Cessna A-37 Dragonfly

The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, also called the Super Tweet, is a jet-powered light attack aircraft that Cessna designed and produced during the Vietnam War as a counter-insurgency type to replace aging aircraft such as the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. It was derived directly from the T-37 Tweet trainer, with roughly double the weight and engine thrust so that it could carry munitions. The prototype YAT-37D first flew in October 1964, an initial batch of 25 A-37As deployed to Vietnam in August 1967 for the Combat Dragon evaluation, and the Air Force signed a contract in early 1967 for the improved A-37B. A total of 577 A-37Bs were built, 254 of them delivered to the South Vietnamese air force. The type flew over 160,000 combat sorties in the war, with only 22 United States Air Force aircraft recorded lost to combat, and several South American air forces later flew it.