@ Mokuleia, HI
April 2022
This Bird Dog departs works hard to depart Dillingham Airfield with a glider in tow. First flown in 1949, the Cessna L-19/O-1 Bird Dog is a liaison and observation aircraft that served with the US Army, Air Force and Marine Corps until 1974. The L-19 (Army designation) received the name Bird Dog as a result of a contest held with Cessna employees to name the aircraft. During the course of the Vietnam War, 469 O-1 Bird Dogs were lost to all causes including three downed by SAMs. Before the fall of Saigon, a Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilot loaded his wife and five children into a two-seat O-1 and took off, headed out to sea and landed on the USS Midway. This example was delivered to the USAF in 1956, assigned to Civil Air Patrol (Hawaii) in 1963, and has been part of the Dillingham flying community since the mid-1970’s.
