Helio Stallion
The HST -550 Stallion (German stallion ) was a STOL aircraft the company Helio Aircraft Corporation was approved as HST- 550A Stallion in the 1960s. The military version of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) has been referred to as AU -24A Stallion and was a mini- protecting the aircraft. Today it is as Helio Stallion back into production.
Helio Stallion
In 1994, an older copy, purchased a HST- 550A to equip it as a reference model for the modernization together with another, and to use as a new prototype. This Stallion received a new interior, modern flight instruments (glass cockpit). It is now also available with a three-point landing gear instead of the spur.
AU -24A Stallion
As a counter-model to Fairchild AU -23A Peacemaker under the " Credible Case " Program of the U.S. Air Force, the AU -24A Stallion was an evolution of civil Stallion model Helio H- 550A Stallion. This was a light equipment transporter with excellent short take-off and landing capabilities. Certification was issued in 1965 as HST- 550 and the end of 1971 were 15 such planes commissioned. Objective of the program was to use an easy-to -use southerners involved in the Vietnam war and equip serviceable, particularly small attack aircraft.
For their military task the stallion was provided with five external load stations ( two under each wing and one under the fuselage ), as well as a device for a -firing to the side, dreiläufiges 20 -mm cannon with ammunition container in the cabin as well as a night vision device TVS -5. The evaluation and review was started in April 1972 and completed despite repeated shifting in May of the same year.
As the AU -23A as well as the AU -24A was said that she had only low skills and would not survive long. Therefore, all 15 aircraft were initially placed in storage after the test phase on the Davis - Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona under the open sky. Nevertheless, eventually 14 aircraft were delivered to the Cambodian Air Force.