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Cessna O2 Skymaster "The Duck" and the Douglas A-1 Skyraider
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- čas přidán 17. 08. 2014
- Thunder Across the Valley Air Show 1998
National Warplane Museum
Cessna O2 Skymaster "The Duck"
Douglas A-1 Skyraider
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I was an O-2 FAC also. I flew 300 combat missions in it, most of them in a highly secret endeavor over Cambodia that I could not even acknowledge until the late 1980s. We flew it grossly overloaded, and usually solo. We did things with it that would make a Cessna engineer blanch, but it always brought us home. The Vietnam FAC job is now acknowledged to have been the most intense, physically and mentally challenging flying job ever. And done by junior officers, many of them (like me) in their very first flying assignment.
We got to see you guys work-out every once in a while. We would watch the O2 until we saw the rockets launch and then we'd look up for the F4 to come rolling in. It was a cool show. On the army side, a Hughes 500 (Snoopy) would take the role of the O2 and a Cobra filled the roll of the F4.
I’ve always wondered, was the smoke put on the actual target on other than hard targets?
@@tnmonty501 If you're asking if we used smoke rockets as weapons rather than just markers, the answer is yes. At times, you use what you have. They were not very effective at that except to start fires.
@@rockyraab8290 guess what I was wondering is if you put the smoke at a distance from them and gave direction from it so they didn’t run from it ?
@@tnmonty501 I see. No, we generally tried to hit as close as possible to the actual target because judging distance from the smoke is hard for the fighter guys going 500 knots. The classic radio call was 'Cleared hot, hit my smoke."
Got my father hooked after 2 tours mom said no he went back . Civilian life finally got his own plane . Cessna 210. Miss him!
I will never forget that sound ! 1969 Duc Pho Vietnam .
Great handling qualities. A pleasure to fly.
We had these (O2s) with the 343rd Composite Wing at Eielson in '82. Until our A-10s arrived, we had them painted with Gloss White, Gloss Gray, and Gloss Orange since their mission was search and rescue. They reverted to FAC with their rocket rides when the A-10s arrived to establish the 18th TFS. I was fortunate to see all these in action on the range.
I LOVE these Cessna 337 Sky-Masters I have flown in one many of times with my Dad .
RIP Lt. Col. Gerald Smith, USAF (retired, Vietnam O2 Pilot)...That was one hell of a good run, old man.
What an amazing aircraft. Its work was spectacularly shown in the film Bat21 .
My father, Major David G. Tryling flew this in Vietnam 1970-1971.
67-68 and went on as navigator in a KC135's part of linebacker in a refueling capacity.
My dad was "sleepy time" night patrols under the 119th fighter wing?
I WAS IN 20 TASS PHAN RANG AB .VIETNAM 1969 HAD O1,02,AND OV-10 . GREAT PLANE WORK ON.
I was a passenger in Skymasters several times in the late 1960's flying to newspaper assignments. It was the safest light plane you could fly in.
I remember a bunch of them in storage at U-Tapoa 73-75..
I am glad someone has written and interviewed the FAC pilots and crew as I am just now starting to want to learn more as it must have taken a hell of a lot of guts to fly these things to mark those targets and guide those strike aircraft. I will check out Hit My Smoke. Thanks much!
I am proud to have been there at Nakohn Phanom (NKP) in 70 71. 23rd tass
602nd sos. O2s, A1s, ch3e, ch53sand AC123ks.
Great times....🇺🇸
Thank you for your service to the free world Sir.
Thanks for sharing
I remember this plane in the FAS (Salvadoran Air Force)
Here it was known as the Cessna "Martillo" = "Hammer"
They decommissioned it not long ago, although it was a good reconnaissance patrol boat, I hope they open up easy-to-operate and improved planes like the Bronco II.
The skymaster is so beautiful.
Nice. Two of my fave aircraft in this. The Cessna "Skymonster" and a Jet Provost (red and white aircraft in the background just before the O2 took off)
SWEET.
I love the C337. I got to rebuild one and got some flight time in it. They fly like a 182 with 2 motors, and great up and down visibility which is rare in light airplanes. The gear is funky, but reliable if maintained. If I wanted a cheap simple to fly twin this would be it.
Had the pleasure of working with Nail (FAC), Hobo A1, and Sandy A1 (and other)pilots at NKP from April 1968 to May 1969. Worked in the operations center (TUOC) as an intelligence specialist. The base was entirely "prop" aircraft during that time period.
Welcome home brother.
56th sps, k9 70 71'
507th WG Shaw 85-89 . I was in the last recip engine maintenance class the USAF ever had. All 4 of us . 3 of us went to Shaw. Ours had the spinners removed. 19th/20th/21st TASS and the 703rd w/CH53's .
