Decades-old OV-10 Bronco planes used against ISIS - CNNPolitics.com

I thought these were long gone from service, but apparently I was wrong. Who is flying these?

 

I was surprised, too. I have friends that flew out of Naked Fanny in the early seventies.

GF

 

Saw a black OV-10 taxi past the ramp in Nassau several years ago and asked on the radio who they were. They just said "State Department".

 

Outstanding! Sweet find and thanks for posting. I have long felt that the OV-10s were retired way too soon!

 

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.

 

When it as discovered, after the Marines lost at least two of them in the first Gulf War, that low and slow over the *somewhat* modern battlefield of even the lower numbered MANPADS, that it was time to retire the aircraft.

 

The DoS OV-10 airplanes were retired several years ago, and the operations in Plan Colombia have been halted due to a prohibition on glyphosate that was used to spray poppies and coca. The DoS OV-10's, operated by EAST and maintained by DynCorp, were D models converted to the OV-10G, for "government," which was revitalized a few years ago in a bid to bring them back as current generation COIN platforms. That effort didn't pan out.

The OV10's did feature air conditioning, such as it was, but it never worked well. The D/G models were okay for low land work on coca, but not for the higher altitude poppy operations, where Ayers Thrush T-65s and Air Tractor 802's were used. The OV-10 turned out to be a 300 gallon airplane at best (in terms of glyphosate load).

Counternarcotic operations were in full swing until October of last year as an ongoing part of Plan Colombia.

There was no need to hide the aircraft and pretend they weren't getting shot up. It's well known, and there were plenty of aircraft that flow back for repair; all the aircraft in Colombia feature patches and plugs from small arms fire and other weapons; all feature armor on the engines, self sealing fuel tanks, etc.

DoS airplanes are dark blue, not black.

Presently The Thrush, marketed as the Arch Angel, the 802U, and the OV-10 are in use in the middle east in Iraq, and in Yemen, with training operations in Jordan and UAE.

 

I believe you are correct....two lost, and I think both D-models. I don't know about the Marine birds, but most of ours had NO RWR (those that did had an ALR-46), and NONE had chaff, flares, or jamming pods.

The As had zero A/C....so they must have added it to the D (I never flew a D).

We had this discussion many moons ago: I still think a PT6-powered P-82 twin Mustang would REALLY be a great CAS airplane in the desert. 400-kt dash speed, 4000lb weapon load, 6 hours endurance.

But no service would go for a tail-dragger.

 

Both the 802U and the Thrush are in active service now.

 

Good point.

Mil-service, or Government Agency?

I meant it unlikely the Air Force would...and probably not the Navy or Marines.