If you're going to be HUNTING at 1, 000 feet AGL in order to see shit on the ground, why not if no rear seat JTAC observer, a 7.62mm x 51mm NATO mini-Gatling gun to strafe anyone threatening you + TOW/HELLFIRE missiles to direct hit blast targets of opportunity instead of a smoke rocket marking & waiting for a "KILLER" aircraft or artillery barrage to arrive?
www.combatreform.org/grasshoppersmustreturn.htm
https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2011/june/01/cessna-l-19-bird-dog-a-soldiers-best-friend
CESSNA L–19 "BIRD DOG": A SOLDIER’S BEST FRIEND SNIFFING OUT THE ENEMY FROM 1,000 FEET AGL
June 1, 2011
By Barry Schiff
Cessna's Model 305 became better known as the L-19 "Bird Dog" - an apt name because of how well it enabled pilots and their rear-seat observers to search for and locate enemy ground positions. Once found, such targets were identified and their locations radioed to those who would respond with an air assault, artillery, or ground troops. When enemy ground troops spotted a Bird Dog flying low and overhead, it gave them good reason to believe that something bad might soon happen. Although the L–19's slow speed made it vulnerable to ground fire, enemy soldiers often would not shoot at one for fear of revealing their position.
In August 1949, Cessna Aircraft Company learned that the U.S. Army wanted a new, all-metal liaison airplane to replace its aging and shrinking fleet of fabric-covered Piper L–4 "Cubs" and Stinson L–5 "Sentinel" Grasshoppers. The Army planned to evaluate all competing aircraft during a “fly-off” at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio, the following April.
With so little time available to develop an entirely new airplane, Cessna began work by mating the tail of a Cessna 195 and the wings of a Cessna 170B with a newly designed fuselage. The effort was particularly challenging because one of the military specifications required that the airplane be capable of taking-off and landing over a 50-foot obstacle in less than 600 feet at its maximum-allowable gross weight. The prototype was built in 90 days; made its first flight on December 14, 1949; and handily won the competition against entries from Piper, Taylorcraft, and Temco.
Two months later, on June 25, 1950, the North Korean Army crossed the Thirty-Eighth Parallel. Suddenly, there was a greatly increased need for Cessna’s Model 305, which became better known as the L–19 "Bird Dog"—an apt name because of how well it enabled pilots and their rear-seat observers to search for and locate enemy ground positions. Once found, such targets were identified and their locations radioed to those who would respond with an air strikes, artillery, or ground troops.
When enemy ground troops spotted a "Bird Dog" flying low and overhead, it gave them good reason to believe that something bad might soon happen. Although the L–19’s slow speed made it vulnerable to ground fire, enemy soldiers often would not shoot at one for fear of revealing their position.
Cessna L-19 Bird DogIn 1962 and during America’s early involvement in Vietnam, the Department of Defense standardized aircraft designations, and the L–19 (L for liaison) suddenly became the O–1 (O for observation). During the Vietnam conflict, enemy targets were marked by firing white-phosphorous smoke rockets at them. These burst on impact and generated intense white clouds that were visible for miles.
There are endless war stories involving the venerable "Bird Dog". One of the most fascinating involves Maj. Bung-Ly, a South Vietnamese Air Force pilot who crammed his wife and five children into a Bird Dog on April 29, 1975, to escape the North Vietnamese takeover of South Vietnam. They took off from Con Son Island, skirted enemy ground fire, and headed into the Gulf of Thailand with the hope of finding a rescue ship rumored to be somewhere out there. After a long overwater flight and running low on fuel, Bung-Ly finally spotted USS Midway, its flight deck jam-packed with helicopters. He circled the ship a few times and then flew low over the deck to drop a note written on a chart. It pleaded for some helicopters to be moved so that there would be room for him to land. The Midway’s captain, L.C. Chambers, did not believe that the seven occupants of the "Bird Dog" could survive a ditching in the rough sea, so he ordered $10 million worth of "Huey" and "Chinook" helicopters scuttled overboard to allow Bung-Ly and his family a shot at landing on the rain-soaked, windswept flight deck. "Bird Dog" 51-4981 is now in the U.S. Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, and the Bung-Ly family, sponsored by the crew of the Midway, lives not far away.
J316
SA!
JBIR