265 missions out of Chu Lie. Unit loss 50% of pilots while I was there. After almost getting hosed by ZPU, never flew over 500 feet. Wore flack vest and sat on flack vest. Owe my life to my faith in Jesus. Airplane-crap but cheap. Still have flashbacks. Blessings!❤
All of the RG Cessnas have gears like that. The summer I was 18 I worked for an airplane mechanic out of Rio Vista Ca. Part of my job was to put planes on jacks to test the retraction and extension of the landing gear. Moonys and Pipers were easy, just a couple of inches off the ground was enough, but the Cessnas had to be jacked way up so the gear would not hit the ground.
Yes and now days many people are doing the conversion to take the clam shell doors away.
Best' small airplane .man can easily services. 🙏👍
The O2-B was the Psyops model with a leaflet chute in the back and speakers on the left side behind the pilot. I was a Sgt e5 unofficial co-pilot as there was only one pilot when the AF came to pick me up in Dian airstrip. 38 missions and I learned to fly an airplane.
The O-2/337 are my new object of fascination. I live in the southwest and would like a twin for safety over the desert. The 337 is such a cool plane.
My squadron (VFA 125, NAS Fallon, NV 1986-1989) used these to monitor the pilots' bombing target practice. We were (still are I think) a detachment out of Lemoore, CA, flight training squadron. I was a plane captain. I got to ride in one once. :)
Respect also to that woman who wrote the book on FACs - she’s really passionate about the topic
Plane flown in the Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, Vietnam War Film BAT 21.
bird dog great movie !
BIRD DOG!
Tony Sanger that plane in the movie looked more real than this bird with a modern radar dish
The plane in BAT 21 was an O1 or basicly a piper cub. Bat 21 was Iceal Hamblin who due to the massive shortages of flight crew due to the mismanagement of the air war by the President and McNamara placed a good officer in a place he never should have been in. That he was able to get out of the plane alive was a miracle. The reason for all the clamor was that his job prior to coming to Viet Nam was targeting ICBM's for both Russia and China. The North Vietnamese really wanted him alive. The way they got him out was to have him play a golf game of the various golf courses he had played all over the world (he was an avid golfer) They would pick a direction they wanted him to go to avoid the bad guys and then pick a hole on a certain course that coincided with those directions. Then give him a club selection and get him from point A to B. That went on until they got him to the river. Where a navy SEAL and a Vietnamese SEAL were able to cover him in the small boat and get him to safety . The book tells a much better story of what Hollywood messed up.
Great aircraft and pilots who flew them.
0-2/337 Was built by Cessna . Worked on them for over 3 years
When I learned to fly some forty years ago there was a Skymaster at my club which was a commercial air taxi. I used to drool over it. In view of the fact that it has an engine front and rear it was often referred to as a "pull me, push me".
The battalion intelligence officer got a report of an NVA regiment at a certain coordinate so he decided to get 7 volunteers to go check it out. I went. I don't know if there was a regiment there but there was a lot of them. We formed a defense in a gulley that ran through a small village. Me and a guy with an M60 machine gun were shooting down the gulley to keep them off us. A group of the enemy came up in a mud hut 25 meters from us and were throwing grenades threw the windows at us. I asked the FAC to do something about it and he put a white phosphorous rocket right in the center of it. Solved the problem.
Love the weird wYthe main gear retracts on the small cessnas
The only disadvantage of the landing gear is it’s prone to problems with how complicated the gear system is. Sweet plane though!
"Point of the Spear; COVEY Forward Air Controllers in Viet Nam" is a collaborative book of short stories, as told by the guys who flew the missions. Covey FACs worked primarily the northern half of the Republic of Vietnam, as well as the western border areas and the trail, flying the O-1, the O-2 and the OV-10. I just discovered that the book is now available as an e-book on Amazon. The Sky Master lived on long after Viet Nam, flying missions in many areas of conflict. Long after my tour in Viet Nam, I bought a Sky Master for personal transportation in Alaska, and also flew eight tours of ISR in the Iraq war in that venerable airframe. Dave R. "Covey 46" "Wicked 21"
Good to hear from someone who flew ISR. That story should be documented one day. The USAF should have kept Bronco for that job but the USAF and USMC murdered their light FAC programs (not without some controversy). Contracting ISR lets the military pretend it doesn't need those aircraft and keeps their use out of general public knowledge.
I'm surprised no other twins were made like this. Outside of the rear engine having a tendency to get hot in slow ground maneuvers due to lack of air flow, it seems to be a great plane.
