OV-10 Bronco

traumachicken

Well-Known Member
Read recently that they might bring this beautiful piece of nuts and bolts back to serve as a light attack aircraft. Anyone else hear this? If so that might be my first choice if I make it that far.



OV-10_Bronco_firing_White_phosphorus.jpg
 
Read a story written by a FAC pilot in vietnam, these can take a beating. His left engine one shot to hell, and he a took 20 mm round though the instrument pannel and made it home. Its no A-10 but I like it.

I was thinking if they could put a mini gun on the nose, it could do damage.
 
Get in line and it's possible but it will be FAST FAC types only.

You want to fly it too :) lol. I trust North American, though that may pose a problem since last i checked they were closed.

If thats my top pick, granted i make it through flight school, i dont think I would have a problem.
 
I have to pass my CFI initial next week. I have been working with an officer recruiter, but have started the wheels turning till i get my degree. I keep getting set backs due to weather, maitenance, foreign students renting the plane for weeks on end. The officer recruiter doesnt think i should have any problems, but I wont know til i start. I want active duty, but i will take ANG, or Reserve.
 
You want to fly it too :) lol. I trust North American, though that may pose a problem since last i checked they were closed.

If thats my top pick, granted i make it through flight school, i dont think I would have a problem.

Ahh, hell yeah!!! Would love to fly it. One of the Navy's most legendary squadron's flew the OV-10 in Vietnam, VAL-4 the "Black Pony's". Here is their website and story

http://www.blackpony.org/

Another Grumman bird that though not on the same level would have been awesome to fly was the OV-1 Mohawk. It does have a Mig-17 kill from Vietnam, an Army bird shot it down. However, it was never made official for many reasons but the kill has been confirmed. So the Navy's two A-1 Skyraider Mig-17 kills were not the only prop killing jet kills.
 
Thanks for the website. I honestly never knew the navy flew them. Haha A-1, A-6, and broncos, if god gave me a chance to fly one of those I would die happy. The mohawk is interesting, and i feel alot of people dont even know what it is. Have you ever looked at one closely? The engines stick out at angles away from the cockpit. I always wondered why that was.

I live near the Virginia Aviation Museum in Pungo. I was talking to the guy that owns it, he said if got checked out in a sky raider i could fly his. If only i had an extra 8,000 lying around.
 
It's a long, long, long, LONG shot that the OV-10 will ever be back in service.

Don't plan on flying one for the military.
 
It's a long, long, long, LONG shot that the OV-10 will ever be back in service.

Don't plan on flying one for the military.

Agree.

The AF never sent their OV-10As to Desert Storm in '90, even though the 27th TASS was still flying them at George AFB, CA; deeming them unsurvivable in the IADS the Iraqis had. Instead, OA-10s from the 23rd TASS out of DMAFB were sent instead.

The USMC sent VMO-1 and VMO-2 with its OV-10As and Ds to Desert Storm, and lost two to As to shoulder-launched SAMs. Interestingly, the USMC armed their OV-10s with an AIM-9L Sidewinder for air-air defense, in addition to rockets, guns and flares for the FAC mission.

When I first went into the A-10, one of my IPs was a former OV-10 guy who had a dream assignment: flying them with the 22nd TASS out of Wheeler AFB, Hawaii. Was a hidden gem of a flying club there according to him. :)

The OV-1 Mohawk, we used to have them in US Customs Air Operations, with many based down at Libby AAF/Fort Huachuca in AZ, as interceptor and enforcement aircraft. Neat birds. In fact, in my branch office, we still have a picture of one of our planes destroyed in a landing accident at a dirt strip in the middle of nowhere AZ. They'd been trailing a drug hauling twin, and it landed at the strip. The surveillance aircraft overhead didn't accurately relay the position on the runway that the drug plane had stopped when it was offloading, and the landing OV-1 Mohawk that was setting down to make the drug bust couldn't stop in time before ramming through the drug plane. Pictures of the event still in the office.
 
Well, I know the miliary was looking at the Beech, or the NA to serve as a light attack aircraft. Last I heard Beech lost soooo..........
 
Well, I know the miliary was looking at the Beech, or the NA to serve as a light attack aircraft. Last I heard Beech lost soooo..........

No decisions have been made at all, but the 'finalists' are generally considered to be the AT-6B and the A-29.

The funny part is, there's not even a single official program that is doing this evaluation. The Navy has had their experimental Pentagon program, and the AF has had theirs, but none of the actual intent-to-choose has happened yet. It's still all very much in the concept/design/evaluation phase. IMHO we'll be long gone from Iraq and leaving Afghanistan before anything substantial happens.

Bottom line: don't get your hopes up. Even when/if they do field it, the line to get in the door will be long, filled with guys that have plenty of CAS/COIN/ISR combat experience over the last 10 years 'over there'.
 
Unless the military chooses the AT-802U from Air Tractor then I will not be interested. It is about time the military gets some taildraggers back. If you compare the price/capability of the Beech product vs the Air Tractor, I wonder how it would turn out.
 
Well, you'd need a special squadron of JC-Taildragger fanatics, I'd think. A slingshot could bring that thing down. Maybe with a couple of sake-bombs and a nice "rising sun" headband...
 
they are working for CDF...

Wow, this thread is about them being in current military service? I jumped to the conclusion that he was talking about the CDF because the thought of it still being active or possibly being active again didn't even enter my mind. S.A. INOP.
 
No decisions have been made at all, but the 'finalists' are generally considered to be the AT-6B and the A-29.

The funny part is, there's not even a single official program that is doing this evaluation. The Navy has had their experimental Pentagon program, and the AF has had theirs, but none of the actual intent-to-choose has happened yet. It's still all very much in the concept/design/evaluation phase. IMHO we'll be long gone from Iraq and leaving Afghanistan before anything substantial happens.

Bottom line: don't get your hopes up. Even when/if they do field it, the line to get in the door will be long, filled with guys that have plenty of CAS/COIN/ISR combat experience over the last 10 years 'over there'.

Hacker,

Which, or what, procurement programs do these fall under? I'd be interested in learning more about both the Navy's and the Air Force's programs and where they are in the process.
 
Back
Top