More than fifty years after its debut in the jungles of Vietnam, the North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco remains very much alive in the skies—though in missions its original designers could hardly have imagined.
Conceived in the 1960s as a rugged counter-insurgency aircraft and forward air controller, the twin-boom turboprop earned fame in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Yet, when its military career came to a close in the 1990s, the Bronco avoided the scrapyard. Instead, it found a second life in civilian hands, where its agility, endurance, and superb visibility proved just as valuable for guiding tankers over raging wildfires as they once were for calling in fast jets over contested battlefields.
Today, of 363 examples built, including ten YOV-10As and one YOV-10D prototype, 44 Broncos worldwide remain, either fully airworthy, currently undergoing maintenance, or stored and preserved in conditions that give them a strong prospect of returning to flight. The largest active fleet belongs to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), which flies sixteen OV-10As/Ds as airborne command posts during the state’s increasingly destructive wildfire seasons.
Read the full article at Aerial Fire Magazine