Two other good books about the OV-10s and O-2as are DaNang Diary and Naked in DaNang. Both about the 20TASS. I witnesses the incident the Naked in DaNang was about. All I can say is crazy pilots.
Nous avons un Bronco en état de vol en France au musée de l'aviation de Montélimar (sud de la France) près de chez moi, je le vois dans tous les airshows !
Amazing aircraft. I am happy some places are still using them for work. Like Cal-Fire (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection). They still use them as spotter aircraft, and making drop for the air tankers. They will fly in front and deploy smoke. They run several of them throughout the state.
One of the best flying aircraft and the giant glass cockpit offers visibility like no other combat aircraft, but that constant loud pitched buzzing noise of the engines would drive me crazy after about 20 minutes flying that thing! One USAF pilot said the helmet does nothing to block out the incredibly loud noise of the engines, so pilots have to jam ear plugs into their ears under the helmet to keep their sanity! LOL. This would be a devastating aircraft in the future with SILENT electric powered propulsion. Silent but deadly and the pilots would probably rejoice. High powered electric propulsion engines could also potentially increase the power by a great margin sparking a whole new possibility with this aircraft. Silent electric propulsion would also be a much better platform for what this aircraft is designed for which is forward air controlling or close air support. It would allow the plane to be virtually undetectable by sound alone and difficult for any troops on the ground to even hear while on missions although RADAR and other electronic countermeasures and other devices would almost certainly detect it unless outfitted with electronic jamming equipment which could easily be done. Just make the back seater an electronic warfare officer, weapons operator, communications officer, and co-pilot if needed. It would definitely take this aircraft to the next level although by the time they develop an electric propulsion system that would work, the aircraft would probably be obsolete anyway as drone aircraft would be far more advanced by that point. There are several companies at the moment around the world that are actively developing the future of flight including the big commercial and transport aircraft using electric powered propulsion. It will most certainly be the power of flight in the future. It's probably still 20 to 30 years away for the big commercial airliners in mass use but development is progressing at a very rapid rate and prototypes are expected in the next few years.
It's interesting watching this and thinking about the FACs that stooged about over Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, at relatively low level in these things while the Vietcong and NVA tried to perforate them. It's amazing that any survived.
The ten thumbs down are for ten people who had no contact with or never had the privilege of working on this incredible aircraft and quite frankly it sucks to be you
I was a jet engine mechanic in 68-69 at bien hoa, 19tass. Got to fly in ov-10a several times with a capt. Miller. We had planes all over the south. Had go to location on occasions on troubleshooting. Also sgt. Osterhout was the prop. mech. also went on another plane, when required engine replacement.
OV-10 Bronco is an American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It was developed in the 1960s as a special aircraft for counter-insurgency (COIN) combat, and one of its primary missions was as a forward air control (FAC) aircraft. It can carry up to 3,200 lb of external munitions, internal loads such as paratroopers or stretchers, and loiter for three or more hours.
Truly an impressive machine and with all its options they came up over the years this is what they need to give to the Afghan Air Force for the ground support not because it's outdated and irrelevant it's actually one of the best airplanes for closing air support A 10 warthog was modeled after this plane
Yes it's roll rate was quick..fight test aircraft..had 30 ft wing span..test pilots felt roll rate was to quick..and made the platform unstable..so production aircraft had 5 ft added on both wing tips to give it a more stable feel...wonderful plane..great asset to armed forces...indeed it was...!
Needs to learn to "synch" the props. Condition levers usually stay in T/O & land at low altitude maneuvering or aerobatics. Normal flight is used at altitude for cruise.
We are still flying this in the Philippine Air Force... Our A and C models were modified to M variant in the early 20s then now we are bringing them back to C. It looks 4 bladed broncos are slower the 3 bladed. The PAF lost 4 OV-10s after upgrading it to M, the four bladedBroncos has too many issues.
