User:Cmasem/Summit Aviation

Summit Aviation is an airport developed from Baker Field near Middletown Delaware. Richard duPont purchased the property and developed a charter operation and flight school. The airport, funded by duPont developed avionics and armament installations for the Cessna 337. Cessna modified the design for military use in Vietnam, and duPont proved to Cessna (Summit was a Cessna dealership) that a renewed market for the Cessna 337 military variant could be marketed to the military dictatorships in Central America. The O2 developed for the Vietnamese theater had a strengthened wing spar to support two pylons on each wing. These pylons could be used to mount gatling style mini guns, flares, or rocket launchers.

DuPont's property holdings in Cap Haitien, provided the initial contact with the Haitian Air Force when he was approached by the Haitian military to ferry a DC-3 to Piedmont Aviation in North Carolina. The DC-3 was repaired and returned to the Haitian government for internal commercial passenger service. This led to contacts with the Haitian military (Colonel Denache) operating out of Bowen Field outside Port au Prince.

O-2's were delivered to Haiti around 1975 along with personnel to maintain them and train Haitian Air Force officers and cadets.