Cessna A-37 'Dragonfly' Attack Jet!
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2022
- Reno Air Races 2022
LINKS:
See the A-37's from Honduras in action here! (2009) • HONDURAS A-37 DRAGONFLY
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My Uncle flew the A-37A out of Bien Hoa 1967-69. Was part of the original test program. He stated they would shut down one engine to give them more time in the air. He stated he ran out of fuel while taxiing in after a extended mission due to weather.
I bet he sure was glad to get it on the ground before flaming out!!! Wow!
I flew that bad boy in the Honduras Air Force for 6 years doing a maritime patrol and counter drug operations, the tucanos would get the Cessnas, and we would chase after the king airs.
In the nose it has a Gatling minigun, the fastest gun in town.
I will never forget the time when my left engine ate one of those screens when it was cycling up after a touch and go.
Colombia, Chile, Uruguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras among other Latin American countries operate that airplane to this day.
I got some formation and Air Show stuff in my channel from back in the day.
You made my day Juan!
Very cool Jaime, we flew 4 A-37's to Honduras in '84 while you were still flying F-86's.
Wow nice to see a real A-37!
Pretty sure my father probably flew that aircraft in Vietnam. He was one of the first instructor pilots with the A-37 and the Vietnamese A1 Skyraiders. He told me about the day time flight when they were just flying along the Ho Chi Minh trail and they got hit by gunfire in the tail because they were both taking pictures and each thought the other was flying and were pretty low. Must have been a good moment when they both looked at each other holding their cameras! The way may dad told the story was funny!
I remember that Tiger Head insignia on the tail, it was also on the Skyraider's engine cowl they flew. He brought back hundreds of pictures from bombing Ho Chi Minh trail and the beautiful Vietnamese countryside. He used an Olympus Pen 35mm camera from the cockpit. He had so many stories from flying with the South Vietnamese. I remember we went to the Air Base to see him off and the sound from those engines I still remember splitting my skull, and I was an Air Force brat used to the sound of jets even from base housing sometimes close to the flight line.
I hope to see it at an airport some day.
What a great guy to talk to. Full of info and no holding back. Outstanding !! Thanks Juan for sharing this one with us. Good job !!
Yeah, really appreciate his enthusiasm!
Many misinformations and assumptions about an A-37 being a glorified 'TweeT' done away with, in this video, for thousands who flew the "TweeT' in UPT! Great video.
A-37 Vietnam War too.
My understanding was the T-37 was the Tweet because you needed earplugs for your earplugs. Don't think I've been near one.
@@toomanyuserids
I was a mechanic on T-37 tweets in the early 80's, and yes, we were required to wear both in-ear plugs AND external headset protection. The high frequency was really unpleasant first thing in the morning. Especially if the two engines were set at a little different RPM. Yikes!
On the misinformation:
I was brought here by a listing in my 1976 Encyclopedia of Combat Aircraft by Chartwell Books. I could post the couple paragraphs they have on the A-37 if you'd like.
Here in Uruguay the A-37B Dragonfly is active and flying, and as far as I know there is a fleet of about 10.
The max indicated airspeed for the A-37 is 415 kts. When I first flew the aircraft in USAF Test Pilot school, I was initially worried that I would easily exceed that speed. Turns out that although the aircraft had plenty of thrust, the drag went up so fast that exceeding the airspeed limit wasn’t really a problem.
It also still has one of the most uncomfortable ejection seats I have flown.
Clean or with the thousand gallons of external fuel they all seemed to carry?
Still, straight wing Citations would go really high but not very fast...
Mig my understanding is that the Test Pilot School spun the A-37 whereas it was prohibited in active duty AF.
@@jcheck6 Yes we did spin testing in the A-37B. Actually it was designated as an NA-37B. It had a special instrumented flight test boom on the aircraft and as I remember it a very specific set of inspections performed after each spin flight. I don’t remember if the aircraft had any structural modifications. The aircraft was S/N 73-1090.
