Jump to content

USAF A-37 Dragonfly in ADC Grey..?


Recommended Posts

Me too... but I never say never..!  I thought F-84Fs never wore ADC Grey either.... but turns out they did..!  Maybe someone knows of the exception on the A-37...

Link to post
Share on other sites

I seem to recall but cannot put my finger on it at this time, that some OA-37s were painted "Gunship Gray" at some point.  Perhaps it was an Air Force Reserve unit in the late 70s -early 80s-time frame.  

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • bluedot25 changed the title to USAF A-37 Dragonfly in ADC Grey..?
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/10/2022 at 8:49 AM, Leon said:

The only non-SEA painted USAF A-37B I know of is this one (caption says it's an OA-37B so probably after Vietnam).

 

OA-37B-2.jpg

Appears to be a Edwards test a/c.

Cheers, :cheers:

Itch

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 6/10/2022 at 7:49 AM, Leon said:

The only non-SEA painted USAF A-37B I know of is this one (caption says it's an OA-37B so probably after Vietnam).

 

OA-37B-2.jpg

Test Pilot School had a couple.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Some A-37s from the from the 604th SOS, 3rd TFW were painted in a pale blue and light gray scheme in Vietnam.  Squadron's A-37 in Action book has 5 photos of them plus a color side view.  In black and white photos it looks like ADC gray.  Print Scale decals has a sheet with the markings for one of the aircraft.  OA-37s that were operated out of Osan, South Korea were painted in overall gunship gray.  Microscale had a sheet with these markings.  As a side note a good friend of mine was able to fly the A-37 when he was in test pilot school at Edwards.  He said it surprisingly had a lot of power and it could do a double Immelmann with ease.  Near the end of their service lives they got some from Howard AFB, Panama to bolster the fleet at Edwards.  One was lost in August of 1994, NA-37B 70-1310, when it was being used to train a SAAB Gripen test pilot in spin recovery. Fuel did not transfer out of one of the tip tanks (there was no fuel level gauge in the tip tanks) which caused an unrecoverable spin. The A-37 was the last USAF aircraft that could be used for spin training, as it could be put into a spin with control inputs ( my friend had to go to England to get spin training in the Hawk and Hunter when he was working on spin recovery methods for the f-15E).  They were quickly retired at Edwards when one A-37 was found to have severe corrosion in the vertical tail. Sorry if that is to much info.

Link to post
Share on other sites
On 6/21/2022 at 2:39 PM, efd327 said:

Some A-37s from the from the 604th SOS, 3rd TFW were painted in a pale blue and light gray scheme in Vietnam.  Squadron's A-37 in Action book has 5 photos of them plus a color side view.  In black and white photos it looks like ADC gray.  Print Scale decals has a sheet with the markings for one of the aircraft.  OA-37s that were operated out of Osan, South Korea were painted in overall gunship gray.  Microscale had a sheet with these markings.  As a side note a good friend of mine was able to fly the A-37 when he was in test pilot school at Edwards.  He said it surprisingly had a lot of power and it could do a double Immelmann with ease.  Near the end of their service lives they got some from Howard AFB, Panama to bolster the fleet at Edwards.  One was lost in August of 1994, NA-37B 70-1310, when it was being used to train a SAAB Gripen test pilot in spin recovery. Fuel did not transfer out of one of the tip tanks (there was no fuel level gauge in the tip tanks) which caused an unrecoverable spin. The A-37 was the last USAF aircraft that could be used for spin training, as it could be put into a spin with control inputs ( my friend had to go to England to get spin training in the Hawk and Hunter when he was working on spin recovery methods for the f-15E).  They were quickly retired at Edwards when one A-37 was found to have severe corrosion in the vertical tail. Sorry if that is to much info.


Not too much info at all... its always interesting to hear tid bits of aviation history...!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...