iscover
An A-37 of the USAF. This aircraft evolved out of a requirement for an inexpensive light attack jet for COIN operations during the Vietnam conflict. A total of 577was built between 1967 and 1977while USAF operated aircraft were eventually given as aid to various Security Assistance Programme nations in Central and South America where they are still in operational service.
Cessnas In Uniform
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Cessna are responsible for producing more General Aviation category aircraft than any other manufacturer; what is not readily recognised is that Cessna have also in their time produced in excess of 13,000 military aircraft.
This interesting fact is overlooked by most people and certainly bears closer examination. The present day of course is not what will ultimately be deemed by historians as the pinnacle of GA aircraft production so for the world’s largest GA enterprise to also have constructed 13,000 military aircraft is something that no doubt Cessna executives wish they were still actively involved.
Cessna’s encounter with the military began in 1939 when their first twin, the T-50, was modified for use as a twin-engined trainer specifically for the newly introduced Commonwealth Joint Air Training Programme which was based in Canada, the USA at that stage still hoping to remain neutral to the European conflict. Designated AT-8, this aircraft was powered by two Jacobs radials of 225 hp and could best be described as a smaller version of the basic Avro Anson in concept terms. The AT-8 soon evolved into the AT-17 and finally the UC-78 Bobcat when employed by US forces as their primary twin-engined trainer. Cessna built a total ()f 5359 such aircraft and cemented a relationship that would see them building large numbers of military training and surveillance aircraft for three decades to come.
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