OV-10D+ 155418 5 Blade First Engine Runs 

I was an OV-10 Crew Chief at Sembach 78-81. Got to ride a few times. Fantastic platform!

We likely met on the flightline from time to time. . . . BTW, did you guys have the same experience as us pilots during the quarterly war exercises during football season? We'd all be in early enough on Tuesday mornings to listen to the Monday Night Football games live on the radio. @@storm-aircorporation6540

OK, maybe because it's because I am 70 but when it's a first time, I am NOT going to be video taping standing sideways next to the propeller or leaning into the cockpit right next to the propellers. Anything can happen. But then again, that's just me. Now I know a lot of you are going to tell me it is totally safe. Safe to me is taking precautions. I just don't see that in this video.

​@@trvman1I was also quite anxious. Now at 75, I find this response more frequently.

Not military but grew up with a charter pilot dad and paper charts…I remember flying low enough to read interstate signs as a navigation aid.

One of my favourite aircraft!

You should come to California, Calfire has a bunch of them flying all over the place. I see three or four each week. 👍

It’s the right type of aircraft for its mission……affordable, rugged, lots of uses, etc,

Back in.... 2012 I think it was I saw one flying around here in NC. Had read a few weeks before that the military was bringing them back to handle something in some conflict in the east or something if my memory is hitting on all 16 cylinders.

I live in CA near a CalFire airbase. I see them all the time! Just a cool fabulous plane.

Definately a warry beast!

I’d take a ride in a Mosquito with original supercharged Merlin engines first…..but this Bronco would be my choice for “down in the weeds” through some mountain passes.

Room for about FIVE passengers, as long as you don't like them all that much - VMO-2 AO.

I agree. What a bush plane! You could carry all the camping gear you could imagine in and out of just about anywhere on the globe.

VMO-2 Avionics

I handled the OV10 often while running the transient flight line at NAS Meridian MS. Was there from 1978-81

Garbage. They were still flying 0-2 Cessnas in '69, Broncos were just starting to be deployed in very limited numbers.

So why couldn’t he have been in one those newly deployed aircraft

This site recounts the battle that took place at f.o.b. Dau Tieng in 2/69. Go to the bottom of the account and you will see a picture of a destroyed OV-10. I arrived in 4/69. By that time the destroyed aircraft had been replaced, but as you can see, they were definitely there in 1969.

I went back to Nam to fly my second tour,Army Air Cav up on the dmz,(Quang Tri) in april of 1971( I think it was april, mabe sooner, and even a bit later). The AF was on the west side of the active, and us Army helicopter types were on the east side. When it was time for the AF CO of that Bronco unit was to deros, he took up the new CO up in his Bronco I believe to show him his area of responsibility. When he was on a long final and for whatever reason he decided to do a loop. He didn't have the altitude to successfully do the complet loop, and flew it nose first killing both. I was out in the AO by the Laos border doing my scout thing when it happened so I didn't see it until later in the evening.The bodies were recovered right away and was taken to the 18th evac.

@@toomanyhobbies2011 Foot in mouth disease

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@@thisisbroncocountry Trash haulers you say.. I jumped out of many of them in the 80's

Got to Hurlburt / Aux field 9 in 82. Worked autopilot, on of the last MC-130Es still wore the jungle camo pattern. Favorite assignment technician wise.

Did the engines have hydraulic pumps?

@@mgomez5606 unusual question. I don't recall exactly, been almost 45 years, as I only worked on them for a couple months right out of tech school. No specific training in tech school. The landing gear was hydraulically operated but the pumps could have been installed either on the engines or been separately operated by an electric motor powered pump. If I recall the flight controls were cable operated. Not sure about the flaps but they might have been hydraulic also.

Went to Vegas in I think 1984 for Red Flag with the 549th/ OV-10 AMU out of Patrick. Had a great time. They put us in a hotel on the old strip.

Direct coupled Garrett turboshafts

With the new MT propellers, which are composite and much lighter, the engine spools up quite a bit faster than the rest of our fleet, which uses the Hartzell 4 blad aluminum props

I noticed that too.

Quite easy to build though. I think the hardest part was putting the ball bearings in when putting a blade in the housing. If you didn’t get that plastic holder just right, the next thing you heard was the ball bearings bouncing through the housing and a whole lot of cursing!

@@jamesgregg5663 Especially difficult on the E2C barrel since it's a one piece affair.

Used get within 6 inches from the prop to adjust the torque compensator. That was hairy. Originally they gave us a harness that hooked to the tie down ring on the landing gear. On one side you could get pretty close to the prop but on the other side you had to take off the harness to get to the torque compensator. And of course we also ditched the harness to make a quick adjustment. They finally got run screens that were pinned to the engine.

