A jet P-51 Mustang?

[bobbysocks]

seem to remember a jingle about "if I die in the viet nam war honey, honey" and same thing if I die on the Russian front....but like some of the crude limericks...the second part of the verse is not printable from a PC point of view...

 

[gjs238]

Tyrodtom,

The pilots probably felt that way because they would rather have been flying the newer equipment rather than the last war (or two) leftovers. I'm not saying the prop A/C didn't do a good job, just saying from a flyers perspective.

Cheers,
Biff

PS I flew the OV-10 before getting to the Eagle and that was in the early 90's.

What are your views on the retirement of the OV-10?
Do you think it could be making useful contributions to current events?

 

[GrauGeist]

What are your views on the retirement of the OV-10?
Do you think it could be making useful contributions to current events?

The OV-10 is still very much alive and well, serving with the California Department of Forestry (CalFire).

I see them in action far too much up here in Northern California.

 

[davparlr]

The air force definitely still had plenty of A1 qualified pilots in 1971, they couldn't have retired them all.
In the air force of that era, if you didn't fly jets, you were treated like a lost stepchild.
I was enlisted at NKP Thailand, where they only operated prop jobs at that time, except C-141s, and returning jets crippled over North Vietnam, but I had some interaction with the pilots on the flight line.

Some of the pilots assigned to fly the A1s , A-26, and 0-2s acted like they'd been demoted to be sent there to fly those aircraft.

I was flying C-141s in 71-74. I've flown into Ubon (F-4s), Udorn (F-4s), Karat (F-4s), and Utapao (B-52s) but never NKP. You guys must have been involved with a lot of close air support.

 

[tyrodtom]

NKP hardtopped their runway sometime after I left, but it was operating C-141s from the PSP runway when I was there in 67-68. Just occasional C-141s though, it was probably 80-90 % C-130 and C-123.
C-141s were rare enough that when one did land the word got around fast, it was like being visited by a rock star.

Close air support for the Jolly Greens stationed there, and bombing the trail and various other places in Laos day and night. And late in my time there we were flying support missions all the way across Laos to Vietnam during the Tet.

I remember one of our officers telling us we were going thru a million dollars of munitions a week at one point. That was before the Tet offensive and Khe Sanh and of 68. A lot of money in that era.

 

[BiffF15]

What are your views on the retirement of the OV-10?
Do you think it could be making useful contributions to current events?

GJS,

The USAF divested it's OV-10's in 91-92 timeframe. We gave them to the Marines, Colombia, and the Philippines. It was maintenance intensive, with the motor being the biggest limitation and in the end was replaced by OA-10s (much more capable / reliable).

The USMC OV-10D had the best set up for todays missions, however the AT-6 or A-29 could do it as good or better, with longer station time and one less expensive motor. For it to be a contender today, it would need new motors (for better high pressure altitude operations / fuel savings / reliability), self protection suites (available off the shelf), as well as an updated sensor amongst other things.

Cheers,
Biff

 

[GregP]

Hhmmm ... new engines and combat avionics update .... I give you the OV-10G+ of the Combat Dragon program. It has it all except the new engine. Same Garret T763F-420/421 but with 4-blade Hartzell props.

This plane could use a pair of 1,500 HP PT-6s, but the Super Tucano already has one that is a bit more powerful and performs well. So I think you are right about there being better choices, including the A-29. One Tucano was modified at Chino (Advantage Avionics) with a complete glass cockpit, the panel included Garmin GTN 650 / 750, Garmin EFIS and other Garmin units. What a great panel! Reminded me of the starship Enterprise.

 

[Old Wizard]