We also used the A-37B to do tower fly-bys used to calibrate pitot-static systems. The aircraft would fly a very specific ground track, marked on the lake bed, at 50ft AGL past a viewing tower. With a grid on a window, the observer is able to compute the aircraft's altitude above the tower zero grid line as the test aircraft passes in front of the grid on the window. Geometry is used to compute actual altitude to compare to indicated altitude.
It also has a STUPID high G-onset. It can handle 5.5 positive *instantaneous* and not bend the jet. It bleeds energy like a stuck pig, but it is still very humbling the first time you say "are you ready" and when they say "yeah" and before the "eah" sound makes it out you're at 5.5 Gs and grunting like you've been constipated a month. Lots of fun flying these jets... Yes, they are very thirsty, I just wonder why Cessna never made the T-37 version available for civ sale. They would be a great platform to play around with.
@@MIG29SUU27 Thanks MIG, very interesting. Did it recover like the Tweet? I have about 1000 hrs in the A-37.
We have been fortunate to have a couple of these jets flying for many years here in Australia. They are something to see in terms of performance.
Agreed. Have seen the one down in Temora.
@@neggleston yep, same here
we have a couple of dozen A-37 dragonflies in the republic of El Salvador in Central America, an honor to keep these machines in service of the defense of El Salvador, Kudos great video
I worked in the Wichita factory while they were being built. It was cool watching them roll off of the factory floor
New bucket list item that I would've never imagined possible until now: Sit quietly and listen to a couple fellows called Brownie and Huggy talk about any subject at all. Two thumbs up, Juan!
There's a T-37 in the boneyard of Yank's Air Museum, Chino, CA. I got to examine that airframe pretty closely some years back.
You're talking about the smell... going through my late father's belongings I found a cargo net... nice heavy duty net... so I decided to use it to hold all of the teak sailboat wood for a small boat I'm building. I loaded it up and hung it from the overhead in the shop, and as I was tying it off I caught a whiff of something that smelled..... wonderful.... avgas. The net smells like avgas... it was the net he and mom used in Alaska for their bush flying and hunting. So many good memories center around that smell.
I used to work (Crew Chief) on those in Panama in 1989-1990 when the invasion occurred. Fun little airplanes. As a member of the USAF I got to see them in Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia and Uruguay. I'm pretty sure some of those countries still fly them.
Just called my neighbor about this video. He used to fly these out of the Youngstown Air Reserve Station. I remember seeing them flying over my house when I was a kid.
🫡 So Cool! Willow Grove, PA ANG had the same when I was a kid. Seems our home was on the way back from a low level route. We got buzzed by their O-2A, Dragonfly’s, and A-10’s until the base closed. KYNG is a nice unit, been there many times!
If you look closely at the A/T 37 and the Citation I, II and V series you can see the similarities in the cockpit structure. The nose and windscreen have a striking resemblance to the more modern aircraft that the airline for whom I worked operated a huge fleet. The QS fleet for over 10 years had a backbone of Citation V Ultras that could do anything, much like their older cousin the Dragon Tweet.
Thanks for covering this, I really enjoyed it. I remember an instructor pilot in the Air Force told me that the T37 turned jet fuel into noise and I believe he was correct.
I was lucky enough to get an incentive ride in one of these at Davis Montana Air Force base. I was A10 crew chief with the 357th at the time. Had a great time.
I was the wing commander’s crew chief with the 23 TASS at DMAFB, so I have 21 hours in the right seat since I got to go with the aircraft most of the time the WC had to go someplace. Trip to Washington DC was a real pain in the ass, literally.
@@robertlarivee3968 Interesting Bob as I was the 23TASS Wing Commander's IP and gave incentive when we would fly to Bergstrom '81-'85.
I flew the "Tweet" in UPT Class 68F. Just threw away my T-37 /T-38 checklists a few months ago while getting rid of stuff I do not need after 47 years of professional flying. Now live aboard my boat where storage space is a premium . Thanks for the tour of the Dragonfly. I did own a T-28B for 6 years and found it to be a great aircraft for aerobatics and airshows. It's now doing airshows in Germany and Belgium.
What kind of boat? Have always wanted to do that.
