Conceived in a backyard by two Marine friends as a particular aircraft for counter-insurgency combat, the Bronco could carry up to three tons of ammunition, several high-caliber M60 machine guns, rockets, and even a gun pod to fight off its enemies.
The small twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft may not have looked like a seasoned fighter. Still, US Marine Corps observation squadrons, the Navy’s Black Ponies, and the Air Force Tactical Air Support Squadron all took advantage of its combat versatility during the Vietnam War.
And yet, the legendary OV-10 Broncos had plenty more to offer. Decades after the Vietnam War ended, the unwavering aircraft would get to see more destructive action against the relentless Middle East...
VIDEO HERE (9:55 minutes)
They're still flying as spotter/air attack/lead planes by CalFire. Their contractor Amentum DynCorp just completely rebuilt another one which brings the total of OV-10 Broncos in their fleet to 16.
ReplyDeleteThey fly over my house near Grass Valley during fire season. It's easy to tell whether they're going to or coming from a fire. Their sound at full throttle is pretty unmistakable. They're an awesome machine.
Sounds like the beginning of the A10 warthog ..
ReplyDeleteWhen the USAF went looking for another light attack craft and observation craft, Northrup stepped up to the plate with an updated OV-10X. Lighter, stronger, better armed, faster, and cheaper than the Super Tucano that eventually got selected. But the powers-that-be wanted a single engine and a P-51 looking type of aircraft. Fuckers.
ReplyDeleteUsed to love watching the Broncos fly out of Patrick Air Force Base. Damn things were fast and nimble, with an incredibly short take off and landing length.
Stupid USAF.
When were you at PAFB? We were there at 68 to 71, and moved back in 73 after my dad retired. He still lives in IHB
DeleteWorked on exactly 2 of them. They landed at HAAF (not concurrently) coming/going from 'somewhere'. Walk out on the flightline, and nestled between the OV's and RV's is something uglier than either one of the. Wasn't much we could do on them, but we did what we were told to do and they were gone the next morning.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time I was working on a project at Avon Park Bombing Range in Florida while they were conducting live fire strafing exercises with F-16 with a Bronco orbiting as spotter. They had this old panel truck out in the middle of the range and the -16's would come screaming in over the tree tops, pop up, do a half roll (I think they were spotting the target through the top of the canopy) then complete the roll, fire a short burst, then level out and disappear over the trees. When they were all done the Bronco went diving in and dropped a bomb on the target. They use live ordance at Avon Park! It was wild.
ReplyDeleteI can't get past the "high caliber M60 machine guns". 7.62 is high caliber now?
ReplyDeleteOne little problem. At gross weight and low airspeed like right after take off, if you lost an engine she would roll over faster than a 2 dollar hooker at Fleet Week. Just no time to react. A lot of torque and no wing.
ReplyDeleteHad a friend back in the late 60's working at Hurlburt Field installing ejection seats on OV 10's for the Air Force....told me he saw one guy lose his head when one of the seats ejected unintentionally....all in all, one great plane, simple and cheap, two words the defense industry hates....
ReplyDelete"high caliber"? You're scaring me.......
ReplyDeleteThe OV10 was a neat plane. Too vulnerable to MANPADS in Desert Storm, they went away. It operates in a really tough envelope and does not have the armor to survive in anything other than mild COIN. An old instructor of mine was a USMC OV10 pilot... took a VC head off with a 2.75 unguided rocket... while the VC was running. It was documented in a mil history book, which he let all his students read. Cool guy, true story.
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