A-37 Dragonfly Stars & Stripes Rocks Glass

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The A-37 Dragonfly was a compact but heavily armed light attack jet developed from the Cessna T-37 trainer for counter-insurgency and close air support work. Combat changes included General Electric J85 engines, a strengthened airframe, cockpit armour, self-sealing fuel tanks, a refuelling probe on the A-37B, a nose-mounted 7.62 mm GAU-2B/A minigun, and eight wing hardpoints. Most reliable figures put its external weapons load at about 4,800 to 5,000 lb, with typical loads including bombs, rockets, napalm and gun pods.

In Vietnam, the Dragonfly proved useful for low-level close air support, armed reconnaissance, convoy escort, night interdiction and forward air control. Its low-speed handling, accuracy and time on station made it well suited to work over South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, where faster jets were not always the best fit. The type was first tested in Vietnam by the 604th Air Commando Squadron under Operation Combat Dragon, and the South Vietnamese Air Force later became a major operator.

Cessna built 577 A-37Bs, separate from 39 earlier A-37A conversions from T-37 trainers. Total Vietnam War sortie figures are often given as over 160,000 for the type, although published USAF-only figures are lower. On Apr 28ᵗʰ, 1975, captured A-37s were used by North Vietnamese forces to attack Tan Son Nhut Air Base, but I would not describe this as a confirmed A-37 air-to-air victory.