OV-10 Bronco: Filling the Crucial Void 

I'm not sure it's clear here, but "China Lake" is a U.S. Navy facility in Califonia's Mojave Desert. It's used to develop aviation weapons technology. Now known as Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD, pronounced like "Hawk'- WD"). Weapons such as the Sidewinder Air-to-Air missile and the Tomahawk land attack missile were developed at China Lake. And it's "Fack," never "Eff A See," at least in the U.S.

I have about 5000 hours in the front seat flying for the California Department of Forestry as a spotter. My airplane was a former Black Pony. I loved every day I went to work.

The OV-10 Bronco really is a brilliant design. One of my top favorite aircraft. Thanks for this video.

My father (deceased) was a naval special forces operator (NAG) 69-72ish in Vietnam before apparently moving into operations with Air America in Cambodia/Laos. I had a model of the OV-10 as a kid and he once told me he had flown in and jumped from modified versions of this aircraft in which they could stuff 2 or 3 guys with parachutes in the back. He said they would fly just high enough above the jungle to allow their chutes to open before crashing though the trees. The footage at 3:17 is the first confirmation I have ever found of such a thing occurring. Thanks so much

I spent a year (1970-71) flying the OV-10 as a FAC out of Thailand over Laos. Nice to see an article on my old ride. Pity you didn’t mention the out-country FAC role, high threat, long mission times (4.5-5.5 hours), no backseater and 4 radios to use almost constantly. Yeehah! Oh yeah, and grease pencil markings all over the canopy for strike control.

Dwayne's Aviation, this was a great episode, but it could have been even better! I Started out on the Bell UH-1C and moved onto the Bell 412SP. But I have a Friend who flew Broncos in Vietnam, and I don't mind telling you, I would LOVE getting my hands on one of those beauties! You should have covered the (super) strengths of the OV-10! The entire airplane was designed with extreme ease of maintenance, so that ground crew easily could service the plane under the most trying and primitive conditions without any specialist tools. They said if you could service a jeep, you had the tools to service a Bronco. The twin Honeywell T76-G-10/12 engines used in the various variants produced a sweet 715 shp each and were extremely light, rugged and easy to service and change. They were also MULTIFUEL and the crews said they could run on just about anything found in the field in a pinch. Car gasoline worked just fine with these engines. The landing gears were EXTREMELY rugged, and this beast of a machine with plenty of power could land and take off in a small clearing just about anywhere. This super rugged landing gear could give any carrier based plane a run for their money! The North American OV-10 Bronco was like a Swiss Army Knife. It could serve as a gun platform with a rear mounted, remotely operated gun, shooting sideways down on a target that the Bronco was circling. It was a brilliant rocket platform. And could carry all kinds of other ordnance. They could evacuate two patients on stretchers or 3-4 fully loaded paratroopers. The Bronco was way faster than a helicopter, but had a stall speed of about 40 knots! That meant that the pilot and co-pilot/controller/observer could "hang" over a target area an loiter for a very long time. Their ejection seats sat on armor plates, but their bubble canopy gave them an extremely good overview of the sky above and the ground below only obscured by the fuselage and wings and relatively small turboprops behind them. The Bronco was so successful that they even hauled it out of the moth balls when President Trump let slip the dogs of war to hunt down and finish off ISIS. The Phillipino Army fighting the islamic guerilla insurgency is NOT gonna give up the Bronco any time soon as far as I know. They still operate them, and which army would really be complete without these magnificent, versatile, robust, kick-ass flying swiss army knives that have loitered in the skies since October of 1969!? One for the grandest chapters of the Aviation History Books! The OV-10 Bronco is ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in my book!

‘A Lonely Kind of War’ is the best book about flying the OV-10 you’ll ever read. In fact, one of the best biographical combat avaition books ever.

*The Marine squadron VMO-2 actually flew 6 OV-10As in Desert storm* . 500 Flight hours, with 286 combat missions, even spotting for the USS Wisconsin battleship! Almost no one knows about this but because I worked with VMO-2 in Futema, in the early 70s, I kind of kept tabs on it.

I've read "A Lonely Kind of War", EXCELLENT book!

My dad was in the Air Force. We were stationed at Sembach AFB in West Germany between 75 and 79. I remember sitting in the OV10 as a kid. My dad was a aircraft mechanic.

Any video featuring OV-10s gets a like.

I had a college job working at the North American - Columbus, Ohio plant when the OV-10 project got started; never got to see one. Then I graduated and got commissioned as an Army lieutenant, spent a year along the Cambodian border, and thought about but never saw an OV-10 in country. But they started showing up after I left, I heard. Great comments from others!!

