Copalman, Joe North American OV-10 Bronco

The OV-10, the world's first purpose-built counterinsurgency (COIN) aircraft, has had a long and varied career. Primarily used as a forward air control (FAC) platform, the Bronco was one of the few fixed-wing aircraft flown by the US Air Force, US Marine Corps and US Navy during the Vietnam War. The Bronco made its combat debut in Vietnam with the USMC in July 1968, followed shortly thereafter by the USAF in September 1968, and the US Navy began using the OV-10 in Vietnam in April 1969. The USMC used the OV-10 as a jack-of-all-trades for ground support: it provided visual reconnaissance, helicopter escort, CAS, search and rescue, photo reconnaissance, support for the deployment and extraction of naval reconnaissance teams, and observation of mortars, artillery and naval guns. After the Vietnam War, the USAF shifted the focus of its Bronco from jungle warfare in Southeast Asia to defence against large-scale tank advances in West Germany and South Korea before retiring its OV-10s in the early 1990s. The loss of two OV-10As over Kuwait was used by those within the US Marine Corps who wanted to retire the type as an example of the Bronco's vulnerability on the modern battlefield. In 1994, the US Marine Corps Reserve retired its last OV-10s, ending the Bronco's US military career. Demilitarised OV-10s were used extensively by civilian agencies in the United States, with NASA using several examples for numerous flight test programmes, including one of the original YOV-10A prototypes modified for extreme low-speed flight. OV-10Ds were transferred to the US State Department, which modified the aircraft for use as aerial combat platforms to spray herbicides on coca and poppy fields in Colombia and Ecuador as part of the American war on illegal drugs. With the US military and other air forces around the world in need of a light attack platform, several companies have submitted designs based heavily on the OV-10 - a testament to the type's proven versatility and effectiveness in the light attack arena.