AIRCRAFT HISTORY

This aircraft (USAF Serial Number 68-11055), was built by Cessna Aircraft Company, Wichita, KS, in November 1969, and flown to the republic of Vietnam, arriving at Ton Son Nhut Airport, Saigon, Dec 25, 1969. This aircraft was assigned to the 504th Tactical Air Support Group, with sub assignments to the 20th and 21st Tactical Air Support Squadrons in the Rebublic of Vietnam, and the 23rd TASS in Nakhom Phenom, Thailand. The aircraft was disassembled for shipment back to the United States in March, 1974 in U Tapao, Thailand, and received at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, in May 1974, for storage. Shortly after, it was dropped from USAF inventory. This is one of six O-2A's that was given to the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). At this point in time, the CAP did not have the resources to restore the aircraft to flight status and all six aircraft were sold to the general public. The current owner purchased the aircraft in 1989 and reassembled it in a generic O-2A scheme.

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

The O-2 Skymaster (also known as the "Oscar Deuce" or "The Duck") is a military version of the Cessna 337 Super Skymaster. The United States Air Force commissioned Cessna to build a military variant to replace the O-1 Bird Dog in 1966.

As with the civilian version, the Skymaster was a low cost twin-engine piston powered aircraft, with one engine in the nose of the aircraft and a second engine in the rear of the fuselage. The "push-me pull-you" arrangement meant a simpler one-engine operating procedure compared to the common low-wing mounting of most twin engine light planes, and also allowed for a high wing, that was judged to be useful for clear observation below and behind the aircraft. The Skymaster would eventually be replaced in the forward air control (FAC) mission by the OV-10 Bronco and the A-37 Dragonfly, and those aircraft would be replaced, in turn, by the A-10 Thunderbolt II.

The first O-2 flew in January 1967 and the plane went into production shortly thereafter, with the USAF taking delivery in March 1967. A total of 532 O-2s were built in two variants for the USAF by 1970. The O-2A served as a FAC aircraft, while the O-2B was equipped with loudspeakers and a leaflet dispenser for use in the psychological operations (PSYOPS) role. Several USAF O-2 aircraft were later transferred to and operated by the former VNAF South Vietnamese Air Force.

Following the Vietnam War, the O-2 continued to operate with both U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard units well into the late 1980s. Several former USAF O-2A airframes were also transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1983 for use as "range controllers" with Attack Squadron ONE TWENTY-TWO (VA-122), the Pacific Fleet Replacement Squadron for the A-7 Corsair II at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California. These same aircraft were later transferred to Strike Fighter Squadron ONE TWENTY-FIVE (VFA-125), the F/A-18 Hornet FRS at NAS Lemoore in 1986 for use in the same range control role. The Navy O-2s remained in this role until September 1990, when they were replaced by T-34C Turbo Mentor aircraft transferred from the Naval Air Training Command. Some of the Navy O-2A aircraft were retired, while others were transferred to the U.S. Army.

O-2As originally entered the U.S. Army's inventory in 1977 and were augmented by the 1990 aircraft transfer from the U.S. Navy. Today, two O-2A are all that remain, flying from Laguna Army Airfield, Arizona as part of testing programs carried out by the Yuma Proving Ground. They are the only O-2A aircraft still in active U.S. military service.

Photo and aircraft history courtesy of Dave Zavoina
Design and development information courtesy of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia