liaison aircraft
{{short description|Light aircraft for artillery observation and military communications}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2024}}
File:auster.aop9.tw511.arp.jpg liaison aircraft of 1957]]
A liaison aircraft (also called an army cooperation aircraft) is a small, usually unarmed aircraft primarily used by military forces for artillery observation or transporting commanders and messages.
Operation
The concept developed before World War II and included also battlefield reconnaissance, air ambulance, column control, light cargo delivery and similar duties.{{Cite journal |last=LePore |first=Herbert P. |date=1990 |title=Eyes in the Sky: A History of Liaison Aircraft and Their Use in World War II |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26302917 |journal=Army History |issue=17 |pages=30–39 |issn=1546-5330}} Able to operate from small, unimproved fields under primitive conditions, with STOL capabilities, most liaison aircraft were developed from, or were later used as general aviation aircraft. Both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters can perform liaison duties.
Use by country
=Argentina=
=Bulgaria=
=Germany=
Nazi period:
- Fieseler Fi 156 Storch
- Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun
- Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu
File:LR-1.JPG of the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force]]
File:JMSDF LC-90 (Beechcraft C-90) landing at Naval Air Facility Atsugi.jpg of the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force]]
=Japan=
Imperial period:
- Kokusai Ki-76 (Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, 1942–1945)
- Tachikawa Ki-36 (Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, 1938–1945)
Postwar period:
- LR-1 (Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, 1967–2016)
- LC-90 (Japan Maritime Self Defense Force, 1974–)
=Poland=
=Portugal=
File:Reims FT337G Pressurized Skymaster II, Portugal - Air Force AN0552140.jpg
- Piper L-21 Super Cub (Portuguese Army, 1952–1957 and Portuguese Air Force, 1957–1976)
- Auster D.5/160 (Portuguese Air Force, 1961–1974)
- Dornier Do 27 (Portuguese Air Force, 1961–1979)
- Reims-Cessna FTB-337, (Portuguese Air Force, 1974–2007)
=Soviet Union=
- Polikarpov Po-2 Kukuruznik ("Crop Duster")
=Sweden=
- Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub as Flygplan 51, 1958–1974
- Dornier Do 27 as Flygplan 53, 1962–1991
- Scottish Aviation Bulldog as Flygplan 61C, 1972–1989
=Switzerland=
=United Kingdom=
=United States=
{{main|List of United States Air Force aircraft designations (1919–1962)#Liaison}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.als-cannonfield.com www.als-cannonfield.com] – The Alamo Liaison Squadron is a group dedicated to restoring and flying liaison aircraft.
- [http://www.lbirds.com Lbirds.com] – Website with resources, information, and models of US WWII liaison aircraft
- [http://lbirds.forumotion.com/ Lbirds] – Forum open to discussion about liaison aircraft
{{Authority control}}
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