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From Summer '97 Bronco Flyer
Meet
Charlie Bowman
152880 Then and Now
Wanted!
One of the
people who knows the Bronco inside and out is Charlie Bowman. Charlie
began working on the aircraft in 1974 at the Columbus facility, developing
the "D" conversion. He started work for North American in `53,
a couple of years after Rockwell took over the old Curtis Wright plant.
For the first 20 years, he worked on the T-2 Buckeye which, like the OV-10,
was designed and built at Columbus. While Charlie knows the Bronco from
"A" to "F", his specialties are the "D"
and the "D" SLEP. Once he became the OV-10D Project Engineer;
his career revolved around enhancements to improve capability, and more
importantly, keep the aircraft in the air.
In the mid
`70's, the Marines started investigating ways to extend the service life
of the OV-10 The enhancements which make the "A" into a "D"
(a concept that was proven in the last months of Marine involvement in
Vietnam) included structural changes necessary to ensure a service life
of 15,000 flight hours. The Marines also wanted many changes to prevent
recurring maintenance problems. Through close monitoring of the maintenance
logs, they could pinpoint what needed attention and suggestions were coming
fast and furiously. Charlie and his engineers had to determine what was
cost effective and make sure changes to fix one problem didn't create
a half dozen new ones. Installation of the "D" models' Forward
Looking InfraRed (FLIR) system with VCR caused its own set of problems
which had to be compensated for. A major change which fixed many problems
was replacing old rotary inverters with new solid state ones to provide
cleaner and more reliable 115 volt AC power. Similarly, the development
of new and better bonding materials enabled the outer skin on the ailerons
and flaps to adhere to the underlying structure permanently putting an
end to several creative but temporary field solutions.
Rockwell's
decision to close the Columbus facility during the "D"/"D"
SLEP caused more problems for the program and, therefore, for Charlie.
The Project Manager and many of the engineering staff chose not to relocate
to the California desert so Charlie assembled a temporary team of Columbus
engineers who traveled to Palmdale to help with the transition. Many of
the practical nuts and bolts of the modification were more in Charlie's
head than on paper. He and his team had to explain the program and train
the Palmdale staff on the OV-10 and the modifications to the original
design for the "D" SLEP. Changes had to be recorded, new drawings
made and specifications written --all in the middle of Department of Defense
cutbacks in the mid `80s and the uncertainty over the future of the aircraft.
Coincidentally, within a month after Charlie's retirement, in January of 1992, the government announced plans to shut down the remaining OV-10 military squadrons and remove the aircraft from the inventory. Charlie is pleased to see federal and state agencies making use of the designed capabilities of the Bronco and is happy other countries see the value of the aircraft for border patrol and reconnaissance. These developments make it worthwhile to extend the Bronco's service life using the program he was so instrumental in bringing about.
152880
- Then and Now
Chuck
Burin
Then
- Columbus, Ohio, 1965
YOV-1OA 152880, manufacture number NH 300-2, was built by North American
Aircraft, Columbus Division and accepted by the Navy on September 30,
1965. Like all OV-lO prototypes, it started out with the 30 foot wing.
The plane was assigned to the Naval Plant Representative Office (NAVPRO)
in Columbus, Ohio from October 2, 1965 through January 1, 1967 for research
and testing. It's first flight was not completed until November 30,1965.
The 30-foot
wing was extended to the 40-foot version we're familiar with sometime
in 1969. The plane was transferred to the Naval Air Test Center (NATC)
Flight Test at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland on August 28 of that year
for test and evaluation, returning to Columbus and NPRO RDT & E December
16. The Bronco then became North American's aerodynamic test vehicle for
the YOV-1 1OD. The turret on the aircraft was a mock-up although it was
apparently a good enough copy to cause at least two books to claim the
plane was one of two YOV-1OD's sent to Vietnam for combat evaluation.
The first flight of the aerodynamic test program was June 9, 1970.
Additional assignment to NPRO RDT & E, Burbank, California occurred between July 1972 and March 1973. It was returned to NATC RDT & E, NAS Patuxnet River, Marylaned on March 12, 1973 and eventually went to MASD, Davis Monathan AFB, Arizona for storage. It was struck from the Navy inventory June 1, 1979.
Now
- Liberal, Kansas, 1997
Sometime in the early 1990's, the aircraft was delivered to MCAS Camp
Pendleton in three crates. The plan was for Marine Observation Squadron
Two (VMO-2) to restore the plane and make it a gate guard at the airfield.
The project never really got online since VMO-2 was deactivated in May
1993, a year earlier than expected. The Marine Corps Museum at Quantico,
VA apparently took further custody and after negotiations, it was put
on loan to the Mid America Air Museum in Liberal, Kansas in March 1994.
After the flood waters retreated from the Camp Pendleton airfield in April
1994, the plane was disassembled by a three person crew and loaded on
20 and 40 foot trailers for the trip to Kansas. Today, you can get a close
look at 152880 by visiting the museum, located at the old Beech plant,
2000 West Second, in Liberal, Kansas. The museum's phone number is (316)
624-5263.
If you visit the museum or have additional information about the plane, please let me know by writing to my home address: 165 Chaparral Drive, Apple Valley, MN 55124. I look forward to adding more to my story.
To keep the Bronco Flyer filled with stories you want to read, we need your input. We're looking for stories - and pictures (especially picture) - in four categories:
What is happening in your part of the world? What may be the daily routine
to you will be fascinating to someone else. Just joy down a line or two
about how your OV-10 is being used - or maintenance bugaboos you've solved
- or personnel changes that affect your operation - or a bright idea you
have for solving a perennial problem - or a close call with a happy ending
- or --.
Then add your name, phone number and the best time to call, fax it to (909) 390-2513 and we'll take it from there. One of the Bronco Flyer staff will contact you to gather more details, write the story, and before you know it, you'll see yourself in print. Take a minute and do it NOW!!!
Don
Overfield
Bronco Flyer Editor
1305 Wanamaker Avenue
Ontario, CA 91761
(909) 390-2500
Fax: (909) 390-2513
