Cessna A - 37 Dragonfly The Cessna A - 37 Dragonfly , or Super Tweet , is a United States light attack aircraft developed from the T - 37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s . The A - 37 was introduced during the Vietnam War and remained in peacetime service afterward . Design and development . The growing American military involvement in Vietnam in the early 1960s led to strong interest in counter - insurgency ( COIN ) aircraft . In late 1962 , the U . S . Air Force ' s Special Air Warfare Center at Eglin Air Force Base ' s Hurlburt Field in Florida evaluated two T - 37Cs for the role . The Air Force found the T - 37 promising , but wanted an improved version of the aircraft that could carry a much larger payload , and had much greater endurance and better short - field performance . This meant a heavier aircraft with more powerful engines . In 1963 , the Air Force awarded a contract to Cessna for two prototype YAT - 37D aircraft : T - 37s with modifications that included : These changes meant a drastic increase in aircraft weight and the aircraft now had to carry a significant payload as well . Cessna , therefore , doubled the engine power by replacing the two Continental J - 69 engines with General Electric J85 - J2 / 5 turbojet engines with 2 , 400 lbf ( 10 . 7 kN ) thrust each . The first YAT - 37D flew in October 1964 , followed a year later by the second prototype . The second prototype had four stores pylons under each wing , rather than three , and the first prototype was upgraded to this configuration as well . Test results were good , but USAF interest in counter - insurgency ( COIN ) aircraft had faded for the moment . The program went into limbo for a time , with the second prototype " put out to pasture " at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright - Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio . The war in Southeast Asia , however , continued to escalate . Losses of Douglas A - 1 Skyraider close - support aircraft in US and South Vietnamese service proved greater than anticipated and USAF interest in COIN aircraft was revived . The YAT - 37D seemed like a promising candidate for the job , but the Air Force felt that the only way to be sure was to evaluate the aircraft in combat . As a result , the USAF issued a contract to Cessna for a pre - production batch of 39 YAT - 37Ds , with a few minor changes relative to the prototypes , to be rebuilt from existing T - 37Bs . These aircraft were initially designated AT - 37D , but the designation was quickly changed to A - 37A . The second prototype YAT - 37D was pulled out of the Air Force Museum and upgraded to A - 37A standards as part of the test program . The A - 37A had a gross takeoff weight of 12 , 000 lb ( 5 , 440 kg ) , of which 2 , 700 lb ( 1230 kg ) was ordnance . The A - 37A retained the dual controls of its T - 37B ancestor , allowing it to be used as an operational trainer . In combat " forward air control ( FAC ) " operations , the second seat was occupied by an observer . Only one crewman normally flew in the aircraft for close support missions , permitting a slight increase in ordnance . Operational history . Vietnam War . In August 1967 , 25 A - 37As were sent to Vietnam under the " Combat Dragon " evaluation program , and flew from Bien Hoa Air Base on USAF " air commando " missions , including close air support , helicopter escort , FAC , and night interdiction . Combat loads included high - explosive bomb s , cluster munition dispensers , unguided rocket packs , napalm tanks , and the SUU - 11 / A Minigun pod . For most missions , the aircraft also carried two additional external fuel tanks on the inner stores pylons . During this period , the A - 37As flew thousands of sorties . None were lost to enemy fire , although two were wrecked in landing accidents . The A - 37A was formally named the " Dragonfly " , but most pilots called it the " Super Tweet " . The Combat Dragon program was successful , but unsurprisingly the combat evaluation revealed some of the deficiencies of the A - 37A . The most noticeable problem was that the aircraft lacked range and endurance . Other concerns were heavy control response during attack runs ( the flight controls were not power - boosted ) and the vulnerability of the aircraft ' s non - redundant flight control system . The USAF signed a contract with Cessna in early 1967 for an improved Super Tweet , designated the " A - 37B " . The initial order was for 57 aircraft , but this was quickly increased to 127 . The A - 37Bs were primarily intended to be supplied to the South Vietnamese Air Force ( VNAF ) as replacements for their Skyraiders . The A - 37B prototype was rolled out in September 1967 , with deliveries to the South Vietnamese beginning in 1968 . The A - 37Bs were all newly built airframes . These were stronger than those of the A - 37A , capable of pulling 6 " g " instead of 5 , and were built to have a longer fatigue life of 4 , 000 hours . Field experience would demonstrate that 7 , 000 hours between overhauls could be tolerated . The A - 37B weighed almost twice as much as the T - 37C . A remarkable fraction of the loaded weight , , could be external stores . In practice , the A - 37B usually operated with at least two and sometimes four underwing fuel tanks to improve combat endurance . To get this increased weight off the ground , the A - 37B was fitted with General Electric J85 - GE - 17A engines , providing 2 , 850 lbf ( 12 . 