Awesome sound
Thank you 😋
While Maintenance Officer for the 90TAC Fg Sq Bein Hoa, Vietnam, I recall a pilot of an 0-2 FAC telling me that the O-2 was so heavy with radio equipment that it could not maintain level flight when one engine/prop failed. So if ground fire took out an engine/prop the O-2 needed find a landing place quickly. Never heard it called a "Duck" or any other nickname while in country 68-69. I do not believe any FAC was happy flying an O-2.
"Happy" flying in combat is a relative term. After flying the O-1 in training stateside, I flew the O-2A for a year in Vietnam 1968-69. While the O-1 had distinctive advantages in visibility out either side and with windows that enhanced the ability to hear ground fire, the higher speed, longer range and endurance, and higher payload (more rockets) of the Skymaster made a big difference in combat.
The O-2A had a heavy radio suite, armor and armament provisions, but when they took the six heavier seats, plush interior and sound proofing from the basic 337, the military version was only LISTED as 193 lbs. heavier. The kicker, however, was that the maximum allowable takeoff weight for the O-2A was 1,000 lbs. more than the basic civilian model!
True: the O-2A could not maintain altitude at our normal operating weights, particularly in high and hot conditions, but the distinctive difference between between the two was that if you lost and engine in the O-2A, you had a larger area from which to select a crash site!
I liked flying the O-2A, but it was its ability to do the mission: helping the troops on the ground, slowing the flow of supplies down The HCM Trail, occasionally assist in the recovery of a downed fellow airman. I could not have done some of these in the O-1. My longest missionin the the Skymaster was 4hr 15min, a troops in contact (TIC) situation just south of the DMZ. That might have been more difficult if we had to rotate shorter-legged O-1s in and out of the fray.
"The Duck" got me home safely many times. It was a good bird.
O-2 and predecessors were the reason for the LARA program and highly successful OV-10. O-2 drivers had giant balls to take that bird to war. It had great pilots and maintainers. It was never very good, it was merely available!
Show!
When I lived in Panama on Howard AFB, there was a squadron of them. Lost 2 in one year, Pilot had a heart attack and another pilot was horsing around and crashed. This what I can recall from the stories that were told, I was kid back in the 80s when it happened.
A twin without Vmc issues. I've always wanted one.
I miss my Skymaster Great plane
Note that the airplane the speaker is standing in front of is NOT an O-2. It is a late model Cessna 337 (G model or later) painted up (poorly) to look like an O-2. The first plane seen flying is a real O-2. The second is not. Also, her story about how the O-2s came to be FACs is not entirely correct and her story about how the O-2 came to be known as the Duck is not accurate.
Never heard it called the "duck" either. "suck & blow" was my favorite and "engine sandwich", "huff and puff" third. Mix master was too bla. Dad flew these which pissed me off. After the P38, P51 in WWII the squadron got F86's and later the F100. The O2 was like punishment especially for me.
To understand how the O-2A got the nickname "The Duck" (one of many!), one needs to watch a duck takeoff! *
czcams.com/video/YP9ZyYZitpo/video.html
Most aircraft retractable landing gear goes into the wings or the fuselage, but the Cessna single engine or centerline thrust twins use a unique system to tuck the wheels into the aft end of their bodies ... like a duck!
* It is easier to see in geese (their feet are larger and slower coming up), but the effect is the same!
Just a quick thing about this wonderful plane, they were used in the former African Nation of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Now, I'm not here to talk politics when it comes to Rhodesia, so that's completely irrelevant. What is relevant is that the Rhodesians actually used these planes for close air support in their famous Fireforce tactic. They were loaded up with loads of bombs and machine guns, some on top of the plane. From what I've heard, they worked extremely well for this role, despite being a civilian plane. In that configuration they were called the Lynx.
It was effective enough as a spotter especially when directing artillery and bombs against a force that that did'nt have missiles.Wiki says they were support for the Hunter jets
They were used by the zimbabwean air force during the second congo war. One spotted a column of rebels heading towards kinshasa. The pilot radioed in the position of enemy forces and proceeded to attack. He destroyed the lead tank with rockets holding up the convoy and allowing zimbabwean sas troopers to be chopperd into ambush positions further along the rebels advance. The sas troopers used rpgs to again destroy rebel armour before bae hawks finally cluster bombed it. This gave the zimbabwean army enough time to fortify the airport in kinshasa and allowed them to hold of the rebels. When the rebels attacked the airport they outnumbered the Zimbabweans 10 to 1. They occupied on end of the airfield and the Zimbabweans the other half. The runway was long enough for aircraft to take off unhindered at one end make a turn and bomb the other end of the runway before landing to rearm and repeat.
