Specifications

Manufacturer:	Cessna
Year/Model:	1951 O-1A Bird Dog (Originally an L-19A, redesignated to O-1A in 1962
S/N:	51-7312
Tail Number:	O-17312
TC/n (msn):	22046
Crew:	2
Power Plant:	Continental O-470-11, 213 hp
Wingspan:	36 feet
Length:	25 feet 9 inches
Height:	7 feet 3 inches
Gross Weight:	1,614 pounds empty, 2,400 loaded
Maximum Speed:	130 mph
Maximum Range:	529 statute miles
Service Ceiling:	20,300 feet
Status:	Static Display
Owner:	Estrella Warbirds Museum

U-6A in Flight

History

This aircraft was last on display at the Camp San Luis, California Air National Guard. Transferred to Estrella Warbirds Museum, December. 2024. Pending restoration.

The Cessna O-1 Bird Dog is a liaison and observation aircraft that first flew on December 14, 1949, and entered service in 1950 as the L-19 in the Korean War. It went to serve in many branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, was not retired until the 1970s in a number of variants, and also served in the Vietnam War. It was also called the OE-1 and OE-2 in Navy service, flying with the Marine Corps, and in the 1960s it was re-designated the O-1. It remains a civilian-flown warbird aircraft, and there are examples in aviation museums. It was the first all-metal fixed-wing aircraft ordered for and by the United States Army following the Army Air Forces' separation from it in 1947. The Bird Dog had a lengthy career in the U.S. military as well as in other countries, with over 3400 produced.

The U.S. Army awarded a contract to Cessna for 418 of the aircraft, which was designated the L-19A Bird Dog. Deliveries began in December 1950, and the aircraft were soon in use fighting their first war in Korea from 1950 through 1953. An instrument trainer variant was developed in 1953, later versions had constant speed propellers, and the final version, the L-19E, had a larger gross weight.

Around 1950, U.S. Air Force (USAF) orders for sixty L-19A aircraft were diverted to the United States Marine Corps (USMC), which designated it OE-1 under the 1922 United States Navy aircraft designation system, took delivery from 1951 to 1953, and deployed the aircraft in Korea.

Cessna produced 3,431 aircraft; it was also built under license by Fuji in Japan. Initially, 2486 were produced between 1950 thru 1954, and an additional 945 produced through 1958, and 60 more were produced in Japan.