US's Most Unexpected Combat Plane with a Deadly Sound

Only Planes
Only Planes
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Published 2024-05-21
In the Vietnam War, among the high-flying jets of the era, the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly presented a distinct contrast. This compact jet, tipping the scales at just 14,000 pounds and easily accessible at waist height, lacked the imposing presence of its contemporaries. Pilots could simply step into the cockpit, a departure from the norm of climbing shaky ladders to board more menacing counterparts.

Equipped with a mini-gun that some dismissed as little more than a BB pistol in the fierce theater of war, the A-37 was often overlooked. Yet, beneath this unassuming exterior lay a surprisingly versatile warrior, especially supporting ground troops.

This humble jet trainer was initially designed for basic flight instruction; no one could have imagined that such a seemingly simple aircraft would evolve into one of the premier counterinsurgency planes of the Vietnam War: the A-37A Dragonfly.
All Comments (21)
  • @ShandiNicole1982
    My dad started flying combat in the B model. Loved the plane, he latter got bumped back up to the F-4 for combat missions. After he retired from the Air Force he went out and actually bought one and had it restored. He still loves flying it.
  • @MrWaalkman
    My high school history teacher, Col. Watt G. Hill Jr. flew one of these in Vietnam. He brought in tapes of one of his sorties to class and we got to listen to it. When he said that he was flying a Cessna, I had thought that he was flying a typical high wing Cessna such as a 182, so I was confused. :) This was in 1974 or 1975 at Air Academy High School on the grounds of the Air Force Academy. Col. Hill also fought in WWII as well as Korea. He has a interview up over at the Library of Congress if you care to listen to it. Over the years I had tried to track him down from time to time. But it wasn't until I came across a FB post that asked about him using his full name was I able to make any progress. From there it was a piece of cake, and I gave him a call. The first thing that he wanted to know is if I was doing fine. That's the Col. Hill that I remembered. :) His next comment was "I'm glad that you didn't wait much longer!" Sadly he passed away this year in January. I'm glad that I didn't either.
  • @Robert-rv3zm
    One can say that the A-37 was the forerunner of the A-10.
  • @rocksnot952
    We had a ton of these at Howard AFB in Panama in the late Eighties. We just called 'em Tweets. THE USAF was still using them for training in the 90's. Who'd have thought it? An attack plane built by Cessna.
  • @ljeff46
    I was at Bien Hoa Vietnam for a year in1969-1970. I remember the A37s , I was surprised how small they were. I was an aircraft radio repairman.
  • @markaustin643
    I was in high school when my father was the Ops Officer and then Commander of a squadron of A-37Bs at Bien Hoa AB. Thanks for the memories...
  • @mentalcog2187
    Would've never known about this plane if wasn't for my Uncle, Lt. Col. Gregory Hammond. He flew it Vietnam. I was a very small boy but never forgot him talking about and I even got a model of it from Revell. By the time he retired as a Lt. Col., he had been Squadron Base Commander in Iraq flying the F-15A Strike Eagle. Anytime I've shown that Super Tweet to anyone, they've nearly always doubted the story of it's use in Vietnam. They thought the A4 was the only jet.
  • @jameswebb2856
    I watched them fly out of Bein Hoa and later build piston Cessnas along side the A-37 assembly line. Also, the A-37 did not have the high pitch sound that gave the name Tweet (we called them Tweetybirds). The sound came from the centrifugal compressor on the engine of the T-37. The A-37 with the axial compressor engine did not make the same sound.
  • @WALTERBROADDUS
    They became pretty popular with South and Central American Air Forces.
  • @gtracer6629
    I always thought these planes would make great little private jet if built for civilian use.
  • @fw1421
    Back in the late 70’s when I was stationed at Barksdale AFB in Shreveport,La we had A-37’s in our reserve unit. Used to see them all the time. They eventually transitioned to the A-10. Huge improvement.
  • @Andrew-sv6zq
    Cessna should have made a civilian model of this. They probably would have sold a ton of them.
  • @pcbondart
    I was in the Air Force Art Program a lotta years ago and got two "orientation rides" in this plane, based in Peoria Illinois. I got to fly a lot of one of the rides, and being a pilot, I got 1.3 hours dual in my logbook. Great to see this video, love that little plane!
  • @michaelchristensen5421
    I can confirm that these motors were loud as heck. Another loud plane was the T-39 Saberliner. I never heard a B-66, but the A-3 was also loud.
  • @blueskyguy5415
    When I flew this in 1982 as an Instructor Pilot, more than a few tweets on the flight line were older than I was (born in 1955). The engines were dangerously slow to wind up from idle (14 seconds!!!!), but it flew like a dream. Flying the tweet is like making love to a pig: It's fun while you're doing it, but you still don't want your friends to see.
  • @barrygrant2907
    The T/A-37 and B-66 . . . the only two aircraft that would destroy your hearing no matter what you did to prevent it.
  • @davidgaine4697
    This Cessna is amazing. I have never heard of it. I was so interested in this short documentary. Thank you to anyone involved in the making of this video. I really enjoyed it even if the context is about war and the lethal aspects of military aviation.
  • @TheSybermedic
    I remember seeing the A-37 flying on nearly a daily basis out of Hancock Field in the late 70's