All Fireflies are fitted with an American Engine, it's called a Lycoming, you may have heard of it.
Almost all the American accidents happened at an airfield with a ground elevation of 8000ft, in hot conditions, with military instructors who were very unused to piston-prop aircraft. The problems were largely with engine failures and spin recoveries.
The USAF operated another training base, with the same type, at about 2000 ft amsl in temperate conditions, with mainly civilian instructors (who inevitably were used to propeller aircraft). The serious accident rate was no different to most other training stations.
Go figure.
G
[This message has been edited by Genghis the Engineer (edited 16 February 2001).]