Military Pipers and Cessna

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

73

Send private message

By: Rob_in_NM - 5th March 2012 at 00:27

Here is a picture of an O-2, which I believe is part of the Aero Club at Offutt AFB, NE. The picture was taken at the Offutt Air Show in 2005. As it’s been 4 years since I was stationed there, I can not say for sure if it is still in use or not.

Rob

Member for:

19 years 1 month

Posts:

10,735

Send private message

By: J Boyle - 4th March 2012 at 16:19

I think you’d be disappointed in USAF Base Flying Clubs (BTW, they’re operated by the base recreation department)…all the aircraft I’ve seen in recent years are standard models of Pipers and Cessnas, not USAF surplus, in standard schemes. The L-19s/O-1s were passed years ago to the Civil Air Patrol, and the O-2s, being twins, weren’t really wanted by recreational or student pilots, so there hasn’t been a lot of surplus military aircraft suitable for flying clubs in many years. Some T-41s (172) were used by clubs, but the few I’ve seen in clubs were in civil colors (though some have been painted in military markings by civil owners as warbirds).

At the one club I belonged to, most of the planes were Piper Warriors and the sole surplus military aircraft was a Beech Baron, an ex-Army T-42 but painted in civil scheme. As I said, they buy used planes on the open market and for cost reasons, keep them in their paint they already have. If they need repainting while in service, again a basic civil scheme is chosen, nothing too expensive or “way out” that would hinder its value when time comes to sell it on.

Back in the 50s and 60s, USAF flying clubs operated a lot of surplus aircraft: T-34s were popular, most were natural metal with black “N” numbers, IIRC (from photos) some retained their “US AIR FORCE” titles.

You might have better luck with a Civil Air patrol scheme, currently the organization flies 182s, but in the past they flew a lot of surplus types…L-4s, T-34s, U-6 Beavers, as well as the popular O-1.

As far as finding a Tomahawk in camo…there may be one out there, but I doubt if it’s in a military flying club.

There are lots of GA types in faux military schemes…I keep seeing a 150 in AF colours, as well as many warbirds, homebuilts and antiques, but they have nothing to do with base flying clubs.