Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Three-seat observation aircraft

Power Plant:

One 791 kw (1,060 hp) Wright R-1820-49 nine-cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

Armament:

One 7.62 mm (0.3 in) Browning fixed forward-firing machine gun; one 7.62 mm (0.3- in) machine gun on ring in rear cockpit

History:

The O-47 was an observation aircraft built for the US Army. Accommodation was provided for three in tandem under a large canopy. The observer/photographer was located deep in the belly where windows at the bottom and each side permitted a good field of view. The prototype XO-47 (36-145) was built at the General Aviation facility at Dundalk, Maryland. Production took place at the North American Aviation facility at Inglewood, California. A total of 164 production O-47As was built with 727 kw (975 hp) Wright R-1820-49 radial engines; and 74 O-47Bs were later delivered with 791 kw (1,060 hp) Wright R-1820-57 engines.

The type was used by US military services in the Pacific Theatre during World War II but, other than those destroyed by Japanese attacks at their bases in December 1941, it was not used in the combat role but was used for training, utility work, and aerial target towing. A small number of these aircraft were operated in Australia.

There has been some conjecture over the years as to why these aircraft came to Australia. Available evidence reveals that ten US National Guard Squadrons were each assigned a three man crew and one aircraft for deployment to Australia under the code name Combat Team X. This unit was comprised of ten pilots with an equal number of observers, gunners and O-47 series aircraft. In early January 1942 the groups were given sealed orders to report to McClellan Air Depot, Sacramento, California where the aircraft were dis-assembled and crated for shipment to the south Pacific. Their destination initially was Singapore, where they were to take up duties of observation and coastal patrol working out of the Malay peninsula. The crews left San Francisco on 12 January 1942 on board the vessels President Coolidge and the Mariposa the next day.

Records indicate that whilst en-route to Singapore invading Japanese forces took over and the ships were diverted to Brisbane, QLD.  However, Singapore did not fall until mid-February, some three weeks after the ships arrived in Australia, so the actual reason they were diverted is not known; but it may well have something to do with the situation of Japanese forces in the Pacific at that time. Be that as it may, the Mariposa docked in Brisbane on 23 January and the President Coolidge had to dock in Melbourne as the port of Brisbane was not deep enough for the vessel to dock.

The crews dis-embarked and were taken to Brisbane by train, the aircraft being taken to ‘a nearby airfield’, probably Archerfield or Eagle Farm, QLD. There the aircraft were re-assembled by the crews, manhandling the heavy wing panels into position, dropping them over the two under-surface pins and then bolting the topside flanges over the fuselage stubs. Eventually the planes were airworthy and patrols are said to have commenced along the Australian coastline – probably southern Queensland and northern New South Wales, at least as far south as Evans Head. One (37-282) was involved in an accident at Townsville, QLD on 12 November 1943.

It seems in due course the unit was broken up and the crews transferred to other US Army Air Force units as they became active in the South-west Pacific area. The O-47s were transferred to other units, which probably had little training on the type, and are reported to have been landed at too high speeds, resulting in the application of brakes too suddenly, some being said to have flipped over and been wrecked.  Others soon became un-airworthy due to a lack of spare parts and replacements.

It would seem that with the limited range of the O-47 very little use would have been made of these aircraft, and their light armament would have meant they were only useful for training, as unit hacks and for local coastal patrol work.  The engine fitted was the Wright R-1820-49 Cyclone of 727 kw (975 hp) driving a Hamilton Standard three-blade Hydromatic propeller, a unit similar to that used in some of the Dutch aircraft which escaped to Australia. It could be, although six were transferred to the Directorate of Air Transport, they may have been getting close to the end of their useful lives and may have been reduced to components to support the transport fleet.

The identities of O-47s known to have been transferred to the DAT were: 37-282 (c/n 25-225); 37-297 (c/n 25-240); 37-326 (c/n 25-269); 37-339 (c/n 25-282); 37-351 (c/n 25-294); and 37-353 (c/n 25-296).  The serials of other aircraft are not at this time known.  At least three examples are known to survive in the United States: an O-47B at the USAF Museum at Dayton, Ohio; and examples at the Yanks Air Museum and the Planes of Fame Museum, both museums being in Chino, California.