Every time i see one of these, i think about that vampire movie
This is the reason I'm getting my A&P. To keep these birds flying.
A dear friend of mine flew O2's and A37's in Viet Nam he liked both.
Is your friend South Vietnamese? Back in Nam, only VNAF flew Cessna A-37.
@@hochoma1564 Nope I might have confused what he said but I thought he said that he flew them he might have been there to train the South Vietnamese. But he did say that the people he few for tended to be in areas that the US government said they weren't. He provided air support for MAC-SOG and that they knew that when they came the ordinance would be on target.
@@hochoma1564 Just looked up and found an article: www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/legends-of-vietnam-super-tweet-8974282/ American pilots did fly the A37.
@@terrygardner3031 Thanks. Of course in the beginning just like A-1s, later on 69' just South Vietnamese flew these, A1s and F5s til' the end.
Flying is my favorite passion. Mostly of this is due to my father being an AF pilot for many years. He flew the hot stuff in WWII. In the 50's missions changed due to the cold war. He flew the military version, the O2. The one it this video is a civilian make over. The O2 had a crap load of radios. Not sure there was even a back seat. He said it was an OK plane to fly but it was irritating that he had to keep an eye on the aft engine rpm gauge making sure it was still running, and very poor performance on single engine. I do enjoy its nick names: push pull, suck & blow, engine sandwich, huff & puff, coming & going. Didn't like "mix master" and never ever heard called a "duck". Sorry, after viewing again she says, " ...and it will fly on one engine." I can tell she is not a pilot.
The O-2 A&B models did have a back seat. The main reason he kept an eye on the rear engine was the aircraft could not maintain level flight on the forward engine alone. It could on just the rear.
Odd thing is there has been some modified so they only have the rear engine. The nose has some recon gear in iirc.
I was an O-2 FAC in Nam, 1969-70. The job was dangerous. For a while we lost 50% of our FACS. THE MISSION WAS OUTSTANDING, but the O-2 was a poor platform. It was too heavy with UHF, FM and UHF radioes, two 7 tube rocket pods for our Willy Peet marking rockets. Very slow time to climb and visibility was fair only. However we could stay airborne about 4 hrs. The job was, other than the danger, amazing. With all its faults, I still love the O-2. Bat 21 was a great movie.
God bless our country and God be with President Trump.
They had the recip engine in the USAF inventory. The last USAF squadron was at Shaw AFB and replaced, briefly, by the vastly more capable OV-10 Bronco before the Air Force got out of the light FAC business. O-2 did yeoman service, but they don't have ejection seats and you cannot bail out of one anywhere near the ground if at all. (If there is a known successful bailout that would be truly impressive since it would require shutting down the rear engine and opening the doors against the airstream,)
It was useful because low/slow FACs in what today are called "permissive" environments are and remain highly effective. It also wasn't a very good machine. Lose one engine, you are done. Last one I know of was lost from Shaw AFB due to engine failure with no survivors. (I was stationed there working F-16s.)
The men who flew them in combat were certainly brave.
At Snake School in the PI a Lt briefed us on his successful bailout over the Trail at night. The other crew member did not make it as was pinned in by transverse Gs. As to level flight with 1 engine I know I could not maintain level flight with a full load of rockets just after takeoff taking a well used O-2a to Bien Hoa to swap for a newer one. I was less than 5 miles from the field (Vung Tau) when the rear engine ate itself ( the rear engine was supposedly more efficient than the front). I declared an emergency and headed back to the field. Lots of advice coming over the radios (plural for sure), punched all but tower off, advised tower I was landing against traffic, and put it down. To be clear I could not maintain level flight. I did not jettison the rocket pods as I could see I could make it. I was berated by my boss ( a true Dick who was later relieved) for not jettisoning the pods. A new engine was flown in, installed, and then FCFd and cleared for flight. My boss, the afore-mentioned dick, said ok, now fly it to Bien Hoa as before. I said I would taxi the POS on the highway but it had its only chance at me. He relented. Additionally, since the only armor was for our ass, I placed flak vests on the cabin floor when flying missions. This was a trick taught me by my step-father from his experiences in WWII wherein he placed sandbags on the floor of his half track when assigned driver duty and used his heels to clutch and brake (mines). Just my story as to topic. Kenny FAC.
Low and slow is the way to go! In the weeds baby!
"Naked Fanny," means something quite different in Australia!
Nakhon Pathom, a place in Thailand, airfield, gave rise to naked fanny.
Also served in the Rhodesian Bush War with rockets and MG pods.
Saved many Rhodesian soldiers.
