Curtiss O-52 Owl

Last crawled date: 2 years, 12 months ago

The last of the heavy 'O' models to be procured in number, the observation role was to be taken over by the smaller lighter 'L' Liaison models. Designed from polyglot of existing Curtiss navy types, the Army Air Corps ordered 203 without seeing a prototype. The cash strapped 30's saw congress offering up dollars for cheaper observation planes as opposed to more expensive fighters and bombers. Army doctrine of the 30's still saw the aircraft as support to ground troops.Upon delivery after the start of the European war, the type was determined to be too vulnerable to attack, too slow and poorly armed. Aircrews complained of poor handling, ground forces complained about the quality of the recon from the craft, citing that the aircraft was too fast to be accurate! The type was largely pulled from overseas front line service. A few were delivered to the Philippines(considered 'indefensible' by the War Department,a large number of 2nd line and obsolete aircraft were assigned there) just prior to December 7th 1941. The remainder stayed stateside as squadron hacks or for use in short range antisubmarine patrols on the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf coasts, a further 30 were consigned to the Soviet Union under the Lend Lease program, 23 of which were delivered - 19 in flyable condition without construction or flight manuals. They mainly flew in artillery spotting missions, and were generally disliked by her Russian crews. #aircraft #airplane #anti #avion #curtiss #djames #flugzeug #O52 #observation #Owl #plane #soviet_union #submarine #world_war_2 #world_war_II #ww_II #WW2 #Воздушное_судно #航空器