The Lockheed company developed a very quiet observation aircraft that was needed in the Vietnam war. Based on the Schweizer SGS-232 Glider, the first flight of the YO-3 was in 1969 and it had a Continental engine driving a slow turning propeller. It had a crew of 2 and also flew in Vietnam. But only some 11 YO-3A seem to be manufactured.

yo 3 profile


Lockheed YO-3 Quiet Star
This YO-3 coded 18006 was delivered June 1970 to the US Army. It flew in Vietnam through late 1971. Next, it transferred to Bell Helicopters for test purposes and later flew in civilian roles.

This rare aircraft was acquired in 1983 by the Pima Air and Space museum were it was seen in the museum in Tucson, Az.

Photographed 2017 by Cees Hendriks (c) , Copyright IPMS Nederland

  • YO-3A-Quietstar-1
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-10
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-11
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-12
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-13
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-14
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-15
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-17
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-2
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-3
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-4
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-5
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-6
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-7
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-8
  • YO-3A-Quietstar-9

Only one 1/72 scale model is known and that was released by Unicraft Models.

 

This walk around page was first published May 2018 by M. de Vreeze;   note the Copyright!