a pair of Cessna Bird Dogs, the divorced couple

[Spey_Phantom]

Back History:

in 1957, the Belgian Army had a requirement for a new light observation plane and liaison aircraft. the aircraft had to be cheap to buy, cheap to operate, have good STOL capabilities and good handeling characteristics.
the types that were evaluated were the Fiesler Stork, Dornier Do27, Piper Cub and the Cessna 305C.

after deliberation, the Cessna O-1 was selected and an order for 26 aircraft was placed in october 1957 with the first 3 being delivered in february 1958. the army had 25 of them, equiping 2 airborne observation batalions at Braschaat, 1 aircraft was based at Brussels/Melsbroek as a short-haul VIP aircraft for the royal family.
the O-1 went to war for the first time in 1962, after the congolese independence, a civil war broke out in the politicly unstable region, the belgian army sent 4 O-1E's in Kamina to provide support to ground forces.

in 1988, 16 O-1E's were extensivly overhauled with modern radio equipment and 2 external hardpoints to carry light weapons under the wings. these were now  re-designated  to O-1BE's (with BE standing for Belgium). the O-1's saw action for the second time in 1991, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the Belgians sent 8 O-1BE's as observation and reccon planes to northern Iraq, to patrol the turkish/iraqi border. for emergencies, they were armed with light bombs or CRV-7 rocket pods with 4 rockets each. they encountered no iraqi resistance and went home after the end of hostilities.

in 2006, after Belgium splitted up, the O-1's seemed to be at the end of there career. a 2-way "divorce settlement" between Flanders and Wallonia stated that the remaining O-1's (8 frames with the lowest flying hours) would be devided equally between the 2 new countries.

the Flemish Air Command had no immediate use for the frames, but as a recruitment stunt, and to motivate youngsters to join the FAC, the Flemish Junior Flying Camp was set up, the FJFC inherited number of Ex-Belgian Air Cadtes Gliders, the 4 O-1BE's were then stripped of all there military hardware to lighten the aircraft and was re-engined with a Lycoming IO-540-AB1A5 engine. from then on, they were in use as glider towing aircraft. the O-1's, dispite there age, are still doing a good job, but plans are now being made to phase them out in 2010.

the Wallonian Air Force used they're 4 O-1's as elementary trainers, before sending students to fly the more advanced PC-9.
the Walloon aircraft are based at Beauvechain AB and will stay in service as trainers until the airframes are completly worn out.

The Models:

the models i will be using are 2 1/72 Hornfix Bird dogs, build straight from the box with custom decals
thought i get the new year started by tackleing 2 at the same time 
1 will be a Flemish version, the other a Walloon version