Never heard them called a duck. "Mixmaster" has always been the common civilian and military nickname.
Not arguing, but they had a lot more names then those two.
I often heard them referred to as 'Tanglefoot'.
Cessna suck and blow
Heard them called "Skymonsters" too
@@crazybrit-nasafan Also heard them called SkyPigs
My brother Capt. Ed Gallardo flew FAC out of Da Nang.
I have had dreams of owning, maintaining, and flying a Cessna Skymaster 337! There is no more beautiful a twin engine aircraft to have ever existed. Of course, this is only my worthless opinion.
I owned a 68 337. Great plane but, the gear is a pain in the ass.
😍
Bird dog bird dog come in bird dog !!! lol great little plane those guys were so brave in those planes
NKP, Thailand Reunion in Columbus, OH inJune 2019. All Base personnel are invited. First ONE AND LAST ONE. Nail 21, 8/68-8/69, O-2-A, black and white,
1500 hrs in a 337/02!
Troops on the ground refered to them as a " " Push me Pull me "
Everytime I see this plane "Bird Dog" comes to mind...
They refer to ships with that gear "Old Tanglefeet"
don't forget the O-1 Birdog
The one she’s standing by looks like a pressurized model? And that radar pod was not on any O-2
Ahhhhh, the ol' O2! Got my last check ride in one while at Eilson AFB (Fairbanks, Alaska) back in the early 1980s. Great mountain flying, tho a little underpowered and had to watch not to get "boxed in"! ;-) See someone's changed the door on this one -- doesn't have the lower window. Okkkkk, just realized that the one being rolled out (11127) doesn't have the lower window, but the one John is flying does.
The skyraider looks so naked w/o bomb racks. But if ya have the racks they should be loaded. Even banana trees looked better than bare. Anyone else remember the new base commander and his Skyraider at NKP sometime in 74? (laughing)
i like a plane that can fly low and slow. i like ground support aircraft than figther jets.
Yes, but as the commies were equipped with numerous A. A batteries (12.7mm, 37,57mm) and SA-7; we South Vietnam lost quite a few of brave pilots...
BELO AVIÃO.
cool
Отличный самолёт.
would fly on 1 engine?...to my knowledge they ran on the front motor most of the time, rear motor was prone to overheating, so the rear was only ran when needed. have read the problem was never fully resolved. ......still, a legendary craft though...
Spoke to a Vietnamese man who was a spotter in the O-2. He said his unit lost 8 out of 10 people.
Wasn’t the A-1 replaced with the A-10?
Skymaster...Slow and Loud... took may lives....I know.
1972-1973.
My father worked on these in Vietnam Msgt Chunn
FAC to GAA "" Hit my smoke ""
Bat 21 is all I gotta say 😁
“The Sex Machine” push / pull
N.K.P. Thailand.
De Oppresso Liber.
BAT 21
"Suck and blows" was their nickname.
Don't forget engine sandwich and huff and puff , and I'm sure a few more.
War Planner Suck and blow was reserved fo jets.
Thanks! We called them this when I was in. My high school buddy was killed driving one of these in Cambodia. Read the book, "Call sign: Rustic" about our air ops in Cambodia and Viet Nam.
and don't forget "engine sandwich", huff & puff", "push pull". Never heard it called the "duck".
Mostly known as Sandy
Don’t call god call “Covey”
Its under powered even with both engines running for its weight
Gott sei dank hatt der tausch nicht geklappt.!!
210 horsepower x2 = 420 horsepower
Us Canuck's had many other nick'ie Name's 4 that Bird. Such as Suck Me --- _ _ _ _. Never Flew One but have Fond Nightmare's Runn'in Her Up ! Fire-Up da Rear so U can Hear da Dear !!! U-no. Canuck/ Planker. Cessna="Reynolds'" Wrap Areo-Craft !!!
SPAD? Nickname for really old airplane in jet age? ( SPAD was really good airplane in ww1) Well it must be the same thing that now when we think Cadillac we think pimps on trucks! 🖕
We used them in Iraq.
I wonder if these are the same "Push-Pull" planes used in the nicaraguan and salvadoran commie civil wars (against commies)
Solch eine Cessna wollte Michaelis Manusakis haben im Tausch gegen seine gute alte Tante Anna oder Tante Anne. Die Cessna o2 hatt wie man hört 2 Turboprop Triebwerke eins vorne an der Nase der Cessna und eines hinter den Tragflächen. Mir selbst gefällt die o2 nicht wirklich, ich finde diese Maschine einfach nur sorry hässlich.
FROM SAIGON : 👍
Great,she speaks good English,
Ok...