Turboprops at War

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MIflyer

1st Lieutenant
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May 30, 2011
Cape Canaveral
Yesterday I was reading that the RN used Westland Wyverns to attack Egyptian airfields during the Suez Crisis, carrying 1000 lb bombs. I got to thinking about how many turboprops have actually seen combat. Here is the list I came up with:

C-130 in the Cold War, Vietnam, Panama, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan. This was not only as a transport taking fire, but as an ECM airplane, a bomber, a gunship, and a flare dropper.

OV-10 in Vietnam and Desert Storm.

Westland Wyvern (what is a Wyvern that the airplane is named after, anyway?) By the way, I'd guess that Frog/Airlines had a model of it.

Pucara in the Falklands War

T-6 is supposed to be built in an light attack version, but I do not know if it has seen combat yet.

Tucano/A-29, also do not know if it has seen combat. Probably has, in Afghanistan and in drug interdiction.
 
A wyvern is a legendary bipedal dragon with a tail often ending in a diamond- or arrow-shaped tip.

The wyvern in its various forms is important to heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada). It is a popular creature in European literature, video games, and modern fantasy. The wyvern in heraldry and folklore is rarely fire-breathing like the four-legged dragon. Sometimes modern fantasy book and media authors portray wyverns that are frost-breathing or poison-breathing instead of fire-breathing.
 
Russian Tu-95s bombed targets in Syria and were the backbone of the Soviet air force during the cold-war.

Several airforces purchased the Cavalier F-51D but none seem to have seen any combat and the Cavalier successor, PA-48 never left the prototype stage.

There's also the Air Tractor AT-802/OA-8 in several air forces, though it hasn't seen combat (that we know of).
 
At least one P-3 was shot down during the Vietnam war. A P-3 from my squadron assisted in a drug bust by overflying a speed boat trying to evade Coast Guard ships. They overflew the drug runner and opened the bomb bays (there were no weapons on board). The bad guys saw this and surrendered!
 
OV-1 is a good catch!

I thought about the P-3 (lord knows, I have seen enough of them doing touch and goes) but was unaware of any actually getting into combat. If you have been shot at or shot down you have been in combat.

I wrote an article over 20 years ago in which I pointed out that the F-4 photo recon version of the P-38 was the first Lightning to actually get into combat, when one was intercepted and had an engine shot out by a Japanese fighter. The editor at Aviation History Magazine replied by saying the F-4 could not have been in combat because it had no guns..... Ugh.

I did not reply but sold the article to Air Classics, which never paid me.
 
Looking at the Operational History of various aircraft on Wiki and seeing if they were involved in conflicts - possibly includes the...

Breguet Atlantic
Transall C-160.

I never knew the Antonov An 26 dropped bombs.

"The An-26 has a secondary bomber role with underwing bomb racks. The racks are attached to the fuselage in front of and behind the rear landing gear. In the bombing role it was extensively used by the Vietnam People's Air Force during the Cambodian–Vietnamese War and Sudanese Air Force during the Second Sudanese Civil War and the War in Darfur.[3] Also Russian Forces train with the An-26 as a bomber.[4]"
 
MIflyer said:
T-6 is supposed to be built in an light attack version, but I do not know if it has seen combat yet.
Click to expand...

Couldn't find any info on plans for a T-6 turboprop conversion - but there was a T-28 conversion (went nowhere)....



(1964 Observers)
 
DHC 5 Buffalo (Vietnam)
Grumman S2T Turbo Tanker (CalFire brushfire wars)
Dornier 228 (Nigerian "perma-war")*
DHC 6 Twin Otter (numerous insurgencies and insurrections)

*A Dornier 228 carrying the UN Secretary General had its entire right engine and nacelle blown off by a heat seeker missile, and flew 200+ NM out of the combat zone to a safe landing.
 
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