x.com/japan_nobunaga/status/2114085519814471720
1 correction found
a tiny two-seat wooden-and-fabric Cessna plane
The escape aircraft was a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog, but it was not a wooden-and-fabric airplane. Authoritative museum sources describe the O-1 Bird Dog as an all-metal aircraft.
Full reasoning
The post is describing Major Buang-Ly’s famous landing on USS Midway, which involved a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog. The National Naval Aviation Museum identifies the aircraft in this incident as an "O-1E Bird Dog" and calls it a "two-place observation aircraft" that appeared over Midway with Buang-Ly, his wife, and five children aboard.
The material description in the post is the problem. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s entry for the Cessna O-1A Bird Dog says the Bird Dog was "the first all metal, high-wing, single-engine aircraft to see service in U.S. Army aviation" and lists its materials as "All-metal." That directly contradicts the claim that this was a "wooden-and-fabric" airplane.
So while it was indeed a very small two-place Cessna, calling it "wooden-and-fabric" is inaccurate.
2 sources
- O-1E Bird Dog - National Naval Aviation Museum
This example of the two-place observation aircraft used for aerial spotting appeared over USS Midway (CVA 41) on April 29, 1975... On board were a South Vietnamese Air Force major, his wife and 5 children...
- Cessna O-1A Bird Dog | National Air and Space Museum
In September 1962, the Bird Dog was redesignated as the O-1A-the first all metal, high-wing, single-engine aircraft to see service in U.S. Army aviation... Materials: All-metal.