The Special Air Warfare Center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida is conducting tests of F-51D Mustang fighters specially modified for “counterinsurgency” (i.e., anti-guerrilla) operations by the Cavalier Aircraft Corporation of Sarasota, Florida. The F-51 is a general purpose piston-engined fighter aircraft which first saw action during W.W. 11. Its original manufacturer, North American Aviation, produced a total of 15,500 of the planes. After the Korean War the U.S. Department of Defense sold some of the Mustangs to the air forces of underdeveloped nations and put the rest in storage.
Now the U.S. Military Assistance Program is financing a program equipping the air-craft for the counterinsurgency role and then transferring them to Latin American armed services. Some of the first batches of counterinsurgency Mustangs will be going to Guatemala, the Dominican Republic d Bolivia. Cavalier Aircraft Corporation presently holds contracts for the conversion of twelve Mustangs — each with space for an observer-controller in addition to the pilot. Delivery rate is presently one per month, expandable to eight per month within six months.
The Cavalier version of the F-51D will have six internally mounted 50-cal. machine guns as well as wing mountings for high explosive bombs, napalm, and 5-inch air-to-ground rockets. Utilizing droppable wing-tip fuel tanks, the plane will be able to remain “on station” over a possible target area for up to five hours at a time.
For further details seer Aviation Week and Space Technology October 16, 1967