7 kN ) thrust each . These engines were canted slightly outward and downward to improve single - engine handling . Air commando pilots in Vietnam operating the A - 37A had found single - engine cruise an effective means of improving their flight endurance . Modifications were made to control surfaces to improve handling . To improve aircraft and crew survivability , the A - 37B was fitted with redundant elevator control runs that were placed as far apart as possible . The ejection seats were armored , the cockpit was lined with nylon flak curtains , and foam - filled self - sealing fuel tank s were installed . The A - 37 excelled at close air support . Its straight wings allowed it to engage targets 100 miles per hour slower than swept - wing fighters . The slower speed improved bombing accuracy , enabling pilots to achieve an average accuracy of 45 feet . The A - 37B added a refueling probe to the nose , leading to pipes wrapped around the lower lip of the canopy , for probe - and - drogue aerial refueling . This was an unusual fit for USAF aircraft , which traditionally are configured for boom refueling . Other improvements included updated avionics , a redesigned instrument panel to make the aircraft easier to fly from either seat , an automatic engine inlet de - icing system , and revised landing gear . Like its predecessors , the A - 37B was not pressurized . The A - 37 required a relatively low amount of maintenance compared to contemporary fighters — only two hours of maintenance for each hour of flight time . This was partially due to multiple access panels in strategic locations . The 20 mm GPU - 2 / A and AMD 30 mm cannon pods were tested with favorable results on the A - 37B , but reports indicate that such pods were either seldom or never used in operation . Post - war era . A total of 577 A - 37Bs were built , with 254 delivered to the South Vietnamese Air Force . At war ' s end , the A - 37 had flown over 160 , 000 combat sorties with only 22 USAF losses , approximately 187 A - 37Bs were in South Vietnam ese service when the country fell . Ninety - two were recovered by the US , while the other 95 were later used by the Communist Vietnamese in missions over Cambodia and during the China conflict in 1979 . These " renegade " aircraft were phased out of service in the late 1970s or early 1980s , in all probability due to lack of spares . Some of the aircraft were shipped to Vietnam ' s allies like Czechoslovakia , Poland , the Soviet Union and East Germany . Others were sold to private foreign owners . Six examples of the A - 37B became property of American warbird fans , while four A - 37Bs are now privately owned in Australia and New Zealand . After the war , the USAF passed their A - 37Bs from the USAF Tactical Air Command ( TAC ) to TAC - gained units in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve . In the early 1980s these aircraft were assigned to the FAC ( Forward Air Control ) role and given the designation OA - 37B . The OA - 37Bs were eventually phased out and replaced in the FAC mission by the much more formidable Fairchild Republic A - 10 Thunderbolt II in regular air force , Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve service . OA - 37s from the 24th Tactical Air Support Squadron also saw service during Operation Just Cause Salvadoran Civil War . A - 37Bs were used extensively by the Salvadoran Air Force during the Salvadoran Civil War , supplied by the United States in 1983 as a replacement for the Salvadoran Air Force ' s Dassault Ouragan s , several of which had been destroyed on the ground by the FMLN . A - 37Bs were used to bomb rebel bases , columns , and towns ( inflicting heavy civilian casualties in the city of Berlin ) , provided close air support , and flew interdiction missions . A total of 21 A - 37Bs and 9 OA - 37Bs were supplied during the war , one of which was shot down by an SA - 7 missile on November 23 , 1990 and another which lost a pilot to a Dragunov sniper rifle ( on November 18 , 1989 ) . Nine A - 37s remained in operational condition by the end of the war . Other Latin American countries . The A - 37B was also exported to Latin America , mostly during the 1970s . It was well suited to their needs because of its simplicity , low cost , and effectiveness for insurgent warfare . Most of the A - 37Bs exported south had the refueling probe shortened to act as a single - point ground refueling probe , or deleted completely . The Guatemalan Air Force flew the A - 37 in extensive counter - insurgency operations throughout the 1970s - 1990s , losing one aircraft in action in 1985 . It has also been widely used for counter - narcotics operations . On 23 March 2009 , Embraer announced that it had reached agreement with the Ecuadorian air force to supply 24 turboprop - powered Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano s , to replace Ecuador ’ s aging fleet of Vietnam - era Cessna A - 37 Dragonfly strike aircraft . Concept aircraft . Cessna also proposed enhanced strike variants of the T - 37 . The AT - 37E / STOL ( short takeoff and landing ) concept incorporated more powerful engines , thrust reversers , and big flaps . Side - by - side and tandem seating versions were offered . The A - 37D also had more powerful engines , a centerline gun pod , and a single - seat configuration based on the TNT fuselage . As with the improved trainer concepts , the improved strike versions never flew . Aircraft on display . Chile Colombia Thailand New Zealand Poland United States Vietnam