Skywagons University Flies the L19 Bird-Dog. Touch and go. Cockpit view. Warbird. Vietnam era aircraft. Bush plane. STOL aircraft. Taildragger. Wheel landing. Military aircraft. Restored aircraft.
This clip brings back memories of my duty in Vietnam commencing Jan. 1970- I flew 300 hours primarily in Laos before being reassigned to fly the YO-3. Army Loses 297 Air Force 172
As retired 20,000+ hours ATP FIX/ROTOR WING PILOT, Of all the different aircraft i flew, i think i enjoyed the Birddog the most. That was a fair landing.
I was a crew chief on these in Vietnam ‘68 with the CatKillers 220th. So nice to see the instrument panel again. Glad it was left OD green! I want so badly to go up again in the back seat!!
Mark, I'm somewhat envious of your little trip around the pattern. Now a comment from a 1,000 combat hour former Army O-1 pilot. With the flaps available in the O-1, there is NO need to drag it in to a landing. It's not a 757 with two powerful engines. It's a simple little aircraft that, with the wide range of flap settings, can be landed with only idle power and not dragged in. We were always taught that you should be able to land it if the engine fails anywhere in the approach. Plus, by using minimal power in landing, you will land in a shorter distance. If you have the flaps, learn to use them ... all of them if need be.
When I learned to fly (1957) and when I was an instructor, (1962-1966), we taught only power off approaches. Adding power on final meant you screwed up.
@@frankbacon245 That is the way I was taught by my instructor in 1957.....he was a former USAAF and USAF pilot who flew C-47 and C-54s ."over the hump" and the Berlin Airlift.......he said "any dumb**s can land when his engine is performing.....it takes a pilot to land if the engine fails"
Topper- Over 1000 combat hrs here too . (1st Cav.) Mark did a wheel landing. I was never trained to do that. I tried once and it scared me to death. Every one of thousands of landings, on all types of surfaces and conditions...it was full stall; plant all 3 wheels on the ground at once; you're done flying. In a wheel landing, one is still half flying until somewhere down the runway, after the tail wheel touches down, and gets slow enough to brake. In a three point landing, one can land in a surprisingly short distance by hanging it on the prop; coming down the final with a high power setting, nose high, slow speed (close to stall warning), planting it, cutting power and braking all at once. It helps that the plane has a 470 engine, large 60 degree Fowler flaps, and single leaf spring main wheels gear. She's a tough bird. Of course, if the engine quits, you're toast. I implicitly trusted our mechanics.
Major nostalgia! The boss sent me off to check myself out on wheels in the Bird Dog. I'd already flown it on floats and skis. My first takeoff ended up being across the runway. After a little airwork and some pattern work, we were great friends. 🥰
My dream plane. Rather have one of these than a Mustang, the Bird Dog is what real flying is all about. For those others who are real L-19/0-1 fans find yourself a copy of "The Lovable One-Niner".
I spent a fair amount of rear seat time in L-19's in VN during the war - before I was a licensed pilot, but did get some stick time sitting in the back. Incredible visibility! Of course the Army Birddogs in VN were flat OD with subdued markings...great short field aircraft! I eventually bought a Husky and a J3, but I sure looked for an L-19. The Husky is an amazing STOL aircraft as well, and incredibly fun to fly!
The L-19 for Microsoft Flight Simulator, a fairly recent release, brought me here. That's about as close to the real thing as I'm likely to get, but it does behave exactly as your video. So, at least there is a good virtual model to afford vicarious thrills! Have to agree with the military pilots commenting that it lends itself to a low throttle or idle setting on final, unlike the J35 I once owned. Thank you (2 yrs late...) for the video!
My father owns an L-19... To me, the rudder pedals feel squishy. But very accurate with your inputs. It only needs about 500ft for Take-offs/landings with Full flaps and Johny on the spot with the brakes... She a Fun Lil warbird. :)
Have had several chances to enjoy Bird Dog rides, military, civilian and tow ships. Love this plane so much. Great performance, visibility, climb out, throaty roar and friendship from the pilots, too. WIN, WIN all the way!!!!!! NH
I got to tow banners with several birddogs back in the early eighties. It was so much easier to tow with this plane vs. a cub. An added bonus was the back window. You could actually see how the banner was "flying" much easier. If I remember correctly, at least one of the planes had 60deg. of flap!
