The Aircraft of the Week: The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly “SuperTweet”

You can’t discuss the A-37 without talking briefly about its parent the T-37 Tweet. Awarded a contract in 1954 Cessna built a prototype, which flew on October 12, 1954.  The T-37 was a two side-by-side seat aircraft with initially two Continental J-69’s.  The J-69 was a licensed copy of the Turbiomeca Malbore engine.  One unique feature of the Intakes was a FOD screen that would come up from the bottom of the engine to cover the intakes since they were so low to the ground.  Also the aircraft was given a 14-foot separation of the main landing gear for stability.  The J-69 had a notorious ear splitting whine.  Causing the aircraft to be known as the “6000 Pound Dog Whistle” or TweetyBird eventually this became shortened to just Tweet.

In 1961 the USAF wanted to add weapons delivery to the training syllabus.  Cessna added a hard point capable of carrying 500 lbs under each wing.  65 Gallon wing tip tanks were added as well as a K14C Computing gun site. With these changes the T-37C was born. 

In 1962 the Special Operations Air Warfare centre at Elgin AFB commissioned Cessna to build a Counter Insurgency or COIN aircraft. The aircraft was to have better range thrust and short field ability.  Cessna returned with YAT-37D which competed against the YAT-28E a turboprop version of the T-28 Trojan.  The YAT-37D replaced the J-69s with General Electric J-85-T-25s which doubled the amount of thrust.

The wings were strengthened and the 65-gallon tanks of the T-35C were replaced with 95 Gallon tanks.  The hard points were increased to three on each wing.  A GAU-2B 20mm minimum was placed in the nose and armor was increased throughout the airframe.  Eventually a fourth hard point was added to each wing. To test the aircraft, the USAF decided that it needed to send it into combat.  39 aircraft were ordered and in the process the Air Force changed the designation to A-37A Dragonfly. To everyone else but the Pentagon it was known as the Super Tweet

OPERATION COMBAT DRAGON saw the first use of the A-37 in combat.  25 of the 39 ordered were operated out of Bien Hoa Air Base.  The results of the 3000 sorties flown two aircraft crashed on landings, 24 suffered from anti aircraft fire but not a single aircraft was lost to enemy fire.

The Lessons learned from COMBAT DRAGON brought forth the A-37B the definitive version of the aircraft.  The gross weight was increased to 14,000 pounds, from 6,500 in the T-37A.  The ability to refuel was given to the aircraft.  It was the last USAF aircraft to require probe and drogue refueling.   The A-37B had a max ceiling of 25,000 Feet due to that fact that cockpit was unpressurized.  Eventually 577 would be built. Of that amount 264 were actually transferred to the VNAF eventually falling into communist hands after the fall of South Vietnam.

After the War an additional 110 aircraft were built for the MAP or Military Assistance Program.  Between 1980-1982 122 A-37Bs were re-designated OA-37Bs.  AFRES and ANG squadrons would fly these aircraft.  One of those Squadrons would be the 111^th TAS; Tactical Air Support Group of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard would be based at the Willow Grove Air Force Reserve Base.  They were replaced eventually by OA-10As. 

The T-37C and the A-37B were widely exported to Latin American Countries.  In 1995 both Ecuador and Peru used them against each other during the Cenepa War.   South Korea used it for their Black Eagles Demonstration team.  The Following Nations have flown or are still flying the Super Tweet.

Chile, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, South Korea, South Vietnam, Thailand, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam. 

Currently there are 10 on the civilian registers 4 in Australia and New Zealand and the remainder here in the States.

One last note; the Prototype YAT-37D was originally given to the Air Force Museum in Dayton in December 1964.  It was yanked out of the museum in August 1966 to be the prototype of the YA-37A. After two years of flight-testing, it was returned to the museum in July 1970 where it still resides today.

Love, Terry, and Joe Sewell. A-37/T-37 Dragonfly in Action. Carrollton, TX: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1991. Print.