So cool. I was at Fairchild afb. survival school 1988... (I was a C-130 loadmaster) befriended a young 1st lieutenant or captain Can't remember....that was based at Howard. I had been flying down there and was going back after survival school. He tried to get me on a Incentive flight but sq. Co. would not allow it. Great bird! Great vid.....love his Enthusiasm!
Bummer....I gave many enlisted A-37 incentive rides in the early '80's.
Huggy and I flew the U-2 together. He’s an aviation legend!
I LOVE how they mounted the VHF antenna(s) on the elevator!
I've never ever seen that before an any kind of bird.
Just more uniqueness on this plane who's sadly song has not been written!
Went for a flight in a A-37 when I was station at DMAFB in 1985 it was a great flight. I was amazed at what all the aircraft could do.
I was stationed at DMAFB with the 23TASS when the Dragons were deactivated in the mid-1980s. With a clean wing, this bird would soar. I was an Avionics technician and was privileged to fly in these when we were in Honduras in the early 1980s. We took eight OA-37B to Honduras for the TDY and were there for almost 180 days. The narrator should be shot for keep calling this a Tweetie. Also, this was a FAC bird that used Willie Petes to mark targets for A-10 and other attack aircraft.
I was at DMAFB 27 TASS as we became 23 TASS and transitioned to the OA37B DRAGONFLY. We gathered these acft from ANG units in Madison, Peoria, Grissom etc. I was in the Hydro shop, with Sheetmetal and Corrosion Control. Had fun cleaning them up, painting them before leaving for the AC130H at Hurlburt. And then got to see everyone in Panama the following year. 23 TASS What A Squadron!
Proud aircraft, proud pilot & proud content creator! I like that bird... speaking of birds, the anti-fod grates are super feature for those low slung intakes, they nestle away nicely. If you didn't know they were there, they'd be easy to miss. Integrated well with the a/c design.
Thx for taking us to the show Juan!
I was stationed in Panama in the 80s and El Salvador was learning to fly these through the school of the Americas.
“Smells like going to work” so true of every airplane. I saw this aircraft at Reno Saturday, what a tweet.
When I was a kid, circa early 80's my mom got me a book titled Encyclopedia of World Air Power, I used to flip through the pages and gawk at the amazing jets of the world and I told myself I wanted to fly this plane (as well as a bunch of others) but the Dragonfly really did it for me. I was just a wide eyed kid who loved planes. Flash forward 40+ years and being able to see this up close (even if just a video) and hear these stories about its service life is really cool! Love your channel Juan
I was off the coast aboard a DDG during the fall of Saigon. When the south abandon these and others aircraft while still being airworthy it gave the north a unique opportunity. This created a huge problem for us in CIC as it was difficult to distinguish between Friend or Foe. Aircraft carry IFF equipment (Identification Friend or Foe) that transmit a unique code when the aircraft is illuminated by a radar. This is just like the transponders used in modern aircraft today. We had north pilots flying friendly aircraft squawking codes that may or may not be correct. We responded by changing codes more often. This still left the guy pulling the trigger to shot the plane down guessing if in fact it was a bad guy. Luckily we didn’t encounter one of these aircraft but we certainly were ready.
I can listen to Huggy and Juan shoot the breeze all day. What an amazing restoration, great job Charlie! Hope I get to see it in person some day, I've heard the sound is very unique.
I miss seeing these aircraft. Our local air National guard had them in the early 90s. They were replaced by the A 10. Now the base closed and I don’t see any of them anymore.
Hell yeah. One of the coolest and rarest warbirds. Thank you for sharing this!
I've loved these little birds ever since I first saw one at the AF Museum at Wright-Patterson. I'm very happy you shared this one with us.
That's cool....I'll be there next sat. and sun. oh my way to Chicago. Looking forward to the museum. Went to Pima a few years ago. Love that museum too.
Glad Huggy held a can so he wouldn’t start talking with his hands. What a great interview!
I got to see this aircraft at the Reno Air Races this September. Got to talk to the owner, super nice man. Ps this aircraft got my vote for the Hertiage.
