Liaison aircraft - Wikipedia
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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.
The concept developed before World War II and included also battlefield reconnaissance, air ambulance, column control, light cargo delivery and similar duties.[1] 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.
Nazi period:
- Fieseler Fi 156 Storch
- Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun
- Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu
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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–)
- 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)
- Polikarpov Po-2 Kukuruznik ("Crop Duster")
- 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
- ^ LePore, Herbert P. (1990). "Eyes in the Sky: A History of Liaison Aircraft and Their Use in World War II". Army History (17): 30–39. ISSN 1546-5330.
- www.als-cannonfield.com – The Alamo Liaison Squadron is a group dedicated to restoring and flying liaison aircraft.
- Lbirds.com – Website with resources, information, and models of US WWII liaison aircraft
- Lbirds – Forum open to discussion about liaison aircraft