Posted on 04/05/2015 7:53:29 PM PDT by Kartographer
The OV-10 Bronco was a flying and fighting do-all sport utility vehicle. It could loiter for hours, direct fire onto the enemy, pack paratroopers and cargo, or attack with its own weapons. Many think it was retired right when it could have become most useful and that it would have been the perfect light air support aircraft for Afghanistan and Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com ...
I had a good friend that flew them . He didn’t come back.
Recommend you check out Combat Dragon II:
http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/combat-dragon-ii-demonstrates-ov-10g-bronco-capabilities/
Jumpmaster plus 3-4. Mostly done for airshows where the aircraft would come in “fast” and low, pull straight up to the vertical and when it reached 1,300 feet - out you went. You were supposed to keep your legs extended straight out during takeoff so your boots wouldn’t scrape the runway when the pilot rotated the nose up for takeoff. Fun times.
The aircraft was underpowered and had poor single engine capability. It was hard to deploy to the fight since they didn’t have a tailhook. They could take off, but couldn’t land back on a carrier. When they went to Desert Storm one of the squadron’s flew from US to Canada to Greenland to Iceland to England, etc. It took awhile because of crew rest and aircraft maintenance issues.
Hey, I’ve flown that very version of the plane. As a test pilot at Pax River in the 1970s, one of my projects was the development testing of the OV-10 NOGS-Night Observation Gun Ship, with a FLIR and belly-mounted chain gun. The special mods worked pretty well, but with the added weight and drag, the beast turned into kind of a pig. In any down and dirty combat situation, I felt very vulnerable to ground fire of any kind. Night would mitigate the vulnerability a bit, but darkness offers its own challenges. I don’t think the Marines pursued the NOGS very long.
TC
North American has been gone a long time. Even before the Navy worked on an updated version.
Politics killed the deal in all probability.... Why carry on with a great airplane when you can establish a new and better boondoggle?
The tocano and the t-6 are better than an updated and upgraded OV-10? Somehow I doubt it.
North American built great airplanes. It is a shame to see it gone.
I was never in the Air Force. I’m White, why do you ask?
The video said 4 paratroopers or 5 grunts.
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