Funny story. I was a crew chief in RVN and for three weeks I had to PROP START the Bird Dog every morning because the battery was dead. I'd make sure it was tied down securely and run it for about 10-15 minutes to give the battery a charge before the pilot came out to fly. He never found out. Fun times.
liked watching that wheel landing nice job, recently i saw you had n4646b a 180 I had flown in Florida in one of my videos. that the owner since then sold it to some place in colorado then it made its way to skywagons and you sold it and then it was damaged in a accident in Oklahoma. That 180 made its rounds
@@skywagonuniversity5023 I used to tow in those in Hawaii. Ever since I’d love to have one but without the beautiful paint job. I’d be putting ducks and and moose parts in the back. 😬
FYI, I hold STC for 20 gal aux fuel tank mounted just aft of the pilot seat. This modification was designed for Bristol Bay fish spotter friend. Looong legs.
Beautiful Bird Dog. I towed gliders with them, they were pretty rough looking planes but fun to fly. The only thing was with no one in the back seat we didn't use full flaps, you couldn't do a three point landing with them in that configuration.
The US Army never taught wheel landings in the O-1 for a reason ... this little beast needs a 3-point, full stall landing and keep her straight. Wheel landings look nice but not intended for any sort of short field or unimproved field landings. Try a wheel landing in a high crosswind and you'll see (if you can control it) why she needs to be planted down in a full stall landing.
@@topper3348 It did a fair wheel landing but I am not a big fan of them. I flew at a commercial glider operation for 12 years on the weekends. Normally 30+ landings in a day. Always three pointed the planes. PA-18, 8GBC and PA-25s.
in service in Nam, the radios carried cost more than the plane! and when taking small arms fire, being hit a few times happens so fast that by the time you realize, it's over.
Having flown the B dog towing gliders for 7 years in crosswinds, it will be interesting to see if this person really knows how to land one. First, no reason to use flaps during takeoff on a long runway with only one person in the cockpit. On landing, abeam touchdown point at 800 AGL power 1500 rpm make a 180 turn with full flaps sliping and you will put it on the numbers. Make a flat approach and you will never make the runway with an engine failure. Nice wheel landing, if you try to 3 point it in a crosswind you will be doing a lot of repair work on a broken B dog.
"if you try to 3 point it in a crosswind you will be doing a lot of repair work on a broken B dog."" I beg to differ sir. In VN I flew her from a very short and very narrow strip in Rach Gia for a year. Winds were very unpredictable as the Gulf of Siam was next to my strip. I always used 3-point full stall landings and had control all the way through. Never dinged or damaged my Birddog.
@@skywagonuniversity5023 I think I’m in the market for a 185, you’re probably my best bet. My home airports are Truckee and Gnoss Field, in Marin, and you’re right in-between.
Hi Mark The one that you sold to CN13 has a Horton STOL kit on it. This one doesn’t look like it has a STOL cuff? Was the STOL cuff added by the military or is that something that happened in civilian hands?
It's Placerville Airport in the Sierra Nevada foothills about 35 miles East of Sacramento in Northern California, KPVF. Not a lot here but a great location.
The D models are constant speed. The A, E and G’s are fixed pitch. Mine was a G in Vietnam which I preferred for outstanding climb away from the target.
Don the Camera Guy here. When we flatten out the video in post production, it makes the plane look low. We do appreciate the concern, but keep in mind that Mark has thousands of hours of safe flying in the books.
Re "apart from being shot at" - in service they were rarely shot at due to ability to mark (white phosphorus) and call in the F-4s, made much more less to avoid them.
Sorry John, but I disagree with "in service they were rarely shot at". I flew the O-1G in Vietnam from Feb. '69-Feb '70 as Shotgun 33 with the 221st Recon Airplane Company. If you read any one of several books on the military (Vietnam) use of the O-1, or speak to any Birddog pilot with combat experience, you will discover that being shot at was a daily way of life. If you weren't being shot at, you weren't doing your job effectively. Essentially, we were "trolling" for the VC or NVA to shoot at us, thus enabling us to find the enemy and take whatever action was needed to destroy him. Read " A Hundred Feet Over Hell", or even my book "Delta Shotgun" and discover a true warbird. Please do some research before putting out statements that some others will take as the gospel. Thank you.
@@topper3348 I doubt anyone is taking my words as gospel (let's hope not anyway).. I was told this at some point back when I was flying a Bird Dog (general aviation) though it was from a Huey pilot who had been shot down 3 times..
@@topper3348 You had something in common with loach pilots, troll the VC. Low and slow. "If you don't have bamboo or branches in your skids you were flying too high."
How about actually teaching us something? Like control response, stability, climb angle, ergonomics... Watching some guy sitting is not very instructive.
Hi Layang! We'd love to do videos like that, but we are not flight instructors. We think you can see things like ergonomics (it was a military bird), control responses as they are input, climb angle, and stability from watching the video. We're sorry you didn't enjoy the video, but hope you'll stay with us.
We wanted to let you know we've got a couple of educational videos that will be up tomorrow morning, covering a few ADs on Cessnas. Hope you'll tune in!
