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A37 Dragonfly

History

It was developed during the Vietnam War in response to m,military interest in new counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft to replace aging types such as the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. A formal United States Air Force (USAF) evaluation of the T-37 Tweet basic trainer for the COIN mission was conducted in late 1962, after which it was concluded that it could be modified to effectively perform the role. The attack-orientated A-37 was directly derived from the T-37, roughly doubling in both all-up weight and engine thrust as to permit considerable quantities of munitions to be carried along with extended flight endurance and additional mission avionics. An initial batch of 25 A-37As were deployed to Vietnam under the "Combat Dragon" evaluation program in August 1967, flying from Bien Hoa Air Base on various missions, including close air support, helicopter escort, FAC, and night interdiction. The type proved itself to be effective in the theater, leading to the USAF issuing a contract to Cessna for an improved Super Tweet, designated the A-37B, in early 1967. It was largely operated over South Vietnam, as well as in neighboring Laos and Cambodia, typically flying close air support missions in coordination with US ground forces. The A-37 proved to be relatively low-maintenance, accurate, and suffered relatively few combat losses.
-Wikipedia[wikipedia.org]

Operation

Startup

• Enter the cockpit and sit in either seat. The pilot's seat's controls have priority
  
• Turn on "Power"
  
• Start both engines
  
• Set throttle to about 0.3
  
• Press [↑] to decrease the spoiler
  
• Disable the parking brake
  
• Taxi out to the runway while steering using [←] and [→]
  
• Increase throttle to 1
  
• Once airborne, raise the landing gear

Flight

• Standard aircraft [W] [S] [A] [D] [←] [→] controls
  
• [1] and [2] increase and decrease throttle respectively
  
• [↑] and [↓] Decrease and increase the spoilers and control the brake while on the ground

Service

• Manual brake release switches are found in the wing gear wells
  
• Electric connectors are found under the wings on the fuselage
  
• Fuel ports are on top of each wing

Stats

Speed

107 m/s

Without drop tanks

With drop tanks

Fuel

5,182L

6,493L

Range

58km

68km