O1 (L19) Cessna Bird Dog

rsv1cox on Sun Jun 14, 2020 3:35 pm

In his travels, yesterday Mark came across an aircraft sitting in a field and stopped for a look. The owner noticed and came out for a conversation. Invited him into his hangar and showed him a 3/4 scale P-51 Mustang that he had built. I think the Bird Dog is a replica too.

From wiki:

On April 29, 1975, the day before the fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War, Republic of Vietnam Air Force Major Buang-Ly loaded his wife and five children into a two-seat Cessna O-1 Bird Dog and took off from Con Son Island. After evading enemy ground fire, Major Buang-Ly headed out to sea and spotted the aircraft carrier Midway. With only an hour of fuel remaining, he dropped a note[9] asking that the deck be cleared so he could land.[10] Knowing there was no room for this to happen, Midway's commanding officer, Captain (later Rear Admiral) Lawrence Chambers ordered US$10 million worth of South Vietnamese Bell UH-1 Iroquois ("Huey") helicopters to be pushed overboard into the South China Sea. The Bird Dog that Major Buang-Ly landed aboard Midway is now on display at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

balogh on Sun Jun 14, 2020 4:11 pm

Instead of dumping the choppers into the sea why they did not just hover in the air near the Midway while the Bird Dog was landing? Then the choppers could have landed afterwards on the Midway too.. Maybe a dumb question...

Marleysky on Sun Jun 14, 2020 7:35 pm

balogh wrote:Instead of dumping the choppers into the sea why they did not just hover in the air near the Midway while the Bird Dog was landing? Then the choppers could have landed afterwards on the Midway too.. Maybe a dumb question...

We civilians don’t think like military personnel. I’m not sure what or how they justify the use or misuse of the equipment they make war with, but the item cost or replacement costs don’t seem to be a factor in making decisions. I know I have posted pictures of what the military did with all the P-38’s that were stacked and burned on a South Pacific island at the end of the war. It would have cost more to fly ‘em back home than what they were worth? Or they had a newer faster more effective replacements waiting to be deployed? Yeah, we’re still buying War Bonds, they’re just called taxes now. Tired w/ Coffee Read

Marleysky on Sun Jun 14, 2020 7:47 pm

Yeah...I don’t think they’d miss a couple of small choppers..to save a family’s life!

rsv1cox on Mon Jun 15, 2020 6:40 am

balogh wrote:Instead of dumping the choppers into the sea why they did not just hover in the air near the Midway while the Bird Dog was landing? Then the choppers could have landed afterwards on the Midway too.. Maybe a dumb question...

Dunno……..guess you would have to have been there. Maybe Freddie was.

I remember the event being reported on television. Made national news, a positive story among the tragedies of the time.

Mark tells me the plane is not a Bird dog replica, but is a 1942 Taylorcraft L2M. The owner had it out for an oil change. He maintains flight simulators like I did in the Navy, not sure if he instructs though. Mark hopes to hitch a ride.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorcraft_L-2

balogh on Mon Jun 15, 2020 8:40 am

Yes Bob sorry I did not want to question the heroism of the participants and the action...just my pragmatism and sorrow for the choppers...on a second thought, maybe the small plane was really critically short of fuel and could not wait for landing until the choppers would have taken off and cleared the landing strip...

davidll1984 on Mon Jun 15, 2020 10:20 am

y love the plane cool story love read stuf like that my bird dog progres good just nead 3.5g servo wit extention lead and special cable to program my as3x flight controler nano reciver my other combat plane a6m5 zero is ready fo a flight test cheers

rsv1cox on Mon Jun 15, 2020 3:41 pm

davidll1984 wrote:y love the plane cool story love read stuf like that my bird dog progres good just nead 3.5g servo wit extention lead and special cable to program my as3x flight controler nano reciver my other combat plane a6m5 zero is ready fo a flight test

Thanks David, I'm looking forward to seeing your Bird Dog when You get it finished.

And Andras, wife and five kids in that little airplane is a good incentive to clear the deck.

Bob

balogh on Mon Jun 15, 2020 3:58 pm

Yes Bob no question about that..having read the Wiki article now it better transpires that the only option was to dump the choppers and it was a professional decision by the captain of the ship.

NEW222 on Mon Jun 15, 2020 8:39 pm

Wow Bob. Great score for Mark, and as well, I appreciate seeing the pictures that he took. Very nice looking airplanes the gentleman has there. As well, teh accompanying story is neat too. Going to read up on that later to get more of the story. Thank you.

Oldenginerod on Wed Jun 17, 2020 3:56 am

Seeing the Mustang replica, I wonder whether it might be a Stewart Mustang. I know a fellow locally who has three in total, all of which were purchased cheaply as unfinished projects. They run a GM LS V8.

rsv1cox on Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:09 pm

Pretty neat paint schemes on those replica Mustangs Rod. It's an enduring design that will never be equaled.

But it's the Taylorcraft that get's me. I might have heard of it but it didn't register.

Bob

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