bring back the SPADS while they're at it
Posted on 03/11/2016 4:08:46 AM PST by protest1
Two vintage planes used in the Vietnam War have been brought out of retirement to help US special forces in Iraq.
A pair of OV-10 Broncos completed 120 combat missions over the Middle East between May and September last year, it has been revealed.
The turbo-prop jet is thought to have carried out 134 sorties over 82 days in May, acting as cover for the soldiers fighting ISIS terrorists on the ground.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I love this I used to have a airfix model of the Bronco!
Why did we build the F-35, again?
Posted Yesterday
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3407574/posts
Lots of pics and vids
The Amazing OV-10 Bronco Was Never Allowed To Meet Its Full Potential
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-amazing-ov-10-bronco-was-never-allowed-to-meet-its-1695837367
Thanks for the links, I did a search but managed to miss that it was posted already. Still it is such a good story the Bronco back in service!
But they want to retire the A10. People at the Pentagon are idiots
The OV-10 Widow Maker was in use by the 501st MI BDE as late as 1989 in Korea when I left.
No one speaks much on how they use it. I would make a bet that they took out the 2nd seat and it’s used to haul 3,000 pounds of cargo. You could land on some short strip...off-load in ten minutes, and be airborne again. For resupply efforts in remote territory and you only have 1,000 ft, it makes perfect sense.
.....great choice
Well, that's a problem for the Pentagon. The plane is just too darn inexpensive! Where are the fat defense maintenance contracts!
bring back the SPADS while they're at it
Kaman HH-43 Husky with its counter rotating rotors was the original widow maker, IIRC.
What a silly rhetorical question.
? Is that like jumbo shrimp?
What about the A-1 "Spad"?
Aircraft also has a clamshell door in the back for offloading troops, supplies, etc.
Losing an engine on takeoff killed most Bronco pilots who died in them I'm told, hence the name.
My understanding was they needed more runway than you’d think.
There is considerable criticism of the plane by people that know a lot more than me about it. Mostly folks think it is under powered and when fully loaded uses a lot of runway. So it appears you are correct.
There was an earlier statement that it has a high heat signature, which you really don’t want for a slow-moving aircraft.
You can help the takeoff by using disposable rockets as they did in WW2.
“The turbo-prop jet”
The OV-10 is NOT a jet engine-powered aircraft.
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