As A US MARINE I loved the BRONCO. The ability to use it's side mounted guns and carry all types of bombs and rockets was a great thing for Close Air Support. BUT my comment is about your intro. Your comment about the A4 was the only time I have heard someone actually get the A4's main design and purpose correct. That little bird sat very high and was made to carry two wing tanks and a Nuclear weapon on center line. The A4 was not supersonic but could clime from ground level to ten thousand feet quicker than the F4 Phantom, and release the weapon so that the bomb would travel up and away. Traveling at about six hundred MPH forward the bomb went one way and the Sky hawk went opposite way. Great background research !

My grandfather was with the 20th TASS, out of da Nang, from April-June 1972 when he was shot down. Great airplane. Thanks for the video!

I spent a full year in the 20th TASS out of DaNang Niv19770-71 We all loved the OV-10 and the O2. I worked FOLs from the Citiadal down to Pleiku. Some of the most fulfilling and scarry days of my 24 years maintaining and Training Maintainers in the USAF. COVE FAC FOREVER

Some OV10's were used in the Battle of Marawi.

I love this kite. A brilliant example of a design which met it’s specifications perfectly.

I thought for sure they would mention it's use as a vehicle for Marine Recon teams. I watched a Recon team coming dropping out the back of the plane in Okinawa in the late 70's and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Marvelous aircraft. They make great COIN platforms. A couple have been refurbished for used

Old white hair ... 85 ... ag driver retired years ago ... but kinda happy to see the OV10s again ... always thought they were perfect machines for the role.

I have about 30 backseat hours in the OV-10, flying out of Zaragoza AB, Spain from '79-82. The planes were from Sembach AB in Germany. We hit a turkey vulture on one flight that resulted in shutting down one engine and a somewhat tense ride back to ZAB, where we had quite a reception!

Fun fact, Broncos used small black plastic funnel relief tubes in the era before piddle packs. Unfortunately some aircrew chewed tobacco using the funnel as a spit cup. The next user for its intended purpose got a funnel of urine-soaked tobacco. The unfortunate crew chief had to tie a plastic ziplock bag over the funnel with a cotton screw bag so it would not blow off, then hit the overboard draft tube with compressed air to unclog the goo. K.P. Rice and the LARA program deserve a longer video. The Navy trying to kill it by overloading it with radios backfired because it was the best FAC in Southeast Asia and in USAFE during the Cold War where I was a 328X0 at Sembach (good times). We used to select Radio Moscow's HF freqs for obscene radio checks (the devil finds work for bored G.I.s). It was a breeze to maintain such that when two had a midair from the 704th our Sheet Metal troops made wooden blocks and manually hammered out replacement boom parts.

When I was a kid I thought the OV-10 was one of the coolest planes ever. After reading Da'nang Diary I still think it is.

Such an underrated aircraft. Excellent video. I hope I see more videos like this vindicating this practical approach to aircraft design.

Good video. I know virtually nothing about the broncos. But I grew up in Oceanside California, just outside Camp Pendleton. I remember seeing them flying around. I can still hear the sound of the engines.

The Bronco is a great little airplane, and the Military should re-evaluate this little plane. Its so much better then the new single engine ground attackers that are being developed to "Replace" the A-10.

I love the design of the bronco……

Brilliant. Low Tech Coin & support Aircraft, these are needed today! 🤔👍😃

Can see so much of the A10 in this. Amazing little machine. 🇺🇸❤️

I was stationed at VMO5 when we received the first Bronco. Awesome a/c. Easy to maintain.

I served with the USN's Light Attack Squadron 4 (VAL-4) aka the Black ponies flying out of VNAF Binh Thuy in 1971-72. We were the only US squadron to use the Bronco as an attack aircraft. A oft used loadout was 20 ZUNI FFAR's or quantities of 2.75 heavy FFAR's. We also deployed the CBU-55 barometric bombs though their sensitivity to atmospheric conditions made them unreliable. One of the high points was hosting two USMC ov-10A NOGs (Night Observation Gunship).

The Close Air Support mission wasn't just about low-and-slow attack planes; they had to include highly-detailed air charts and "graphics" to help the ground-pounders point out their targets to the CAS. That became my career, as a cartographer (map-maker) specializing in the Joint Operations Graphics that bridge the gap between air charts and ground-pounders' topo maps.

I used to watch the police optica soar over the south downs, lovely noise it made, it hummed. Back in the 80s. So pretty.

Supported the ammo needs in Osan AB Korea in the 80-83. Only plane to fly support against NK’s AN2 Colts. They tried to replace them with the OA37s later but went back to OV-10s before Suwon AB’s A-10s

In California, Cal Fire uses them for spotting air tanker fire suppression drops. If you're out hiking, you sometimes get to see an OV-10 make a low pass nearby, which is cool, but also kinda terrifying, because it means that there is a fire somewhere nearby.

I got to hang out with a few Marine Bronco squadrons. Those aircraft were retired far too soon, still with a lot of life on the airframe. I once saw one enter the break, Navy slang for 'enter the landing pattern' and do some wild aerobatics like a vertical '8' and land using the full STOL capability like it was nothing.

Love this aircraft...watched them fly in Vietnam with the Marine Corps. On time on target fire and CAS missions and long loiter times and they saved lots of Marine lives. Semper Fi...should have never done away with this aircraft.

I was in the Marines first gulf war. We were up very close to the boarder.. I remember hearing the little OV10 flying over the little buzz from engine, lights turn off. Alittle while later way high was the B52. Several minutes later the ground shaking with the bombing looked like sun was rising.

4/12/2024 @NorwayT called the Bronco a "Swiss Army Knife of the sky". What a great description. I believe that there will never be another aircraft capable of everything the Bronco could do. I have heard that someone has been working on an updated version. The Bronco 2? I was an AO assigned to VS-41 in 1968 when the first OV-10's was delivered to the Navy Airframe 155470 and 155472. which remained with VS-41when VAL-4 was deployed to Viet Nam. To this day the OV-10 is my favorite aircraft. 155472 now lives at the Navy Air Museum in Pensacola, Fla. Maybe, one day I might get to go and say hello to an aircraft that I ACTUALLY worked on. Oh well. ;-)

What a magnificent renaissance man of the air!!!! I need a flight of these in my SkyFleet!

2024 is coming and OV-10s still serves in the Philippine Air force

We 'launched' 4 OV-10's from LHA-2 Saipan, in Norway...

13:58 Nasa 524 used to be AF 67-14687. I was Crew Chief on this plane in 1977-78. It virtually never broke down. Easy job. Like a motor cycle compared to other airframes. I miss it.

Here in the Philippines the OV-10 Bronco was the premier bomber used by the Airforce in counter insurgency,even during the Marawi seige...

I've always been a fan of the Convair Charger. It was test flown a year before the OV-10; and arguably out-performed the Bronco. Only one was built and it was destroyed by a navy test pilot departing from approved test limits, attempting a single-engine go-around from low & slow. There are several RU-vids of it in flight.

A Canadian company, Icarus Aerospace is developing an aircraft based on the OV-10 Bronco design. Called Wasp TAV, it has modern avionics, glass cockpit like F-35, 11 hard points, can carry 8000lbs of ordnance and flies at 400mph which is pretty fast for a prop aircraft. I can’t wait to see this aircraft debut in a couple of years.

I’ve never seen a Bronco fly, but I have gaped at the Mohawk, which I assume to have similar performance. There were some OV-1s at a military museum just south of Kenosha off Interstate I-94 and one was transported to Kenosha airport and flown, by the airport administrator at the time, some 25-30 years ago. Oh man, that thing was a ROCKET! There were a bunch of warbirds there including a Mustang - I have little doubt the Mohawk would have chewed it up and spit it out. It must have been quite the combat experience flying one.

Such a pity Boeing didn’t continue with the OV-10X. With better engines, better tech to enable it to work from a longer distance from the frontline/enemy and standoff weapons would make this an incredibly versatile machine.. much better than Super Tucano due to twin engines and better visibility. Bronco is my favourite aircraft ever. So versatile!

I wait one. I had an rc model of this as a kid was one of the most awesome I ever had

The Grumman MoHawk OV-1, was also used, a bit Before the Bronco came into action. It was an 'un-armed' ARMY Fixed-Wing asset, but soon had Ground-crews bolting/strapping on whatever Weapons they could, DESPITE the AF's 'rules-of-war' playbook. That the Marines/Navy took this Bronco, a 'Tri-Service' plane, and made it a 'light/versatile' multi-role, had to have pissed-off the AF, as it CLEARLY SHOWED the AF's incompetence and Utter Lack-of-imagination in an Actually (not "simulated') War! Had the Bronco been 'up-scaled' by 30%, it could've been The Definitive Close-air-Support "All-A-rounder", an STOL , later-model, A/B-26 Invader for the next generation? Even Now, there's a Market for such a plane, in Many possible uses, from Air-Ambulance, to FAC, to sub-hunter, Anti-drone, or even Fire-Fighting using Chem-foam..

Good job. Jim Hodgson, Chairman, OV-10 Bronco Association, Inc. New book out now also.

I did a parachute jump out of one. For the Marine Corps Historical Society while in 2nd Recon Battalion in 1994. Had the camera man, myself and two other Marines in the very small area😅

Always loved the quirky, stumpy, do-it-all design of the Bronco (and I don’t mean the Ford version) 😁

Cal Fire loves them.

Thankfully, we have ours. Philippines.

The US needs new and updated production of these.

It's almost as if bureaucrats don't want their troops to survive, let alone 'win'. They indeed succeed brilliantly at that since Vietnam...

Great looking. Seemed like a good idea. It got shot down too many times to be useful.

With one lost. Crew captured.

I would love to get one.

This is just a real cool ac. It could fly as slow as 55 mph and remain airborne VAL- 4.

Some pilots who fought in jets in Korea . Had been as well in Vietnam. And the speed of the jets made not only fast low target in the jungle highlands dangerous. But the use of slower propeller aircraft made defending the down aircraft crew allowed time to try to escape as they rushed in to capture the pilots . One even landed after fighting off the waves of VC trying to capture the hurt pilot . And he scrambled out grabbed. The hurt pilot as an other prop air picked up the fight to bed off more VC trying to capture then and the aircraft who landed somehow in a high grass jungle. That then allowed both to be flown out being shot up so badly that they did not know how it could even fly . He was given three flying crosses for acts in Vietnam. He was out of Thailand to help quickly respond to target areas with smoke to allow jets clear targets often after being hit by enemy to allow them to be smoked for targeting . He was even in Panama on Howard Air Force base ready to again take a propeller aircraft to help a downed aircraft and allow time for helicopters rescue or just allow pilots and crew time to avoid being captured by very active forces trying to capture crews . Or mark hard to find strong holds for faster moving jets that make finding targets in Tripple canopy cover difficult at such fast speeds even with electronic detectors locating radio energy in areas difficult to get in and having Regiments or battalion firing weapons as well as Sam missile sites I am anti-aircraft weapons oh firing at the same time. This is something that most would have a difficult time doing one time . But spending a life time protecting his Americans in any service more important than ones own life . That if it was lost . Would more than anger him that he could not save more Americans that he had given all he could so others could live . Im sure he had many Angels that had made sure he had time after all he could do in the military to spend it with those who he had not been able to know by eyesight . But memory’s never stop good or bad and it’s the ones that demand honor of themself that can craw out of the hell they can ever stop having thoughts about and great friends who did not come back . That had been true friends for life . God bless our veterans and the families of our warriors who take care of our warriors every single day . They are our true national hero’s who we must never forget how much they gave to so many for freedom of future generations ❤😎🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸🙏

Only saw them from a distance in early 90s,

The Air Force should never have been separated from the Army.

What was the similar aircraft with a 2 seat side by side cockpit with twin Lycoming turbo prop engines.how did it compare to Bronco?

I remember VMO-4 out of NAS Atlanta

Not to denigrate the Bronco, but it seems the authors weren't aware that the A-1 existed. An amazing omission.

Some time ago you made a video called: "8 Most INASENLY Well Designed Planes" That guitar track you used on the part with the Pipistrel Panthera (3:17 - 6:13) is pretty nice. Unfortunately shazam can't help me on finding that one and in the video discription I can't find it's name either. Can you pls check it out for me and answer me!

The Bronco should be modernized and brought out of DM. Fantastic proven airframe. The Airforce is in the middle of purchasing Airtractors for the light attack/ISR role….an absurd choice when compared to a modernized OV-10

did OV10 use on LHA?

It would be amazing to see what our military could really accomplish without the constant roadblocks and stupidity put in the way by DC bureaucrats and politicians in uniform. This is one cool plane!

The OV-10 was an extremely well designed aircraft, which filled a role which was sorely needed. Unfortunately, someone in the high command did not like the aircraft, and it was never allowed to mature. Jet aircraft are extremely poor for close air support, even the A-10, which was built primarily as a tank killer. Rotary aircraft offer great potential, which has finally been realized, but early on the helicopter was not considered a weapon. I think that the OV-10 is probably the ideal small turboprop aircraft, as it offers superb pilot visibility, large payload, and rough runway tolerance.

If it's designed to dive bomb...then making it more maneuverable means compromising that approach. You can have armor, climbing speed, diving speed...or you can lighten up your design and make it more maneuverable....which directly compromises the dive bomb approach. The fact the dive bomb approach is the single most effective air combat technique means that almost everything else (including on the ground) is going to the wayside. We're dive bombing with missiles and GPS controlled artillery now, so highly maneuverable aircraft (instead of loaded down with armor and countermeasures and extremely fast) are now future Swiss cheese. This was barely not the case even as far back as World War 2.

