OV-10 Bronco

North American Rockwell
OV-10 Bronco
An Aerospace Education Presentation by FL-310
Capt. Tim Wiley, Capt. AEO
Frank Kilgore, 1st Lt. Assistant AEO
First hand observations provided by former AV-10 Combat Pilot:
Larry N. Fernald, Lt Col, CAP
Group 3 Operations Officer
FLWG Asst AMO/PGD
OV-10 Bronco
Twin turboprop light attack and observation aircraft
First flight:
July 16, 1965
Span:
40 feet (12.2 meters)
Length:
41 feet 7 inches (12.7 meters)
Height:
15 feet 1 inch (4.6 meters)
Weight:
Empty: 7,190 pounds (3,261 kilograms); maximum take-off gross weight:
14,444 pounds (6,552 kilograms)
Power plant:
Two Garrett-AiResearch turboprop engines, T76-G-412 and T76-G-413, 715
shaft horsepower each
Maximum speed at sea level: 244 knots (452 kilometers/hour)
Range:
700 nautical miles (1,297 kilometers) with internal fuel; 1200 nautical miles
(2224 kilometers) with 150-gallon (568-liter) drop tank
Service ceiling:
28,800 feet (8,778 meters)
Fuel:
Five self-sealing fuel tanks in wing: 252-gallon capacity (954 liters); 150-, 230or 300-gallon (568-, 871-, or 1,136-liter) external tank
Crew:
One pilot and one observer (removable rear seat for greater fuselage cargo
capacity)
OV-10 Versatility
We sat in a titanium bathtub, so to speak. The belly below
the ejection seats was armor coated with titanium to prevent
small arms from penetrating the cockpit. - Larry Fernald
Plieku, Vietnam
(Central Highlands)
Circa early 70’s
1st Lt. Larry Fernald
About to go on one of
his 260-270 combat
missions in OV-10’s
His crew chief,
Jerry Humphries
Looks on
Note “Fernald” stenciled
on Fuselage
Photo Provided by
Col Fernald
Handling the OV-10 – Larry Fernald
“The OV-10 was a very predictable airplane. It was very responsive and very forgiving....as long as both
engines were running. It was a killer on single engine. One had to be very careful in an engine
out situation. The usual engine out "approach" was a high key at 2500 feet overhead the landing site, and
circling down to downwind and landing.
Landing was power on, angle of attack, with a very mild flare. If one pulled the power to idle and tried to
flare, the plane would really crunch and smack the ground. A very slight reduction in power was all it took
to fly final and touchdown.”
Comments by Col. Larry Fernald (then 1st LT Fernald) – Pg 1
1. My first recollection from my first flight was a sense that I was about to fall out of the plane--on
my first flight at Hurlburt in Ft Walton Beach, the nose wheel did not contact the scrubber and
continued to spin, creating a gyro effect that made me feel that I was going to fall out as we
turned out of traffic. Of course that could not happen. The bubble canopy afforded great
visibility, and extended from hip level up and around.
2. The props were counter-rotating,
so one's right leg never got too tired.
There was also rudder trim.
Comments by Col. Larry Fernald (then 1st LT Fernald) – Pg 2
3. There were four 7.62 mini-guns
located 2 each in the two sponsons,
with a total of 2,000 rounds of
ammo. The sponsons also had hard
points where we carried a 430 gal
centerline fuel tank, and two each
pods of white phosphorous
marking rockets and two each pods
of high explosive 7.25"
4. You can see the tank, two of the
guns, and one each pod of HE
rockets and one each pod of "Willie
Pete's."
Comments by Col. Larry Fernald (then 1st LT Fernald) – Pg 3
5. The helmet was a ballistics helmet
weighing 15 lbs. I went over to
Vietnam with a 13.5 in neck and
came home with a 16.5 neck from
pulling 4-5 G's coming out of a
rocket pass and looking over my
shoulder to spot the target and
send in the fighters.
6. We carried a .38 Smith and Wesson
Combat Masterpiece pistol, with as
much ammo as you could load into
the pockets of your flight suit,
realizing that if you ejected, the
force of the rocket seat and the
weight of the ammo would tear
your flight suit apart.
Lt. Col. Fernald on firing the OV-10 guns.
You rolled in, aligned the pipper on the target (or, as most of found out, the 5th rivet up on the windscreen/canopy
bow worked better), armed the master, and squeezed the trigger.
There was no smoke, and no cartridges to worry about. You could hear the guns firing, but that was the only
impact felt or heard...or seen. No recoil felt against the aircraft.
Absolutely great flying! A huge adrenalin rush when the guns erupted, as they did
on every one of my 260-270 missions.
Comments on tactics by Col. Larry Fernald (then 1st LT Fernald)
1. The OV-10 had no radar warning gear. It did have one UHF radio (used to talk to the fighters), one (maybe two??) VHF radios
(used to talk to the ABCCC (airborne command and control) aircraft (call sign "Hillsboro“ during the day and "Moonbeam" at
might), one HF radio (we listened to Voice of America and Hanoi Hannah on Radio Hanoi), and two FM radios (used to
communicate with ground troops).
2. It was not uncommon to be switching between all these radios during a strike mission, including yelling at Hanoi Hannah.
3. There were several missions for the Bronco in Vietnam. First and foremost, was visual reconnaissance of the Ho Chi Minh
Trail in Laos. O-2's were originally used for this mission, but as the trail became hotter (bigger and more guns), the mission
went to the Bronco.
4. Most of us flew around 4,000 to 4,500 AGL, which put us below typical 23mm and 37mm airburst range. 23mm would
airburst around 7,500 to 10,000 or so depending on the slant range, 37mm higher.
