NORMAN LOOP MEMORIAL COLLECTION
No. 5378. Douglas O-2H US Army Air Corps
Photographed at Lockheed Factory, Burbank, California, USA, ca. 1929, by Norman Loop

Douglas O-2H

06/30/2015. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Although retaining a designation in the O-2 series, the O-2H was virtually a new design with revised fuselage construction, new tail surfaces, streamlined landing gear and staggered wings of unequal span – 40 ft 10 in (12.45 m) upper wings and 38 ft 6 in (11.73) lower wings – and a reduced area of 362 sq.ft (33.63). The interplane struts, which were vertical on earlier O-2 variants, were slanted inward from top to bottom and the struts between upper and lower ailerons tested on the O-2E were adopted as standard. The modified wings no longer housed the petrol tanks and a single tank of 110 gal (416 l) capacity was installed in the fuselage ahead and below the pilot's cockpit.

Still powered by a 435 hp Liberty V-1650-1 engine enclosed in a cowling similar to that used on the O-2BS to O-2E versions, the O-2H was normally fitted with a two-blade metal propeller in place of the wooden unit previously used. Late production O-2Hs were fitted with shorter but broader vertical tail surfaces and revised horizontal tail surfaces. A total of 140 O-2Hs were built by Douglas comprising ninety aircraft for the Air Corps (27-288 to 27-297, 28-128 to 28-187, 29-158 to 29-163, and 29-165 to 29-178) and fifty aircraft for the National Guard (28-349 to 28-358, 29-342 to 29-351, and 29-375 to 29-404). The aircraft above belonged to the California National Guard."


Created May 31, 2006