by DaveSims » Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:49 am
I have a book written by a real Bronco pilot in Vietnam. His comment on the single engine performance was that an engine failure at max gross could be deadly. The Army had tried to put air conditioning in the aircraft during Vietnam, since it spent all of its time down low over the hot jungle. The little bit of power the A/C used from the engine made the airplane dangerously underpowered, and the idea was dropped.
However, the OV-10 made for an excellent observer and ground attack aircraft. In a story that repeated with the A-10 in Desert Storm, the OV-10 was so effective at ground attack, it was outshining the much faster, and more expensive, jet attack aircraft, which did not sit well with the military brass. The OV-10 crews were eventually ordered that they could only "mark" targets for the faster jets. However most OV-10 crews were so effective at "marking" their targets, they still managed to rack up quite a few kills on their own.