The original Idea was thaught up by 2 Marine officers Major KP Rice and Major Bill Beckett had those very ideas in mind when they drew the up the idea on a napkin.

Got a case of Coors from a couple Marines hauling 10 back before it was legal East of the Mississippi in exchange for a fast turnaround!

Had to fuel tanks in the proper sequence!

Check out Blue Air Training channel, They shoot M240s, drop BDU's and shoot rockets.

19th AMU 85-86.

I agree!

CalFire has been flying Broncos for over 25 years. The Turn mech running the engines is a Retired Calfire mech and Retire Marine with over 30 yeas of OV-10 experience.

Blue Air Training operated one out of North Las Vegas.

Me too! Patrick 81-84 Osan 85-86.

Was at Patrick 81-84. Where were you stationed?

@@jamesgregg5663 Yokota AB, Japan...79-82

Loved Yokota! Was there 91-94.

Unless you're a rampie and you're deafened by them.

@@dieselyeti Well there is that.

Thank you, I was just wondering about those mills. I’m used to seeing PT6 variants, so those are very interesting engines.

Technically these engine are the military variant of the 331. They are T76-G-420/421's and rated at 1040 SHP.

​@dieselyeti Yes, it can be loud in the cockpit. But with modern technology, we use Bose noise canceling helmets/headsets.

New prop is maintenance free.

I like to watch it go into a climb then three would slide out and chuts would open.

Must have been fun!

Gear box has no issues, Reverse is controlled from the propeller, the gearbox never changes direction and is a constant speed.

Melvin sure is a lucky guy. Got to work on them in the Corp and now here. Hell I would come out of retirement to work them again. You wouldn’t even need to pay me (100% SC).

Google Combat Dragon 2.

We have 3 former VMO-2 mechanics on this project, and all of us have deployed to MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA. Loved Oki

We agree!

You can soon on MSFS as the AzurePoly OV-10 should be released in a short while.

All OV-10 operate the same way.

It's highly probable that this aircraft made many such drops with Recon, ANGLICO, and Navy Seals.

@@thisisbroncocountry It’s a weird hump sliding out, I heard after I got out someone died jumping one in the early eighties

Thanks for the sub!

He would have a really bad day, these folks know exactly where they are and where the bad stuff is. When they fall they reactively fall a certain way. Is it fool proof ? Nope but that comes with the job of working on planes

@@ivoryjohnson4662 I don’t buy that. This is straight up irresponsible

@@MrStevenduro you should see what they do on carriers, night time even more fun

@@ivoryjohnson4662 the military would be following protocol . Not practicing reckless behavior

We are following all safety guidelines. BTW it looks closer than it really is. Plus, with the front canopy windows removed that added another place to hold on to. And at no time, we're the engines running at high power, so not a lot of thrust being produced.

Actually after they retired the OV-10s in Korea, they made the A-10 squadron OA-10s to pick up the mission.

@@jamesgregg5663 nice little bit of history, thanks!

Plenty safe. We are very experienced. We also do runs with a mech just behind the prop making adjustments.

What is it with the number 10 and slow ground support aircraft?

Yes we work with CalFire.

@@thisisbroncocountry nice

Depending on which service was operating them. They were often heavily armed. most of our airframes have significant combat history in Vietnam through Desert Storm (Iraq/Kuwait)

@@thisisbroncocountry Yeah, in VN the only role I saw them in was FO, and they fired smoke rockets to mark targets.

Yes indeed. Safety factor especially for take offs.

@@thisisbroncocountry>>> Rodger that...👍

I believe it was less than a year and was performed by CalFire. Our aircraft are not type certificated, Experimental.

@@thisisbroncocountry - thank you. experimental gives you some leeway.

It's the preferred way to tow.

Thanks for the visit

This method has been done for over 50 years with no accidents or injuries. We assure you we are working very safely.

They are the engine exhaust outlets.

That is the exhaust stack. But this is the low IR exhaust, which has a large opening for cool air to flow over exhaust to cool it down.

Yes, the one forward corner glass is not installed to help with the setup of engine instruments.

We don't know just yet. We did get some starting performance back due to the much lighter weight of the MT Propeller.

Come see this Bronco in the near future at an Airshow. TBD. One of our other Broncos currently Flys special support missions for SpaceX.

As reality demonstrated, one small computer hiccup and the osprey will go down.

Exhaust noise and IR suppression.

As maintainers we are very aware of risks and take precautions. This isnt the real scary stuff. We also make engine adjustment just behind the propeller with engines running. We are highly trained mechs with over 70+ years of combined OV-10 experience.

Those are low IR exhaust stacks. Used to bring cool air in to reduce IR signature, to counter heat seeking misses. A new modern exhaust stack is coming soon. The engines are Garrett AiResearch T76-G-420 aka Honeywell TPE33 turboprops, making 1040 SHP each.