The International Cessna^® 170 Association

In the January '06 issue of FLYING magazine, on the last page, p.100,
"50 Years Ago" there's a photo of an L-19 (O-1) with what looks like a Cessna 185 empennage. The blurb states that it's an OE-2 built for the Marine Corps, has a Continental O-470-2 engine and "has a achieved a true airspeed of 185 mph at 10,000 ft and could sustain dive speeds of 222 mph" !
I your dreams, for that 185 mph ! In a dive, 222 mph, after that nifty tail comes off, maybe...
Is anyone familiar with the OE-2 ?
Rudy

The L19/O1/C-305 had a Cont O-470-11 or -13 engine. Maybe the -11 was mistaken for a roman numeral 2.
Never seen a Birddog with 180/185 tailfeathers. I did see an article about one they hung a turboprop on, though, as well as a boundary-layer-control research Birddog that had leading/trailing edge type devices on it.
Condidering that stock Birddogs were only good for about 100 knots or less with the standard fixed pitch prop--and the c/s models probably not a whole lot faster-- I can't believe the claims of 185 TAS, even at 10,000'.

Eric

I believe the picture was a 0E-2


L-19, O-1, OE-1 Bird Dog - 2pChwM liaison, AA spotter, and utility lightplane; span: 36'0" length: 25'10" load: 786# v: 151/104/53 range: 530. Developed from 305. Redesignated O-1 in 1962. Also built under license in Japan, 1957.
Cessna L-19A [50-1619] (Frank Rezich coll)
Cessna L-19A [51-12032] (unknown)

L-19A, TL-19A, O-1A 1950 = POP: 2,130 to Army, 190 to Natl Guard, and 20 to USAF [-16428/16462 [50-1327/1744, 51-4534/5109, -7286/7481, -11912/12911, -16864/16973, 53-0508/0532, -2873/2878, -7698/7717, -7968/8067], plus 60 to USMC/USN as OE-1A/ O-1G [133782/133816, 136887/136911, 156680/156685]. Also 13 exports to MDAP and 6 to Chile. TL-19A was used as navigation trainer.
XL-19B 1952 = 210hp Boeing XT50 turboprop. Set lightplane altitude record of 37,063' in 1953. $17,050; POP: 1 [52-1804].

XL-19C 1953 = Continental Turbomèca XT51-T-1 turboprop. $18,000; POP: 2 [52-6311/6312].

O-1C 1963 = Export to South Korea. POP: 4 [63-12741/12744 ex-USN 151776/779].
TL-19D 1956 = Army navigation trainer. POP: 310 [55-4649/4748, 57-2772/2981].
Cessna O1-E (USAF)

L-19E, O-1E 1957 = 213hp Continental O-470-11 POP total: 3,430 [56-2467/2696, -4034/4038, -4161/4235, 57-1606/1609, -5983/6028, -6268/6277, 61-2955/3024, 62-12280/12288, 63-12745/12758], included exports to MDAP (Austria, Italy, and Thailand), Canda and France, plus 42 civil versions built from new surplus parts 1962-79 by Ector Aircraft Co, Odessa TX as Ector 305.

Cessna OE-2 (USMC)

OE-2 (Model 321) 1955 (TC 3A11) = USMC/USN 321 with 265hp O-470-2. POP: 25.

Looks like they took a 180/185 nose as well as a 185 tail and stuck them on a Birddog. Looks like a constant-speed prop including a 180-style spinner, as well as cowl flaps. Interesting that this airplane is circa 1956, the 185 with it's big tail didn't come out until 1961 or so. There mighta been some agplanes with that big dorsal already, though, not too sure of the production dates and details on the ag models.
The military did adopt the 180/185 at one point, I believe it was designated UC-17? There may have been some dash numbers (A,B, etc) to identify the 230 horse versions versus 260-285-300 horse.

Eric