The OV-10 Bronco in Iraq

[LittleLebowski]

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/3519/those-old-ov-10-broncos-sent-to-fight-isis-were-laser-rocket-slinging-manhunters


The news that the Pentagon was sending a pair of refurbished and highly-upgraded Vietnam-era OV-10 Broncos to Iraq to take on ISIS raised a lot of eyebrows. It was a new twist in a decade and a half of counter-insurgency warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the United States has never used a light air support and surveillance aircraft. For many, the OV-10’s appearance in Iraq had been very long overdue.

[Lex Luthier]

Thanks for the link. It always seemed to me that these very capable aircraft were underused.

[Sherman A. House DDS]

BADASS!


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[rayrevolver]

I mentioned seeing Broncos flying with us a few years ago on PF. And having to explain to the younger people what it was.

Definitely strange to see them in our neck of the woods at the time, 2012 or 2013 if I had to guess. I assumed it was some FMS deal but it makes sense after seeing that article, why they were here.

Thanks for sharing!

[FrankinCA]

Very cool. I’m a big fan of propeller driven aircraft .

[Arbninftry]

The old props are still in use. I got a couple jumps out of a Casa-212. We still use them occasionally for things in the real world and training.

OV-10s have been used a lot in Central and South America, they are used a lot in the counter-drug type operations. Cheap to maintain and easy to fly.

[Drang]

Cool.

Related, from the Strategy Page:
Murphy's Law: Cheap And Effective Not Welcome Here (https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/20170506.aspx)

Warplanes: Ancient OV-10s Survive In Southeast Asia (https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/20180814.aspx)

[Grey]

I know of some folks that want to offload some OV 10s...

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[willie]

Would not finding spare parts for the old birds be a problem? My guess is that the military has sold many spares as surplus. A late friend dealt in surplus airplane parts released by the military. These were soon scooped up by specialists dealing in such. Many came from Ft. Hood. I learned that today we no longer have the capability to replace many parts with new ones because manufacturers no longer have machinery to produce them. Also I was surprised that used parts were used to maintain planes. I have heard that the Air Force often has had to rely on cannibalization of parts to keep planes flying. Perhaps this practice will be used in maintaining older birds.

[RevolverRob]

OV-10 is one of my favorite planes, love that thing, but I have a thing for boom-tail planes.

This is awesome and it's interesting to see different tactics employed these days between UAVs and prop-driven aircraft.

[txdpd]

Would not finding spare parts for the old birds be a problem? .

I remember looking at AMARC on google maps a years ago and they had rows of OV-10's, no telling what happened to the parts. Looks like there are still 7 out there. They also had A1 Skyraiders and I thought it was a shame that they weren't in action. But like it's already been said, and we see with the A10, efficiency competes with big money platforms, and we can't have that.

[Bigghoss]

I don't know anything about these aircraft. But they're a really cool sort of ugly.

[secondstoryguy]

The OV-10 was designed from the ground up for COIN. Hell, you can even drop paratroopers out of the back. It was built to be a jack of all trades...we need more ideas like it.

[rayrevolver]

Anyone remember the PA-48 Enforcer? Was designed for CAS/COIN.

If you know what this is without looking it up I would be super impressed. Its a little obscure, but when you read about what it is, I think you'll be impressed!

[Guinnessman]

I once flew a trip with an ex OV-10 driver. He was rather rough around the edges for an Air Force Pilot, and every time we pulled into the gate he made a mad dash for the first smoking area he could find.

He later explained to me that his career flying the OV-10 justified his love of smoking and fine liquor.:p

Needless to say, that trip was an absolute blast and it was nonstop laughter for several days. Good times indeed!

[okie john]

Anyone remember the PA-48 Enforcer? Was designed for CAS/COIN.

If you know what this is without looking it up I would be super impressed. Its a little obscure, but when you read about what it is, I think you'll be impressed!

Very cool. Kind of a 21st-century P-51.

Check out the U-28A. https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104607/u-28a/

It's like a pocket-sized C-130.


Okie John

[Trigger]

If I recall the OV-10s were used about 2-3 years ago. It was part of a test of concept as we were looking at light attack aircraft. Low cost, low speed, low ordnance weight, exposed to AAA and MANPADs. Useful as a niche capability.

[rayrevolver]

Very cool. Kind of a 21st-century P-51.

Check out the U-28A. https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104607/u-28a/

It's like a pocket-sized C-130.


Okie John

Man, the PC-12 is the 21st century Turbo-Porter! ...well not really. I used to put gas in a PC-12 and loved seeing it come and go. With the almost full span flaps they can get pretty slow.

As far as the U-28A, a friend flew them at Herbie a while back. You don't really hear too much about those guys though.:cool:

[GyroF-16]

Very cool. Kind of a 21st-century P-51.

Check out the U-28A. https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104607/u-28a/

It's like a pocket-sized C-130.


Okie John

Actually, more of a “20th Century P-51,” as it was offered up and tested in the 1980s, if I remember correctly.

[okie john]

Man, the PC-12 is the 21st century Turbo-Porter! ...well not really. I used to put gas in a PC-12 and loved seeing it come and go. With the almost full span flaps they can get pretty slow.

As far as the U-28A, a friend flew them at Herbie a while back. You don't really hear too much about those guys though.:cool:

I got a couple of rides in a U-28 a few years ago. Impressive performance. And yeah, you don't hear much about them.


Okie John

[mmc45414]

This thread got me looking at the Wiki page, and there was alotta interesting info there:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Rockwell_OV-10_Bronco
I didn't know the planes that well, though I knew of them and recognized a couple that were at Camp Atterbury when I was there to shot F-Class a couple times, but that was a few years ago now.

[John Hearne]

Found this kind of related video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKNWEEq0PQI

[Trigger]

Found this kind of related video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKNWEEq0PQI

I’ve got a friend who just finished instructing for a year with the squadron the teaches the Afghans to fly and employ the A-29. Lots of fun stories

[txdpd]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLMM_jf6Lwc

Amazing how the more things change the more they stay the same, the concerns noted in the first few minutes of the video, leading to the development of the A4 are some of the same problems of today.

[John Hearne]

I was disappointed to see that the A-29 only had one .50 cal machine gun in each wing. I've always thought the hate generated by the eight in the P-47 Thunderbolt was amazing and the 12 in the B-26 even more so.

[Wendell]

The DOS has an 'air wing'?

With a surveillance/close air support capability?

: /