Army's L-19, The

CLASSICS

The Army's L-19

Combat aircraft assigned to ground-- fighting battalions, brigades and divisions of the Army belong to pure Army aviation - not the Air Force - and trace their origins to June 6, 1942, when the first fabric-- covered light planes joined artillery units. The Cessna L-19 Bird Dog, probably the Army's most famous airplane, resulted from a 1949 decision to replace the aging L-4 Piper Cub and L-5 Stinson Sentinel spotter planes that had served valiantly in WW II.

The Pentagon wanted a plane that would support soldiers at the front by landing and taking off in 600 feet over a 50-foot obstacle. Although somewhat heavy at 1,200 pounds when empty, Cessna's L-19 won a production contract just before the Korean War began on June 25, 1950.

Gen. Mark Clark chose the L-I9's name from a list submitted by Cessna employees. The winning employee reaped a one-week vacation, $500 spending money and the free use of a plane and pilot for a round trip anywhere within 500 miles of the Wichita, Kansas, factory. Clark's first choice was "Skyhawk," but that name had already been copyrighted, so he settled for "Bird Dog."

In Korea, the L-19 artillery spotters proved to be nimble and versatile. Their pilots lived with infantry soldiers and flew from unpaved fields. At the war's end in 1953, Cessna was completing five Bird Dogs each day for a total of 3,400: most of them went to National Guard units.

When U.S. aircraft designations were changed in 1962, this aircraft became the "Cessna O-1 Bird Dog. Ahead of it, lay a new era of combat duty with both the Army and, (later) the Air Force in Vietnam.

In 1952, Navy AD-4 Skyraider pilot Bill Barron (right) visited an L-19 unit in Korea and posed with a Bird Dog and its pilot.

Korean War original color --

Photo by Bill Barron courtesy of Robert F. Dorr

Copyright Air Age Publishing Feb 2002
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