscar Deuce” or “Duck” by its pilots, proved to be an excellent FAC platform, even if the twin-engined reliability was thought by its pilots to be oversold—the only thing that handled worse than an O-2 on one engine, the saying went, was an O-2 with no engines. Using marker rockets on underwing hardpoints, FAC O-2s would mark a target for USAF or South Vietnamese strike aircraft to attack VC/NVA positions in the dense jungle and mountains of South Vietnam, and occasionally Laos or even the southern portion of North Vietnam. FAC pilots were known to make strafing runs or salvo their rockets into attacking enemy troops if the situation on the ground was desperate, and some O-2 pilots even equipped their aircraft with side-firing machine guns to act as “emergency gunships,” though the USAF discouraged this activity. The FAC role was dangerous enough: 178 O-2s were lost during the Vietnam War, nearly one out of every five the USAF acquired. As it turned out, the O-2 was at least as effective as its scheduled replacement, the OV-10 Bronco, and its involvement in Vietnam ended only when American involvement did in 1973.
Following the Vietnam War, the O-2 remained in service as a FAC, though it was gradually relegated to liaison duties with Air National Guard units as the OV-10 and jet-powered OA-37B Dragonfly replaced it. The Skymaster was finally retired from USAF service around 1986, but several remained in service with the US Army as test aircraft and the US Navy as range safety aircraft for the strike training program. The last O-2 left US service in 2010. Many ex-USAF aircraft were supplied to other nations as liasion or counterinsurgency aircraft, or in Africa, anti-poaching aircraft.
This O-2B is 67-1469, which joined the USAF's 4410th Combat Crew Training Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida, training new FAC pilots for Vietnam. Only a few months after delivery in early 1967, 67-1469 went to Vietnam itself, serving as a FAC with the 14th Air Commando/Special Operations Wing at Nha Trang, South Vietnam. 67-1469 came home in 1971, and would serve with two Air National Guard units--the 105th Tactical Air Support Group (New York ANG) at Westchester and the 315th Tactical Airlift Wing (Michigan ANG) at Battle Creek--along with a brief stint with the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB, Utah. Retired in 1978, it became a ground instruction trainer at Sheppard AFB, Texas until 1987.
With its USAF career at an end, 67-1469 was donated to an honorable retirement at the Kansas Aviation Museum at McConnell AFB. Tragedy struck the aircraft in 2012, however, when it was damaged by a tornado. The museum lacked the funding to repair 67-1469, and it was acquired by the Miracle of America Museum in Polson, Montana shortly thereafter.
Unfortunately for 67-1469, the Miracle of America Museum may not have the funds to restore it either. It rests as little more than a wreck between the museum's CH-34 and T-33B, with the tail booms gone, the engines missing, and the wings stored alongside of it. It's something of a sad fate for a Vietnam veteran aircraft, and hopefully someday it will return to at least display status.
Cessna O-2B Skymaster
By 1966, the Vietnam War was in full swing, and the USAF was noting the alarming rise in losses among its Forward Air Control (FAC) community, at that time flying mostly Cessna O-1 Bird Dogs. The O-1 was a good FAC platform, but single engined; the FAC role required low and slow flight, making it vulnerable to ground fire. The USAF’s requirement for an “off-the-shelf” interim replacement for the O-1, which would retain the O-1’s good visibility from the cockpit and have better survivalbility, was suited well by Cessna’s Model 337 Skymaster. The Model 337 used a unique “push-pull” twin engine setup, which had better performance and reliability than a single-engined aircraft, but did not require twin-engined certification to fly. The USAF immediately ordered 532 Skymasters as O-2A FAC aircraft and loudspeaker-equipped O-2B psychological warfare aircraft, with the first reaching USAF units in March 1967.
The O-2, nicknamed “Oscar Deuce” or “Duck” by its pilots, proved to be an excellent FAC platform, even if the twin-engined reliability was thought by its pilots to be oversold—the only thing that handled worse than an O-2 on one engine, the saying went, was an O-2 with no engines. Using marker rockets on underwing hardpoints, FAC O-2s would mark a target for USAF or South Vietnamese strike aircraft to attack VC/NVA positions in the dense jungle and mountains of South Vietnam, and occasionally Laos or even the southern portion of North Vietnam. FAC pilots were known to make strafing runs or salvo their rockets into attacking enemy troops if the situation on the ground was desperate, and some O-2 pilots even equipped their aircraft with side-firing machine guns to act as “emergency gunships,” though the USAF discouraged this activity. The FAC role was dangerous enough: 178 O-2s were lost during the Vietnam War, nearly one out of every five the USAF acquired. As it turned out, the O-2 was at least as effective as its scheduled replacement, the OV-10 Bronco, and its involvement in Vietnam ended only when American involvement did in 1973.
Following the Vietnam War, the O-2 remained in service as a FAC, though it was gradually relegated to liaison duties with Air National Guard units as the OV-10 and jet-powered OA-37B Dragonfly replaced it. The Skymaster was finally retired from USAF service around 1986, but several remained in service with the US Army as test aircraft and the US Navy as range safety aircraft for the strike training program. The last O-2 left US service in 2010. Many ex-USAF aircraft were supplied to other nations as liasion or counterinsurgency aircraft, or in Africa, anti-poaching aircraft.
This O-2B is 67-1469, which joined the USAF's 4410th Combat Crew Training Wing at Hurlburt Field, Florida, training new FAC pilots for Vietnam. Only a few months after delivery in early 1967, 67-1469 went to Vietnam itself, serving as a FAC with the 14th Air Commando/Special Operations Wing at Nha Trang, South Vietnam. 67-1469 came home in 1971, and would serve with two Air National Guard units--the 105th Tactical Air Support Group (New York ANG) at Westchester and the 315th Tactical Airlift Wing (Michigan ANG) at Battle Creek--along with a brief stint with the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill AFB, Utah. Retired in 1978, it became a ground instruction trainer at Sheppard AFB, Texas until 1987.
With its USAF career at an end, 67-1469 was donated to an honorable retirement at the Kansas Aviation Museum at McConnell AFB. Tragedy struck the aircraft in 2012, however, when it was damaged by a tornado. The museum lacked the funding to repair 67-1469, and it was acquired by the Miracle of America Museum in Polson, Montana shortly thereafter.
Unfortunately for 67-1469, the Miracle of America Museum may not have the funds to restore it either. It rests as little more than a wreck between the museum's CH-34 and T-33B, with the tail booms gone, the engines missing, and the wings stored alongside of it. It's something of a sad fate for a Vietnam veteran aircraft, and hopefully someday it will return to at least display status.