The flightline mechanics used to call these "Converters"....because they converted fuel into noise (especially the Tweet version.) Made you a believer in ear protection!
Used to call them dog whistles
In high school our library had a long forgotten book called “Aircraft of the Vietnam War” or something like that. Mostly pictures, with a one or two page write up with specs and such for each plane. I must have checked out that book 10 times. My favorite aircraft in it were the Dragonfly and the Grumman Albatross. Such cool looking aircraft.
I worked on the trainer version at Mather AFB. We called them "converters". Because they converted fuel to noise. They were one of the highest db rated aircraft.
6 years as a Tweet IP. That's the first time I've seen cushions in that type plane that were more than an inch thick. 😄 Had one ride in a Dragonfly - coulda swore it had T-38 engines sans burner though.
The OA37B had the J85 GE w/o AB which is the same as the F5
My father flew the A 37 B Dragonfly in the ecuadorian air force. Ecuador bought the A 37's from the US air force in 1976.
Great to see the "Super" Tweet. I enjoyed my 1500 hours as a Tweetie Bird Instructor and would have loved to fly the A-37. My congratulations and Thanks to the owner and all the other workers who brought this back for all pilots and spectators to see and enjoy.
we had these at battle Creek ANG base in 1988 or 1989 got rid of them for A10s . We were told they were shipped south to fight drugs in Columbia. Neat plane. but the A10 was really cool!
Wow !! Selfridge didn't get A10's until long after that . What Sqdn were / are you in at BC ?
We had one show up for the airshow in Moose Jaw back in the late 70s, the weekend was a writeoff due to storms. On departure day this guy took off with a low ceiling (about 600ft) and disappeared. Next thing, he dives down through a hole in the cloud and almost hits the tower. Apparently they don't fly faster than a phone-call. Yup, he caught hell for that one.
Wisconsin Air Guard in Madison (Truax Field) was the first unit to convert from O-2A’s to OA-37’s. We received the first of several AFOUA’s flying them in 1980.
I came to Madison to get a few for DMAFB 23 TASS. We had fun visiting and learning with y'all
Love, Love the Tweety Bird and Dragonfly. Cessna really designed a winner of a Awesome aircraft, that flies just beautiful!!
A former Pilot colleague at the old Continental Airlines was former Vietnamese Airforce and had flown the A-37. I asked him how missions he had flown. He answered "2,500". No fly 100 missions and go home for him. He was already home and he was IT.
I’m thinking of captain Quoc, the 516th FS.
@@khoahuynh8318 Nguyen
I saw a A-37 captured flew by NVA pilot attacked a C130 on April 28th,1975. The Whole thing was happened 25 seconds and C130 was escaped safely in the thick cloud.
I was in the USAF from 1963 to 1989 and had the pleasure of working on these birds when I was stationed at England AFB and also got to fly in them with a few of my pilot friends that I worked with in Germany working on the F105's. I also was able to teach some maintenance technicians to the Vietnam Pilots that we taught. I really loved that plane. Ours had the J-85's and really flew well.
I was at England AFB on the last three months of 1973 .
The A-37 was a fun plane that I flew in Panama and Colombia 88-91. The 24 TASS flew the "Dragonfly" at Howard AFB in the FAC, CAS, armed escort, and visual recon roles. The A-37 was very prolific in Latin America (LATAM) and was flown by several different air forces throughout the region. Our squadron would visit sister units who flew the Dragonfly in many countries such as: Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Uruguay, etc. Check the wikipedia page for a complete list of countries. Overall, a really fun little bird that would turn on a dime. The Dash 1 had a note warning not to stop on asphalt as the heat from the engines would damage the pavement.
Surprised Bruce you had them till '91 as I flew them w/23rd TASS at DM from '81-'85.
@@jcheck6 We flew the last jets out to Edwards sometime in 91. The 24th TASS was deactivated in March 1991.
The Uruguayan airforce still got a few active A-37B
It’s great to see it finally completed and looks great. Nice job Charlie. We had long talks about this restoration at Sun N Fun events over the years.
I love this gentlemen's passion and energy.
