Cessna Model 305A / O-1 Bird Dog

I also flew the venerable Bird Dog with the 74th RAC out of Papa Lima for a year. The airplane was a real workhorse and collected a lot of intelligence. Charlie never dared shoot a you unless you already had some artillery rounds coming his way. The O-470 engine was extremely reliable despite the abuses we gave them, like leaning the mixture way back even at 800 agl to get more range out of it. sroudoi

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I flew the bird dog with the fort biss fying club 1975 and 1976. Have often thought about flying one again. Tom McWhirter was my instructor. He showed me what the bird dog could do by taking off sideways (across the main runway) and landing same. Yes, we did the full flap landin
gs...one chance only. Inverted fight dropped 20 years of dirt and whatever out of foor panels. Most fun fying of all I ever got to fly!

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I was an L-19 Pilot in Pakistan Army and started flying the good old Bird Dog in 1975.L-19s and OH-13s came to Pakistan in 1958-63. A number of US Army instructors and Technicians came to Pakistan in those days to train Pakistani Pilots.Our earlier pilots went to Texas in 1957.It was Camp Gary and some of the instructors still remembered were Avill,King,Cuthart,Green,Passano,Feurest and Coleman. Advance training was conducted in Fort Rucker with instrutors such as Lewis,Rowlette,Hayes,Oneil and Crusson. I wonder if any of those instructors are there in this group and would much appreciate to chat with them.

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I flew with the 74th Recon Airplane Co. out of Phu Loi and then with the 145th CAB out of Bien Hoa from October 67-68. Perfect aircraft for observation and adjusting artillery and naval gunfire. Still, we're all fortunate to have survived.
9 /13 /2013

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I flew with the 74 Recon Airplane Company at Phu Loi from October 1967 until February 1968, before I was transfered to the 145th Combat Aviation Battalion at Bien Hoa. I eventually became the 145th Battalion adjutant, and the 74th was transferred to the 210th Combat Aviation Battalion.
We did not have a Bird Dog at the 145th in Bien Hoa, but we had a Beaver.

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I was in OFWAC 67 7. we graduated from Ft Rucker in June 67 and I went to Tay nin as an O1 pilot with the 21st RAC. I was there until our company was transfered to I core and 4 of us went to Dnang, Monkey Mountain with the the marines. We had a mission with the Navy that took us up and down the coast. That was a nice one.
I came back to Ft Rucker as an O1 instructor until Apr 69. I loved flying the bird dog with those big windows you could open or write messages on

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I was a Crew Chief, mechanic, TI and crew member with the 74th RAV all of 1968 at Phu Loi. I could put together a down Bird Dog with my eyes closed. Now I don't even remember how to change spark plugs in my car.

I was a crew member on a lot of motor watch missions over Siagon during the Tet Offensive, God that Beaver Aircraft was a real work horse. I feel honored to have worked along side the men of the 74th.

E-5, Jerry Cowart, 74th RAC, Pho Loi, Vietnam, 1968

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I was an Army Infantry Lt. '68-69' assigned to the 23rd ARVN Division as an Advisor. Saw a lot of firefights in II Corps. I was most thankful for the many times the FAC in an O-1 helped us out of some real messy situations. I flew VRs out of Phan Rang AFB mainly in the Ninh Huan, Bien Huan and Tuyen Duc Provinces. Wish I could locate the AF Cpt. who piloted me out of Phan Rang. Thanks for the memories some of which I would like to forget.

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I flew the BirdDogs in Vietnam in 1969-1970 out of Chu Lai and Marble Mountain AF DaNang. With the 21st RAC, my Call Sign was BlackAce 21 in Chu Lai, and BlackAce 12 in DaNang. That BirdDog was a great plane and we had some wild times, with great War Stories. I was lucky enough to room with my good friend Tom Kruzic, we went through Flight School together. Arrived together FNG's and left together Salty Dogs on that Big Bird out of DaNang. I'm still very proud of those days, and have some fond memories.

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I was an observer out of Phouc Vinh from the 101st that flew with the 184th .Great group of men and it was a great plane Got me home safe and sound every time

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Worked flight line in 66-67 Bihn Thuy AB. someone wrecked my baby on landing. He sure got his butt chewed by the Boss. They were a lot better to work on than a C-124.

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I was just a wobbly one warrant officer 'slick driver' (Tomahawk 23)at Phu Loi '67-'68. I recall hearing the call sign 'Aloft". I managed to accumulate 1275 hours of flying time in 11 months flying out of the 'tee-pee' at Papa Lima. Just hearing 'Du Hoa' gives me the creeps. I have a good friend that restored(is restoring) an 0-1 and I was just wondering if anyone has an amusing or exciting tale of the pilot /plane capibilities that we all usually exceeded. One of you may even have called in fast movers or artillery through 'Hawk Control' for me. Thanx to all, gregg - greggandjudy@gmail.com

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I was very fortunate to have flown almost all the Army's fixed wing aircraft, Caribou, U-8D&F, Beaver and the Bird dog, nothing quite fit like the Bird Dog. You almost wore the aircraft like it was an extension of your body. Everywhere that I flew from OFWAC 63-6 (the 100% goldhat class) at Ft Rucker, to Ft Monroe (primary A /C U8), to Ft Benning (primary A /C CV-2B) I always retained my currency in the O-1 and grabbed every opportunity to fly missions in it.
I continued to fly it with the Mass ARNG along with U-6 and later, helicopters, but the O-1 is by far the most fun to fly aircraft I have ever flown and thanks to our crew chiefs and mechanics, the most reliable.

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I flew as a sector reconnaissance pilot in Bac Lieu Province. I can't really say how many combat missions. I flew every day with an occasional Sunday off. They were all combat missions. I was a member of the 221st Reconnaissance Airplane Company. "Shotguns". We covered most of IV CORPS. I and my room mate a USAF CAPT. put in air strikes, naval gunfire, arty strikes and supported ground forces with my eight rockets. Now and then my crew chief, Milton Broussard would get in my back seat with an M60 and 1500 rounds of 7.62 ammo. Thus my bird dog had a very lethal tail gunner. The littl Bird Dog was very solid and saved my life with it's solid structure more than once. On one occasion, iI returned from a prticularly hairy operation and Broussard greeted me with a bone white face and he could only point at the back of my seat. I had one of the few armored Bird Dog seats. There right where my heart was was a ricochet on the back of the seat. I would have been dead were it not for that armored seat.

I went home and flew as an O-1 IP for a couple of years until fixed wing initial entry training was cancelled. After thirty+ years I retired as a CW5.

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