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Originally Posted by rickstef
Cessna 0-2 Skymaster
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At first glance, it appears to be an O-2B, one of early examples of the O-2 when the Air Force pulled civilian C-336 Skymasters (fixed gear) off the shelf and put them into the Vietnamese theater as "Bullshit Bombers" -- 336s with speakers mounted in the baggage door to broadcast propoganda and psy-ops to the enemy. If it were a USAF plane, the absence of extra windows, fixed gear, and the spinner on the prop would identify this as an O-2B. But the hard points and camo scheme suggest that it's not an American plane; some other country has apparently modified an C-336 for combat.
The fireball suggests that this plane is on a strafing run, which means it's a fixed-gear C-336. A C-337 would have its gear up during combat.
Cessna began building C-337Ms for the Air Force with beefed up spars and airframes, hardpoints, and extra windows. When those aircraft went operational, it was designated O-2A. Cessna built about 525 of these between 1967 and 1970, when the OV-1 Bronco came on line.
Why The -B first and then the -A? Probably because everyone knew the off-the-shelf O-2B was a stopgap measure while Cessna spooled up production of the militarized C-337.
A great way to see these in action is the move "Bat 21."