US A-37B "DRAGONFLY" - US Light Ground attack Aircraft - Vietnam War 1970

Description

The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is an American light attack aircraft developed from the T-37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s by Cessna of Wichita, Kansas. The A-37 was introduced during the Vietnam War and remained in peacetime service afterward. In August 1967, 25 A-37As were sent to Vietnam under the "Combat Dragon" evaluation program, and flew from Bien Hoa Air Base on USAF "air commando" missions, including close air support, helicopter escort, FAC, and night interdiction. Combat loads included high-explosive bombs, cluster munition dispensers, unguided rocket packs, napalm tanks, and the SUU-11/A Minigun pod. For most missions, the aircraft also carried two additional external fuel tanks on the inner stores pylons. The A-37Bs were all newly built airframes. These were stronger than those of the A-37A, capable of pulling 6 g instead of 5, and were built to have a longer fatigue life of 4,000 hours. Field experience would demonstrate that 7,000 hours between overhauls could be tolerated. The A-37B weighed almost twice as much as the T-37C. A remarkable fraction of the loaded weight, 5,800 lb (2,600 kg), could be external stores. In practice, the A-37B usually operated with at least two and sometimes four underwing fuel tanks to improve combat endurance. A total of 577 A-37Bs were built, with 254 delivered to the South Vietnamese Air Force. At war’s end, the A-37 had flown over 160,000 combat sorties with only 22 USAF losses. Approximately 187 A-37Bs were in South Vietnamese service when the country fell. Ninety-two were recovered by the US, while the other 95 were later used by the Communist Vietnamese in missions over Cambodia and during the China conflict in 1979. (Scale : 1/48e)