I flew the OV-10A from 84-87. The "State Dept" airplanes still fly out of Patrick AFB (last I knew), because that was where the training base (RTU) and experienced mechanics were.

They were doing counter-drug stuff up through the mid 90s, that I knew of. "Somewhere South." It was a shooting war, and allegedly, the planes would land at Patrick at night, to be immediately wheeled in to a hangar...so no one would see the bullet holes in planes flown by "civilians."

When I was getting out of active duty in the 90s, I looked into one of their job listings....but decided the money they paid was not worth being skinned alive by a drug cartel.

The A-model has pretty poor altitude performance single-engine, even when clean and feathered, if the temperature is over 90F. I was stationed at Victorville, and the single-engine ceiling during the summer was 800 ft underground.

Most of us would say it was a very rugged airplane, a fun mission (FAC), but a little underpowered. It is a drag-machine. You'd look at the rudder pedals, which said "North American Aviation" (just like a Mustang), and think "How can an airplane from the same company, with the same/better power, and similar weight, be so $&@#%! slow?!?!? It would do about 220 IAS, on a good day, if you were bending the stops on the throttles.

The Marines flew As and some D-models. The Ds have almost 50% more power, but most of them were significantly heavier...having either a nose turret, or IR turret. They would perform only slightly better single-engine than an A-model.

Put the D-engines on an A-airframe, and it would be pretty awesome.

Of note: the airplanes have NO air conditioning, just an outside air scoop. That would blow (hot air) in the deserts of Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan.