The Cessna 308 was a prototype military light transport aircraft based on the successful

O-1 Bird Dog The Cessna O-1 Bird Dog is a Liaison aircraft, liaison and observation aircraft that first flew on December 14, 1949, and entered service in 1950 as the L-19 in the Korean War. It went to serve in many branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, was no ...

(Cessna 305) observation aircraft. Only one aircraft was completed, and the project did not proceed further due to a lack of orders.

Development

The Cessna 308 was conceived as an enlarged model 305 that would carry four people for the military light transport role and was developed in response to a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

requirement. The resulting design was first flown in July 1951. While the aircraft was based on the model 305, it incorporated a four-place cabin similar to the then current production

Cessna 170 The Cessna 170 is an American single-engine, four seat, general aviation aircraft produced by the Cessna Aircraft Company between 1948 and 1956. It is the predecessor of the Cessna 172, the most produced aircraft in history, which repla ...

. The prototype was powered by a

Lycoming GSO-580 The Lycoming GSO-580 is a family of eight-cylinder horizontally opposed, supercharged, carburetor-equipped aircraft engines for both airplanes and helicopters, manufactured by Lycoming Engines in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The family incl ...

geared, supercharged, eight-cylinder engine, producing . The prototype featured a wingspan,

taildragger Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

landing gear and a gross take-off weight. In trials the 308 proved capable of operating from rough fields carrying a payload, with a range of . The US Army chose the

de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined high-wing Propeller (aircraft), propeller-driven STOL, short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft developed and manufactured by de Havilland Canada. It has been primarily operated as a b ...

for the intended light transport role putting it into service as the L-20A. As a result, development of the Cessna 308 was not continued beyond the completion of a single prototype.

Specifications (Cessna 308 prototype)

References

External links

Cessna 308 photo
{{Cessna 1950s United States military utility aircraft

308 __NOTOC__ Year 308 ( CCCVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. It was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and (Galerius) Maximianus (or, less frequently, year 1061 ''Ab urbe condit ...

Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1951 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft