AIRCRAFT DETAILS

Cessna A-37B "Dragonfly"

The A-37B serial number 68-10807 was delivered to the USAAF in 1969, where it briefly flew in the USA. In the early 1970’s the aircraft was shipped to South Vietnam, where it was reassembled and flown by USAF pilots. Shortly before the cessation of hostilities the aircraft was delivered to the South Vietnamese air force and repainted in SVAF colours. When the war in Vietnam ended, the aircraft had flown only 310 hours 35 minutes. It was abandoned at Bien Hoa airport.

On 30 April 1975 the A-37B was taken on charge by the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, at which time new log books (in Vietnamese) commenced carrying forward the TTIS from the original USAF and South Vietnamese records.In July 1977, the A-37B entered factory A42 for ‘servicing’. Returned to service on 20 March 1979 the aircraft was never flown in Vietnam, but appears to have been run (religiously) for 15 minutes every ten days throughout 1979, 1980 and 1981 until the last log book entry on 15.6.81 with TTIS recorded as 314 hours and 7 minutes. Some time in late 1981 the aircraft was disassembled and placed into long-term storage in Vietnam.

New life in Australia

In the late 1990’s ‘807’ was imported into Australia as one of a batch of seven A-37B aircraft by the late Colin Pay of Scone, NSW, Australia. ‘807’ was the third aircraft of the batch to be rebuilt by Pay’s Air Service Pty Ltd. The aircraft was stripped, overhauled and re-assembled in accordance with the manufacturer’s maintenance manual USAF T.O. 1A-37B. Ejection seats, yaw damper system, military avionics and armament systems were removed and scrapped.

On 29 th July 2002 Australian log books were commenced with TTIS 314.1. Currently based at Bankstown, the twin-engined Dragonfly is one of the few warbirds that can overfly Australia’s capital cities, due its multiple engines.

VH-AZD is currently owned by Gary Criddle, who regularly displays this beautiful example of the A37B Dragonfly at airshows and corporate events throughout Australia. The low-level aerobatic display invariably demonstrates the aircraft’s amazing performance capability which approaches 12,000 fpm rate of climb immediately after take-off (even more amazing is its 5,000 fpm on just one engine).

Cessna O-1G "Bird Dog"

Winner of an Army competition in June 1950 for a two seat observation and liaison aircraft, the Cessna Model 305 (as it was designated by its manufacturer) was based on the company's highly successful civil Model 170 of the late 1940s and 1950s. Built to replace the World War II vintage Grasshopper family of aircraft, the Cessna L-19 (US Army designation) was powered by a 213hp engine, as opposed to the 65hp unit of it predecessor. This allowed the aircraft to be far more flexible in its parameters of operation, and made the Bird Dog ideally suited to the Forward Air Control (FAC) role that it subsequently made its own during the early years of the Vietnam War. Re-designated the O-1 in 1962, Cessna had delivered 3,431 examples by the time production ceased in that same year - the bulk of these had been built as O-1s (L-19As), with later variants introducing uprated equipment and the ability to carry wing stores like target marking rockets. The exploits of the O-1E over the Vietnamese jungle are legendary, USAF and South Vietnamese pilots pin-pointing enemy troop locations through communication with 'friendlies' on the ground prior to calling in air strikes to hit targets marked with smoke rockets. Although long since retired from USAF service, a modest number of O-1's continue to thrive with a handful of air arms across the globe, whilst surplus Bird Dogs have recently enjoyed a renaissance across North America and Australia.