A Dragonfly was doing joyflights out of Mildura aerodrome here in Australia a few years ago. It was a Saturday afternoon and we watched it from the Sunraysia glider field after our flying was finished for the day. I called him up on the VHF radio and invited him to do a low pass over our strip. A few seconds later he streaked overhead to our great joy. If it was headed your way armed and angry, it would have been formidable in its time.
Have sighted the Australian aircraft. Beautifully restored and maintained and flown very professionally
Saw it fly at Temora aviation museum last weekend
Awesome seeing your enthusiasm! Lovely aircraft with quite some history 👏
Thank you, I remember seeing one of these at an air show many years back and couldn't remember what it was, nice trip down memory lane! One of the very few planes I could look over the side and into the cockpit.
A-37A. Unless they removed the IFR (inflight refueling) probe. After reviewing the data stencil, it is indeed an A-37B. So yes, the probe was removed.
Just a heads up, the Salvadoran Air Force currently flies the A-37, so there are definitely more than 3 flying in the world. They probably have 10 operational A-37’s.
currently flying and airworthy?
Geez that was fun to watch. Thank you!
Great restoration! Also great was the descriptive narrative! Thank you for sharing! This brought back memories of providing T-37 instrument procedures training to about 100 very young Vietnamese pilots, in Link Instrument Training Devices at Webb AFB, as first step in their transition to the A-37B. A second group were simultaneously training in the T-38 Talons in preparation for F-5 transition. The young soon-to-be "fighter" pilots certainly made the flight pattern around the airfield interesting!
Oh thanks so much for filming this video. I've always loved the Tweet since I was a kid, so that's 50+ years. I always thought the Tweet was underrated either as a trainer and especially as a light attack jet. But heck the Air Force has always hated affordable COIN aircraft. Again many thanks!
One of MY favorite aircraft.. Thanks Juan..
I remember seeing those at Battle Creek ANG base when I was a kid before they transitioned to the A-10...good memories. Thanks for the video!
Saw Mark Peterson’s demo in this aircraft in Oregon this summer and was surprised at its agility and acceleration. Granted it flies in a very light configuration at airshows but wow can that thing move out!
Thanks Juan that is SO COOL!. A 310 instructor I had decades ago was an Instructor at AF Academy who used to teach in the T37 and A37 and he said that the Cessna 310 and the T-37 / A-37 came out of the same design group at Cessna and shared some design similarities, and that the 'Tweets' were like a heavy jet powered version of Harvey, might you concur?
Thanks for sharing. Good show!
I have a model of one that's been in my "to build" stash for 20+ years (just procrastinating while randomly collecting detail reference material about them. There's definitely a lack of readily available, easy to find information out there compared to what is available for Skyraiders, Broncos and such.
Wow that was incredible, amazing spot juan
At Cessna, we were proud that the A-37 carried its empty weight in payload.
I love Air shows, Thank you for sharing this one.
Another great report Juan.. Huggie's a great guy to talk to, he's so into it and so much information.. he seems a real fun guy.. Hat's off to you guys, nice one Charlie keeping a historic bird alive.. Awesome stuff..👍👍
Something new for me I never knew about this aircraft. Thanks.
What an amazing aircraft. Thankyou for this video from New Zealand.
I worked with the 182nd, IL ANG, in Peoria IL where the T-37 replaced the O-2, and I believe flying the same FAC mission... like 75 or 76.
Fabulous interview boys. You're both so enthusiastic with your memories! I recall seeing one of the Australian ones in an airshow in Canberra a number of years ago too - maybe even this one. 🤩🤩
Thank you Juan. I've never heard of that bird. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Nice to see Huggy. I remember when he was ED of the Citation Jet Pilots Assoc
Great episode, thanks.
There are two A-37B's at Temora, NSW operated by the RAAF Historic Flight. They were part of 10 bought and recovered from Vietnam in 1989. Two were donated and rebuilt by volunteers at Temora.
