compression
Danny Glover was a very busy man in Bat 21. The Oscar Deuce (O2, a military version of the Cessna 337 which in Vietnam the pilots found that the rear engine was all the armor plate they had other than sitting on a flack jacket - It was later replaced by the OV-10) also carried a Forward Air Controller (FAC) in the right seat who observed the ground on that side and the two worked as a team in directing air traffic for ground strikes, also marking the target with the four white phosperous rockets carried on the wings.
Movies compress not only action but also actors. Danny Glover was not only the pilot of this low and slow aircraft, but also the observer, the radio controller and he marked targets with the Whiskey Pete rockets.
Then he takes off (alone again with nobody riding shotgun) as a Huey pilot and makes a pickup from a helicopter, even though he says to Hackman after they were shot down that the Air Force only let him fly the Oscar Deuce. While it's certainly possible to be qualified in both rotary and fixed wing aircraft, combat pilots don't just hop into whatever is available.
It was a thrill to see the Oscar Deuce in a film. I believe there is only one survivor of this type still flying at the air shows.
JB