@ Mokuleia, HI
April 2022
This Bird Dog prepares to help this glider get airborne out of Dillingham Airfield. 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. 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. First flown in 1962, only 87 of these two-seat Schweizer SGS 2-32 gliders were produced. Intended as a follow-on to the model 2-33, the company decided to produce a higher performance sailplane with a greater wingspan instead. Pilots found this high performance two-place sailplane to be ideal for setting new two-place glider world records in the early 1970’s.