Page 26 - AAPT March 2019

Feature Story

The A-37B

In my 37 years of flying, I have I’ve had the privilege of flying the of the Vietnam War. The ground
flown 37 different aircraft types F/A-18 in two Commonwealth Air up restoration was conducted by
including the CT-114 Tutor, CF-5, Forces, and the performance and the Temora Aviation Museum’s
F/A-18, F-15, F-16, Harrier, CF- power are difficult to compare with engineering team under the guidance
104, A-7, Mirage 2000, Tornado the a-37B ‘sports car’. The A-37B will of Chief Engineer Andrew Bishop,
and Hawk. Surprisingly, the A-37B beat a Hornet to about 8,000 from and its’ recent restoration has it
Dragonfly still puts a huge smile on a standing start, but then the roles looking and performing better than
my face each time I strap her on for change rapidly. when it left the factory.
a display. I have been displaying the This feisty twin engine Cessna The new engines produce a
A-37B for about 18 years and its’ was built as a Close Air Support combined 6,000# (pounds) thrust.
performance never ceases to amaze aircraft during the Vietnam War. To put this in context, the aircraft
myself, as well as the spectators. About 250 A-37B were delivered to weighs 5,700# and in our display
It gave me great pleasure the South Vietnamese Air Force, configuration we add 1,800# of fuel.
to display the Temora Aviation with 95 being captured by the North This gives me about a 0.8:1.0 thrust
Museum’s A-37B Dragonfly during Vietcong at the close of the war. Ours to weight ratio on take-off. So, when I
the Avalon International Airshow, 1-3 was one of these. select 100% power, I’m accelerating
March 2019. Over the three days, Ours dates to 1967, and research at 20kts per second, ‘rocketing’ the
this gave approximately 120,000 shows that our serial number A-37 from 0 to 90kts rotation speed
spectators the chance to see the was assigned to the 516th South in about 4.5 seconds. Once safely
A-37B in her new, authentic paint Vietnamese Squadron. The A-37bs airborne, I retract the landing gear,
scheme, representing the South would have seen service from keeping below the 150kt retraction
Vietnamese 516th Squadron. about 1967 to 1975, at the end speed by pulling the nose up to about

26