FAC

So you really wanna explore your sceneries with all its macros in detail ? Then you're of my kind ! And here you get the right planes for it. By the way,"FAC" was a special mission profile which had to be developped because of the ever faster getting jets hunting still slow, still low visible ground targets. So look at the FACs as a kind of air-ground interface....

Cessna O-1E Bird Dog
File: bird1.zip
Author: Bob Wening
Version: FS98
Size: 166 kB
Remark:
History: In the late 1940's, the Army began looking for a replacement for the aging Piper L-4 and Stinson L-5. Requirements were for a light, all metal aircraft that could perform a wide variety of missions from short unprepared strips. Missions that the Army and Air Force were interested in for this aricraft included reconnaissance, rescue, re-supply, aerial telephone wire laying, artillery fire control, casualty evacuation, and forward air control. The Bird Dog could also be operated with floats or skiis. Thousands of O-1's were produced and used by the Army, Navy, Airforce and Marines.
This particular model is in the colors of the 73rd Aviation Company who saw action during Vietnam. The top of the wing was painted with an orange stripe, and white flaps to help friendly aircraft spot them from above. For target marking the O-1 used underwing mounted rockets, called Willie Petes (WP = white phosphorous)

Helio U-10D Courier
File: courer98.zip
Author: Jerry "Zeke" Arzdorf
Version: FS98
Size: 33 kB
Remark:
History: The Super Courier is a light utility transport developed from a civilian design first tested in 1949. Its short takeoff and landing (STOL) capability allows it to operate from a clearing the size of a football field, and to fly very slowly makes it an excellent aircraft for visual reconnasissance. The original version of the USAF Super Courier made its first flight in 1958. The USAF purchased three for evaluation the same year, designing them L-28As and later redesignating them U-10As. Eventually,
more than 100 additional U-10s were ordered, mainly for use by air commando units in Southeast Asia. It was used for liaison, light cargo, small supply drop operations, psychological warfare (dropping leaflets and broadcasting propaganda), forward air controller and reconnaissance missions.
This U-10D is painted and marked as an aircraft assigned to the 5th Air Commando Squadron in Southeast Asia in 1968.

Cessna O-2A Skymaster
File: o-2a-456.zip
Author: Arnold Fuller
Version: FS5
Size: 50 kB
Remark:
History: The O-2 is a military version of the Cessna 337 Skymaster. The USAF's O-2A served only in Vietnam as a Forward Air Controller (FAC). They flew lead point for all operations in the air and on the ground. They carried rocket pods for marking targets and also for close air support.
The paint is of an O-2A out of the 21st TASS, based at Nha Trang Air Base, Vietnam.

Rockwell OV-10D Bronco
Name: ov10_cs1.zip
Author: Captain Slug
Version: FS5
Size: 151 kB
Remark:
History: The Bronco was the most advanced observation aircraft in Vietnam. Now out of service with the US armed forces, the Bronco is still being utilized as a counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft in Indonesia, Thailand, Venezuela, Morocco and the Philippines. Its distinctive configuration with the twin-boom tail, weapons wing underneath, and tandem seating as well as the possibility of up to five paratroopers, offers many ways to utilize it. Its armament can include five hardpoints, AIM-9 Sidewinders, AAMs, 20mm/7.62mm gunpods, bombs and rockets.

Auster A.O.P.9
Name: aust98_2.zip
Author: Mike Hill
Version: FS98
Size: 27 kB
Remark:
History: The Auster A.O.P.9 (Air Observation Post Mk.9) was the last of a long line of aircraft produced by the Auster Aircraft Company. Originally the Auster series stemmed from the Taylorcraft Aviation Company designs in the USA. In 1938 production facilities were set up in England. In 1946 the Auster Aircraft Company was formed to produce their own (similar) designs.

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