With that, the Texas Air Force activates the 99th Observation Squadron in preparation for the first new light cruiser to commission in 1943. It is equipped with the Curtiss Seamew:
Selected only because it had folding wings and the older Seagulls were no longer in production, the Seamew was almost universally hated by everyone that flew it. The pilots disliked its instability when the observer's canopy was open, disrupting the airflow over the rudder, and despised the engine's tendency to overheat at low power. Observers from the Navy hated observing with the canopy shut...a no-win situation all around. The O-6A, as it was designated, was derisively called the "Sea-Poo" instead of Seamew.
Later in 1943, the Air Force will experiment with powerplants borrowed from older P-40C Warhawks with some success and call those variants the O-6B, but the bad reputation will last through the war and they are withdrawn from service in September 1945.
