The Douglas O-2 was a 1920s American observation aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company , powered by the Liberty engine of WW1 fame, with some later variants using other engines. It was developed into several versions, with 879 being produced in total. It was used in combat by the Chinese Air Force in the 1930s and also was the basis for a successful mailplane version.
19-481: (Redirected from O-8 ) O8 or O-8 may refer to: Douglas O-8 , an airplane Oasis Hong Kong Airlines , a defunct Hong Kong airline Octaoxygen (O 8 ) an allotrope of oxygen Omaha/8 , a poker variant Siam Air , a defunct Thai airline USS O-8 (SS-69) , a O-class submarine of the United States Navy O-8, a pay grade of
38-721: A follow-on derivative of the O-25 variant, an O-38 . Starting in 1926, a mailplane version of the O-2 called the M-2 entered service with Western replacing the DH-4 . The plane was successful in the route, resulting in further development of the mailplane version of the O-2. (see Douglas mailplanes ) Douglas O-2M variants were deployed by the Chinese Air Force 's 6th, 7th, and 8th Bomber-Attack and Scouting-Attack Groups in combat against
57-947: The Chinese Red Army during the encirclement campaigns of the Chinese Civil War and later against the Imperial Japanese forces during the early years of the War of Resistance-World War II . O-2Ms (sometimes mislabeled as Douglas O-38 s ) were heavily deployed in the Battle of Shanghai , the Battle of Nanjing , and the Battle of Taiyuan . As their slow speed made the O-2Ms vulnerable to fast Japanese fighters, they either flew clandestine night missions solo or day missions escorted by Hawk IIs or Hawk IIIs . Japanese ace fighter pilot Akio Matsuba , flying an A2N from
76-651: The National Air and Space Museum building, the Center required 15 years of preparation and was built by Hensel Phelps Construction Co. The exhibition areas comprise two large hangars , the 293,707-square-foot (27,286.3 m ) Boeing Aviation Hangar and the 53,067-square-foot (4,930.1 m ) James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. The Donald D. Engen Observation Tower provides a view of landing operations at adjacent Washington Dulles International Airport . The museum also contains an IMAX theater. A taxiway connects
95-609: The Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Silver Hill , Maryland . A substantial addition to the center encompassing restoration, conservation and collection-storage facilities was completed in 2010. Restoration facilities and museum archives were moved from the museum's Garber facility to the new sections of the Udvar-Hazy Center. Designed by Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum , who also designed
114-809: The Udvar-Hazy Center , is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia . It holds numerous exhibits, including the Space Shuttle Discovery , the Enola Gay , and the Boeing 367-80 , the main prototype for the popular Boeing 707 airliner. The 760,000-square-foot (71,000 m ; 17-acre; 7.1 ha) facility
133-573: The US Army, plus one civil O-2BS modified specially for James McKee , who made a remarkable trans-Canada flight in September 1926. In 1927, the O-2BS was adapted as a three-seater with a radial engine. The O-2Hs were an entirely new design but continued the same basic model number. Major differences were heavily staggered wings, a more compact engine installation, and clean landing gear secured to
152-595: The aircraft carrier Kaga in his first aerial combat engagement, claimed his first (shared) victory over an O-2M while providing air cover for Japanese troop landings in Shanghai on the third day during the airwar of the War of Resistance/WWII, 16 August 1937. Data from McDonnell Douglas aircraft since 1920 : Volume I General characteristics Performance Armament Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center , also called
171-587: The collections center was approved in December 2016. The addition will be made up of three additional storage modules on the south side of the building. The center was opened on December 15, 2003. The Udvar-Hazy Center displays historic aviation and space artifacts, especially items too large for the National Air and Space Museum's building on the National Mall , including: The museum is still in
190-482: The first of which was powered by the 420 hp (313 kW) Liberty V-1650-1 V-engine and test-flown in the autumn of 1924. The second XO-2 was powered by the 510 hp (380 kW) Packard 1A-1500 Vee engine, which proved unreliable. The US Army ordered 45 O-2 production aircraft in 1925, which retained the XO-2's welded steel tube fuselage, wooden wings, and overall fabric covering. It introduced aluminum panels on
209-554: The forward fuselage. The XO-2 had been flown with short and long-span wings, the latter giving improved handling and therefore being specified for the production aircraft. The fixed tailskid landing gear included a main unit of the divided type, the horizontal tail surface was strut-braced, and the engine was cooled by a tunnel radiator . The O-2 proved to be a conventional but very reliable biplane , which soon attracted orders for 25 more aircraft: 18 O-2A machines equipped for night flying and six O-2B dual-control command aircraft for
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#1732772318230228-449: The fuselage. Douglas produced 879 of all variants, with 770 going to the U.S. military. Up to 2011, no O-2s had been known to exist. However, in 2011, the wreckage of O-2H 29-163 that crashed out of Kelly Field, Texas, on March 16, 1933 has been positively identified. The rear and central/forward portion of the fuselage behind the firewall, wing attachments and landing gear parts, tailplane, and many engine parts, as well as eight of
247-520: The impact. His body was recovered, but the wreckage was abandoned due to the airframe and engine both being a write-off. There is an M-2 on display at the Udvar-Hazy museum ; the aircraft was used as a mail plane in the late 1920s before it crashed in January 1930, eventually being used as display aircraft since 1940. The only similar aircraft known to exist is a restored Douglas M-2 mailplane and
266-469: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=O8&oldid=1235490502 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Douglas O-8 The important family of Douglas observation aircraft sprang from two XO-2 prototypes,
285-644: The museum to the airport. An expansion of the Udvar-Hazy Center is dedicated to the behind-the-scenes care of the Smithsonian's collection of aircraft, spacecraft, related artifacts and archival materials. On December 2, 2008, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center received a gift of $ 6 million for phase two from Airbus Americas Inc. — the largest corporate gift to the Smithsonian Institution in 2008. The wing includes: A further expansion of
304-616: The process of installing exhibits, and 169 aircraft and 152 large space artifacts were on display as of May 2012; plans called for the eventual installation of over 200 aircraft. The current list is maintained at the Objects On Display page of the Smithsonian Institution NASM Collections site. A number of events are held at the museum throughout the year. These include lectures, book signings, sleepovers, and events for children. Some of
323-404: The twelve pistons, have now been recovered. Research is continuing on this aircraft. It is known it was flown by Aviation Cadet Charles D. Rogers on a night recon advanced training mission. Apparently flying low, the aircraft hit a hill and burned after the crash, leaving only the found wreckage today. Weather was not considered a contributing factor. Cadet Rogers was instantly killed in the crash by
342-570: The uniformed services of the United States HMS H6 , also known in the Royal Netherlands Navy as HNLMS O 8 See also [ edit ] 08 (disambiguation) 8O (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as a letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
361-715: Was made possible by a $ 65 million donation in October 1999 to the Smithsonian Institution by Steven F. Udvar-Házy , an immigrant from Hungary and co-founder of the International Lease Finance Corporation , an aircraft leasing corporation. The main NASM building, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., had always contained more artifacts than could be displayed, and most of the collection had been stored, unavailable to visitors, at
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