03/28/2021. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Cessna designed the four-place Model 308 in answer to US Army issued specifications for an airplane capable of performing as an aerial ambulance, light cargo or observation aircraft. The US Army intended to buy the Canadian de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, but a flight restriction prevented the Army from operating aircraft of gross weights more than 5,000 lb. Cessna forged ahead with its proposed Model 308, a rather large airplane, with the capability of carrying 6 persons. It was powered with a 375 hp Lycoming GSO-580 eight-cylinder, horizontally-opposed, supercharged air-cooled engine driving a Hamilton Standard constant-speed propeller. All-metal and much larger than the Birddog series, the Model 308 utilized high-lift flaps, 6 ft (1.82 m) augmenter tubes for engine noise reduction that were eventually replaced by cowl flaps; wrap-around cabin windows for visibility, and a conventional landing gear.

Registered N41696 on August 13, 1951, the Model 308 was first flown July 31, 1952 with test pilot Bill Thompson at the controls. However, also in 1952, the US Army was permitted to buy the Beaver after weight restrictions were lifted, putting the Model 308 out of immediate contention for a government contract. Despite this setback, Cessna continued to develop the airplane, finished in a special paint scheme, as seen below, it was demonstrated to US Army at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in the spring of 1953, but to no avail.


The Model 308 returned to Cessna and was disassembled and put in storage. It was scrapped in March 1956 and deregistered the following April 30.


The pictured chase plane was a factory fresh L-19A Bird Dog. Built under an USAF contract, it was handed over to the US Army after acceptance. In the 1960s it was converted to a Model 305D O-1G and used for Forward Air Control (FAC) operations. It was withdrawn from the US Army service on April 15, 1971, three months later, July 12, 1971, it was transferred to the South Vietnam AF. Its fate is unknown"