A Cessna O-2’s night reconnaissance mission turned tragic on Christmas Day, 1967. Near the Demilitarized Zone, Maj. Jerry Sellers (pilot) and Capt. Richard Budka (observer) received a radio message about a ground patrol in trouble. Quickly flying towards the area, Sellers turned on his landing lights to direct fire from a nearby AC-47 gunship towards the enemy—putting himself and Budka at high risk. Hit by ground fire, the subsequent crash killed both men. Sellers was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross. The crew’s bravery allowed the ground patrol to return to safety.
Forward Air Controllers (FACs) were integral to America’s war effort in Vietnam, using various aircraft. One such aircraft—the Cessna O-2—was a modified civilian 337 Skymaster and flew a wide range of missions during the war. Then-Lt. Mike Jackson’s memoir Naked in Da Nang noted: “FACs… plodded along at ridiculously low levels to direct airstrikes, observe troop movements, gather intelligence, and/or choreograph search-and-rescue missions…we were the traffic cops of Southeast Asia, telling everyone where to go, when to go, how to get there, and what to do once they were there.”
CESSNA AND MILITARY AVIATION have a long history together, as Cessnas were used as World War II trainers and transports. After the war, Cessna designed the single-engine Model 305 with tandem seating for recreational aviation. In turn, the 305s were repurposed by the military into the L-19 “Bird Dog,” seeing service in Korea as observation aircraft.
Redesignated as the O-1 in 1962, Bird Dogs were used extensively in Vietnam and Laos. Their slowengines in front of and behind the fuselage and twin cantilever booms, which helped avoid yaw if one engine failed.