I flew in a T37 Tweet in 1974 as a winner of the junior NCO of the year . It was awarded as a Christmas ride. I actually flew this aircraft from start til jus5 before landing. I was not allowed to do the final approach. It is true that the Tweet was slow on takeoff. The motto was "Wait, Wait, Wait, and Wait some more before rotation. I have also flown a T38 Talon . I had many hours of practice in the Link Training Simulators on both aircraft before I ever flew in one. I had to go through the ejection seat trainer too. WOW !!!
I absolutely loved the Dragonfly as an AF firefighter! So easy to egress but a wildly capable little jet!
Easy to egress, but loud as hell
I'll have an update on the Colorado Mid-Air Collision on Monday.
Awesome hearing about the history of that exact aircraft!
1976
South Pacific / Atacama Desert.
I was 20 years old , just coming out of T37 , Webb AFB , Big Spring , Tx .
My " combat name was :
" Gladiator " !
Grupo N1 " Condores "
Ala 4 ( Fourth Wing ).
Air Force of Chile.
" You are Not Welcome here until you Prove Yourselves "
That was our " Welcome " !
Cheers
I got to go on a photo flight with this A37 a couple of weeks ago. I have a short video of it on my channel. I took a bunch more video more video but haven't had the time to edit them yet.
It was amazing how loud this thing was in the air. I heard it before I seen it lol.
I've always loved those planes since we moved to Tucson in 79 and they were still flying out of DMAFB. A short time later the A-10's replaced them.
Awesome little birds.
Correct, they arrived at DMAFB in '81. I flew them there until 1985.
DMAFB also had OV-10 Broncos as FO aircraft for just a short period of time. They were transferred out of George AFB, CA. Then they ended up in the Boneyard.
I was stationed at DMAFB with the 23TASS when the Dragons were deactivated in the mid-1980s. With a clean wing, this bird would soar. I was an Avionics technician and was privileged to fly in these when we were in Honduras in the early 1980s. We took eight OA-37B to Honduras for the TDY and were there for almost 180 days. The narrator should be shot for keep calling this a Tweetie. Also, this was a FAC bird that used Willie Petes to mark targets for A-10 and other attack aircraft.
@@jcheck6 I was stationed at DMAFB with the 23TASS when the Dragons were deactivated in the mid-1980s. With a clean wing, this bird would soar. I was an Avionics technician and was privileged to fly in these when we were in Honduras in the early 1980s. We took eight OA-37B to Honduras for the TDY and were there for almost 180 days. The narrator should be shot for keep calling this a Tweetie. Also, this was a FAC bird that used Willie Petes to mark targets for A-10 and other attack aircraft.
@@williamgates4399 We took 4 to Honduras around '84 for a week. Perhaps Bill you went later. 180 days down there is a long time!
What a cool aircraft! I always liked the look of the Tweet, but was unfamiliar with the Dragonfly. What a piece of history as well - actually flown by the NV Communists and rare as well. Thanks Juan for another great video.
Great video, Juan! Very informative.
Outstanding Juan Brown.
I remember back in my early days at England AFB, Early 70's we had T37 trainers, Seem like they went forever getting off the ground.
Thanks Juan. Enjoyed that!
Awesome info about a plane i had never heard of, thanks for the video! Missed the air races this year due to smoke, really wish i could have gone!
Very interesting! Thanks fir sharing Juan!
When I was a kid there was a squadron of A-37's stationed at Youngstown, Ohio AFB.
Thanks Juan! that is a fun aircraft, would love to hear the engines, and see a fly by!
Nice looking little jet, probably more fun than the other Cessna products I used to teach on !
I am a low time single engine land pilot , But that smell that you mentioned I can reconstruct in my brain immediately because it's so nice. Nothing can beat that smell when you open the door of an airplane sitting on the ramp, getting inside and settling down 😇😇
Thank you for sharing
Awesome! And I picked up a new saying along the way. Thanks.
I’d love to see an Erik Johnston extended walk-around of this.
20ish years ago there used to be a T hangar at WDG that was upgrading these for somewhere in South America.
Awesome! thx Juan!
Amazing! Thank you, I had no idea about the Dragonfly
Always a great story. Many thanks.