"The L-19s (O-l's) had been procured for the Army by USAF. Later when the Army set up AVSCOM (their equivalent of AFLC and AFSC combined) the Army changed the manuals to their system. After the USAF started using the 0-1 for the Forward Air Control (FAC) mission in Vietnam the pilots intensely disliked the Army Pilots Handbook so a meeting was convened at Cessna in January 1966 to kick off preparation of a USAF type 'Dash One' (Pilot's Handbook). The USAF attendees included 0-1 pilots from the 7th AF in Vietnam, TAC Headquarters, and lst CAG at Eglin AFB. Their comments about the 0-1 performance indicated that they were overloading the airplane with 'miscellaneous' and 'personal' equipment which left them with a 250-300 ft/minute rate of climb; they were interested in better protection and much better performance so they could get away as they were fair game after firing the smoke (marker) rockets.

"The first evening of the meeting I borrowed Del Roskam's C-337 and flew the three military pilots for 2-1/2 hours. The next morning we put in three hours before the meeting and then another three hours that evening. The three pilots each reported in detail about our flights and discussions, and these reports then settled in the office of Major General Gil Pritchard, then Commander of the I st Combat Application Group at Eglin AFB. He called Derby Frye, Cessna's Vice President, Military Relations in April at about 4 pm, and I was in Derby's office. The General wanted to know if we could arrange for him to fly the C-337 at Eglin before he left for the Pentagon the next day at 9 am. We agreed that the airplane would be there at base operations at 0600 the next day. When I arrived at Eglin at 0545 the next morning he was waiting for me in front of Base Operations. We flew for 2.7 hours and I coaxed him to a short-field landing on the Runway 18 approach extension. During the rest of the day and the following day I flew 17.6 hours with 21 pilots handling the controls.

"The next time we heard from General Pritchard was about Memorial Day and they wanted to do an operational evaluation on the aircraft as soon as possible. Derby Frye set up the program hurriedly, and on July 4, 1966 1 headed for Eglin AFB, Florida in N6304F which was fitted with four hard points (for armament pylons) and with experimental mechanic Frank Derby on board. The two of us were the Cessna part of the test team. From the 5th of July to the 8th of August we flew 87.4 hours, 66 sorties with 226 landings covering all of the ranges including the rough sod field site; the Air Force unit pilots added 10.1 hours during the period 8-12 August. Check-outs had been made by 8 July, and all AF flying was in the 8 July to 12 August period. Bombs, gun pods, flares, rocket pods, and SM dispensers were used. In addition, I flew several missions with paratroops jumping from the airplane using a lanyard, and it worked satisfactorily. Before the men jumped I had purchased three bags of grapefruit that we lobbed out of the aircraft-we had to really work (or launch) the grapefruit rearward to get it to hit the rear propeller-we had no propeller damage. I did find that a grapefruit released just outside the pilot's window would hit the left wheel with the landing gear extended. For this jumping operation the cabin door had been removed and a spoiler plate was affixed to the door hinges.

"By the third week of August, USAF had a designation for the airplane (0-2). They started to set up a project office at Wright-Patterson AFB, and initial procurement efforts were started. Dusty Rhodes, Cessna's Washington D.C. representative, and Derby Frye continued demonstrations to AF Personnel at Washington, Dayton, and TAC Headquarters. In the meantime, USAF decided they wanted a psychological warfare version (0-2B) before the 0-2A. I set up a Type I Pilot Training Program at Cessna, and nine (9) USAF pilots plus 25 technicians for aircraft maintenance and 14 personnel for engine and propeller maintenance (as instructors) arrived in Wichita on January 1, 1967 to start IP Training. They wanted airplanes in a hurry so we bought 31 civilian airplanes back from the dealerdistributor organizations. They kept the four seats and the basic interior. However, they added some standard AF avionics, a high-powered University Sound Company audio system with a large speaker in the baggage door, a Sony tape player, and a chute through the floor for dispensing leaflets. It was affectionately known as the 'bullshit bomber.'

"At the same time we proceeded to arrange for the airplanes to be ferried to Saigon. World Aviation Services, Inc. out of Florida was the ferry contractor, and they set up an office in Floair, Inc. who did the tank installations at Newton, Kansas. I flew their first installation at 5745 pounds gross weight with the regular 122 gallons in the wings and a total of 241 gallons in two tanks in the cabin. The aircraft were flown from Wichita to Hamilton AFB in northern California, to Hickharn AFB in Hawaii, to Anderson AFB in Guam, to Clark AFB in the Philippines (where part of the tanks were taken out) and then on to Saigon. The longest leg was 19:46 from Hamilton AFB to Hickham Field. Just before the early (only) loss of an aircraft enroute, the C- 130 escort 'Duck Butt' had been initiated. The pilot that ditched was picked up by a Japanese freighter.