Douglas O-38

what is it?

The Douglas O-38 is an observation airplane used by the United States Army Air Corps in the 1930s and early 1940s. Between 1931 and 1934, Douglas built 156 O-38s for the Air Corps, eight of which were O-38Fs. Some were still in service at the time of the Pearl Harbor Attack in 1941.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 engine · 12.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 241 km/htop speed
• size 2,021 kgmax take-off weight
• built 156made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🏎️Top speed is 1.9× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 12.2 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.

spec sheet

first flight

—

number built

156

role

observation plane

makers

Douglas

engines

1×

crew

2

length

9.5 m

wingspan

12.2 m

height

3.3 m

max take-off weight

2,021 kg

top speed

241 km/h

cruise speed

193 km/h

range

—

ceiling

5,791 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.