No Bronco, but our Cessna 337 GDW and QTT were beautiful to fly and crew. Like a slightly chubby wife that does everything right. 👍🇨🇦

Why are you showing the short wing version of the OV 10? This model was never used as it was to unstable.

I wished you at least given us pictures of the other proposals, if there are any at least

Now do the A1 SKYRAIDER! A MAN’s ground support aircraft!

Re, jets: you forgot to mention high fuel consumption with consequent adverse impact on loiter endurance.

it would have been interesting if there had been a real chance for the canadair CL-84, VTOL/STOL, with quite similar size to OV-10, but, as the USA works, the CL-84 was from Canada, so never stood a chance against the UH-1, even though it was a better gun platform, easier to train pilots on, less-complicated drive train...but every time, the USA has managed to "bury" Canadian aviation competition.

i wonder what was wrong with use a P38.

No comparison or even mention of the A-1 Skyraider. That's either serious bias or serious negligence.

You could easily replace ov-10 with the A-10 in this video.

Why nobody talking bronco YOD 10D NOGS gunship type 😅

They did not use tis in the Rhodesian AirForce. They used an identical one called a Lynx.

While in Fallon for training, I had the chance to fly in the OV-10 with a Marine aviator, my lieutenant who shall remain anonymous refused to allow me to fly with him, I found out later that said lieutenant took the ride I was furious.

Not a bad video, just incomplete. You mention often the USAF's use of this aircraft for the FAC role but you don't seem have a grasp on what that role is. The FAC was the unifying link between ground forces, air forces, artillery support and response forces. This is why they had to have 4 radios so they could control the air space over the battlefield. USAF FAC pilots had to be certified air controllers just like the guys who control the air space over air fields. But they have to set up controlled air space over the battle on the fly. They had to first make positive ID of both friendly and enemy forces, determine what ordinance was best from what was available, determine avenues of approach and departure to keep both the responding pilots and friendly ground forces safe and mark the targets with White Phosphorous rockets which produced a bright white smoke plume. The FAC mission made it possible for F-4's, A-4's and other fast jets to provide accurate close air support for ground forces. This mission was also performed by FAC pilots flying the Cessna O-2 for the USAF and the Army's OV-1 Mohawk and O-1 Bird Dogs. In the years since Viet Nam, the FAC mission for the USAF has been turned over to the OA-10, about the only jet that can fly slow enough and have the long loiter time necessary to perform the mission. The OA-10 is also noted for having the largest gun ever in an aircraft fulfilling the FAC role because it can't fly without the gun. I can just hear it now..."Roger Red Dog 6, I have a mission for you...BRRRRAAATTTTT...Oh, no, never mind."

That's why the OV-10 and A-10 are superior to the fast movers for CAS

It looks like a take off of the p-38

The A-4’S typical load out was a nuclear weapon? Pretty sure that is not accurate.

"The Airforce reluctance to provide Close air support Pushed the army to developed armed helicopters" AHHH USAF... Not wanting to do one of its jobs.

This airplane needs to be put back into service. Do some upgrades here and there and you have a mean ground support platform. The new single engine whatever airplane the Aur Force is looking at is a joke compaired to the proven OV-10. Just like the A-10 KEEP THESE SUCCESSFUL DESIGNS FIGHTER.

Sorry but they have not found any way to to replace thise aircraft they need to restart production of this aircraft. This and the a10 atr needed badly.

This is a prime example of why we need to get rid of the individual branches of the military. It’s become an us vs them.

THIS IS SOME THING THAT CAN HELP UKRAINE,O V10 CAN HELP UKRAINE A LOT.

A very loud, fussy little plane... some loved it, others hated it.

Yeah, like the Air Force as not been flying the A-10 or the AC-130 for close ground support for years. Forgot those??? Ask the ground troops in Desert Storm or Iraq, or Afghanistan.

"EFF AY SEE" ?? cmon.. just say "fack" like eeeeverybody else

Anyone remember back in the 1990s when ATF was ready to receive several Broncos fully loaded? Luckily, Republicans and some democrats stepped in and stopped what, surely, would have been a blood bath of American gun owners.

Very much a waist and would have still been of use in the long war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The very definition of a successful COIN aircraft. And we threw it away.

The Air Force politically didn't like the OV-10 showing up its big multimillion-dollar fighters costing less and flying slower than jets but delivering the ordinance better than the JOCKS in thrir big bad expensive jets! How humiliating little Bronco showing them up!