Thursday, August 3, 2017

Grumman ov 1 Mohawk



Actually, this sounds like a bad azz little plane.  I wonder if any are still flying?

10 comments:

  1. The OV-10A Bronco took over for them, and the OV-10 is VERY bad ass.

    ReplyDelete
  2. the Oregon air Nat.Guard tried to recruit me to be a TO in a Mohawk, but I didn't do it. I regret that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. According to Wikipedia there are 17 airworthy Mohawks.

    Cool bird.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unless things have changed (and they always do!), the OV-10 "Mohawk" is an Army aircraft, so it was probably used by the Oregon National Guard, and not the Oregon Air National Guard.

    The one in that photograph apparently belongs to the National Aeronautic and Space Administration.

    Those unarmed fixed wing aircraft were in the old Republic of Viet Nam when I was there, being used for reconnaissance missions.

    If I remember correctly, that real long device you see underneath the aircraft was part of a bunch of advanced electronics, allowing the crew to look forward, downward, and sideways, day or night, in any weather conditions.

    It is the only Army aircraft that has ejection seats, with the two man crew sitting side by side.

    I heard that the original Mohawk aircraft were armed, or maybe they were designed to be armed, but there was some sort of dispute (?) with the Air Force (or so I heard), and as a result, only Air Force fixed wing aircraft could be armed, while Army fixed wing aircraft could only be used for reconnaissance.

    I have no way of knowing if that's true or not.

    Also, when I lived in Oregon (many centuries ago), there was an Army National Guard base with OV-10 "Mohawk" aircraft, and I was told by somebody that the base and its missions were classified "Top Secret".

    Maybe that's true, and maybe it isn't.

    ReplyDelete
  5. As of 2001 several were being used as targets at Pilsung Range is Korea.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Back in the late 70's I some while I was dashing around West Germany in C-130s. They have two things I noticed going for them, they are noisy and ugly. They therefore must have been very practical.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The OV-1D was the last variant and they were in our active army inventory till 96 I was a TO (enlisted sensor operator) from 82 - when I got out in 90. Flew them in Stuttgart Germany, worked with them in Korea and Honduras and was an instructor at Ft Huachuca teaching Navigation, Radar and photo systems. Love the homely hunk of Grumman Iron. 'Alone, Unarmed, and scared shitless' Hawk-60 out

    ReplyDelete
  8. http://www.ov-1mohawkassociation.org

    ReplyDelete
  9. A friend owns and operates an OV-1. He has some very interesting "flasher pods" that hang under the wing. These pods have 3 big reflectors inside, each reflector has 4 strobe tubes in an array. The flasher pod was designed to illuminate the ground for night photography. It also makes for a very interesting night airshow!

    The power to the flasher pods comes from a small ram-air turbine generator on the front of the pod. I was able to rebuild the generators and get them functional again. Cool stuff, high end old tech with fantastic craftsmanship in these flasher pods. At the bottom of this page, there is a pic of the flasher pod: http://www.lotsaspace.info/OV-1Mohawk/laahs/article01_3.htm

    ReplyDelete