5. Most of us felt that the odds of getting hit by a single bullet was less than getting shrapnel from an airburst. Our "bible" said
that we were to fly at 7,500 AGL, but obviously the guys who wrote that never had 23mm or 37mm fired at them.
6. Another mission involved working with the Special Forces covering long range patrol teams. We would go along with them
(kinda in formation) while they inserted the teams using Huey's, covered by gunships. After the team was on the ground and
the helos were gone, we orbited away from the area, so as to not give away the location too badly, and listened to the FM
radios and all the radios. If the team got in a fire fight, we used our guns and rockets to try to separate the good guys and
bad guys while we had fighters inbound.
More Comments by Col. Larry Fernald (then 1st LT Fernald) – Continued – Pg 2
Another mission for the Bronco was search and rescue. We frequently got called to try to locate a fighter guy who had punched
out (we hoped) or who was missing. And, if another long range patrol team got in trouble, it was not unusual to end up
somewhere helping out those folks. I ended up very close to North Vietnam, if not in North Vietnam one day looking for a fastFAC, Stormy 04, who was missing. We were the only plane to get airborne that day during the monsoon season, and were
working our way north following ELT (we called them "beepers") signals--yep, signals, with an S. The bad guys had ELTs and
would turn them on to lure us in, then open up with whatever they had. Any time someone went down, before long, there were
multiple beepers going off all over the place.
On my first mission in Vietnam, while coming back from the Trail, I watched an F-100 pilot bail out (watched the canopy fly off,
the seat come firing out, the 'chute deploy, and the survival kit deploy (which had to be done manually, so I knew the pilot was
alive)--then nearly had a mid-air with the pilot-less F-100) and participated in his rescue.
Our missions were never flown straight and level. We were always jinking. We almost always had a set of binoculars to our eyes
as we worked our way around our area. One hand on the stick working it side to side, one hand holding the binoculars, and
"feeling the plane" to make sure we were in the envelope with enough energy to get a bit away if the need arose.
Believe it or not, your gut feel played a huge part in survival. I remember the first time I saw 37mm pass off the right wing in the
daylight. I was turning to the left and decided that it was time to reverse the turn (so as to not be predictable to the gun crews),
so I rolled to wings level, but my gut told me to go back to the left, and while starting back to the left, I looked right--and saw the
barrage of 37mm pass just a few feet off my right wing. Had I turned, I most likely would have been hit. See story on next slide:
Trolling for guns, and then some
An anecdote of combat flying in Vietnam – by Larry Fernald
There were two missions in particular that I felt that they were close to getting me. Both were night missions
and they were back-to-back. On the first, I had a new guy in the back seat (an O-2 pilot, Steve Eels--I won't
ever forget his name, I think) using the starlight scope. He wanted to see gunfire, so I went trolling. Not having
flown in the day for a month, and not having any new intel on gun locations, I felt I was in an area where I
could predict where the gun fire would come from. That turned out to be wrong. While flying straight and
level, which we did at night (of course all our lights were off), I hosed off several seconds of guns, including
tracers. Nothing from the ground came up, so I did it again.
Then, that gut feeling told me to look over the left side, which I did, and also inadvertently banking a bit to the
left. What I saw was a barrage of 37mm coming right at me. It passed all around us, but did not hit us. I did
not have time to say a thing, just watch the rounds and tracers go by. The back seater also noted the tracers
passing by--he was looking out the right side with the starlight scope. Those tracers were pretty impressive in
the scope, or so he said.
We were about out of fuel, and it was time to RTB, but with the little moon light available, I got a good location
on the ground and decided that we were coming back here the next night and deal with that gun. The next
night started off all wrong. We had to switch planes, then after takeoff, and lights out, on a downwind
departure, one of the Vietnamese perimeter guards hose us down with 50cal. Those rounds just missed our
right wing, and caused me to take heavyweight, low altitude, night evasive action. That alone was not
dangerous, but required a bit of skill and experience to avoid stalling the plane.
Trolling for guns, and then some - Continued
An anecdote of combat flying in Vietnam – by Larry Fernald
After we cleared the area, I called II DASC HQ and reported what had happened. About 20 minutes later, I got a call
as we were crossing the fence into Laos telling me that they had arrested a drunk guard, the barrel of his 50 cal still
warm. Steve and I talked it over and decided that despite the bad omen to start, we had to face this dragon and
destroy the gun that nearly got us the night before.
Obviously, the gunner was good, and we both felt that he could get someone if left alone. And, we knew where he
was. So, we headed back to the guns location, but on the way, I arranged a flight of F-4s with M-36 bombs to be on
the way to the guns location. I asked Moonbeam to have the F-4s maintain radio silence until I contacted them,
which they did. (The VC monitored our radio calls, but since I was so far from the target, I felt that they would not
be able to hear my call for fighters.)
When I got to the location, I ginned around for a bit, giving the F-4s time to get there, then started trolling again,
only a bit smarter than the previous night. As hoped, the 37mm came up, giving me an excellent spot on this
location. I marked the target, gave my location to the fighters, and sent them in hot. They had seen the gun fire, so
they also had a good location.
The M-36 was a bomb which down a layer of thermite, which burned at some high temp and would burn through
metal, which it did. The secondary’s from the 37mm shells cooking off was spectacular. The gun itself, I learned
from the day guys the next day, was totally destroyed. I suspect that the VC personnel on the ground were also
destroyed. So, those were the only two times I felt that they were out to get me. The first night was due to my
failure to anticipate a gun in a new location. The second was due to alcohol and a drunken perimeter guard.
Thank you, Colonel Fernald, for
Your input,
Your service,
Your Dedication to Aviation
And
To the Civil Air Patrol
QUESTIONS?