Climb into the cockpit of the OV-10 Bronco with "Spike" Benyshek

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10 Percent True - Tales from the Cockpit

8 ай бұрын

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Пікірлер: 47

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

To all: I made the mouse-cursor big on my computer for this podcast….but for some reason, it shows up very small on Steve’s. Sorry! I tried. 🤷‍♂

@HabitualButtonPusher 8 ай бұрын

We appreciate your efforts. After switching from an ipad to a big flatscreen tv wasn’t so hard to follow around. Cheers

@matthayward7889 8 ай бұрын

17:20 Sir, I think Mk.4 is the Hughes pod with a twin barrel 20mm and 750 rounds of ammunition. I believe it was used on USMC Broncos. It weighed 1,400lbs though!

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

@@matthayward7889 If so, it wasn’t nose-mounted like the OV-10D. It would have been on the centerline station. And yes, that gun in the nose of the OV-10D…or the IR sensor on some Marine Ds…weighed a LOT, and is why the D had 44% more horsepower than the A. BUT: I don’t think the performance was significantly different. In any case, while the switches for Mk.4 may have been in our As, I have never seen nor heard of one being used on a USAF Bronco. 😎

@laMoort 8 ай бұрын

YAY another Spike episode. 🤩

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

Thanks!

@goratgo1970 8 ай бұрын

VV was the tailcode for the Euro 1 painted 27th TASS Bronco's at GAFB when I was phase dock on F-4's '87-91 and yes, I can still hear those prop sounds in my head Spike replicates to this day.

@lutherhorn5955 8 ай бұрын

Great video. Took me back to my days working on the OV10 at George the same time Spike was flying them

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

I remember your name! Question: just OV-10s, or did we cross paths in the Weasel as well?

@capristuntman 8 ай бұрын

Nice to see the bronco, I was always fascinated with the grumman ov1 mohawk also.

@bb.1062 8 ай бұрын

Another great one Spike! Thanks. Cheers.

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

Thanks, Jason!!

@mariobinsar3819 8 ай бұрын

Great interview like always steve! And great knowledge from Spike... I just know the machine gun were not always installed. Indonesian change the 30 cal with 50 cals for a bigger punch. Some said due to complaints from the ground troops saying the 30 cal cannot penetrate our thick jungle canopy

@Nahlol72 8 ай бұрын

Glad to see him back!

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@coolhand3328 8 ай бұрын

i love hearing Spike imitate sounds. he's pretty good at it. :)

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

😂😝🤷‍♂👍🏻

@HabitualButtonPusher 8 ай бұрын

I can barely see what his mouse is point at half the time. Need one of those yellow halos that shout “I’m here dummy” haha. Have always been infatuated with the OV-10 and VAL-4 Black Ponies.

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

I made the cursor quite big before we recorded, but Steve’s computer made it small….or invisible. Not sure why.

@SmedleyDouwright 8 ай бұрын

I remember seeing video of an OV-10 attacking rebels in the Philippines about 5 years ago. I thought that could be Vietnam, but with much better video quality.

@irongron 8 ай бұрын

Yea, when I was a kid Vietnam was the war in took interest in, when all the other's were doing the WW2 thing as usual. Anyway, the irony of what you mentioned, is a bunch of the OV-10's flying FAC over North Vietnam, were not based in country at Da Nag, but also were based in Thailand!🙃

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

You are correct; the PAF used them fighting Islamic rebels.

@guardherc1309 8 ай бұрын

Wonder if there are any photos of where the RWR used to be, I haven’t found any. My dad flew OV-10s at Wheeler and Shaw in the late 80s/early 90s and said it may have been on top of the instrument panel. Also funny that the interphone panel is literally identical to what we have in the C-130, still works.

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

We had 44 airplanes at George. About 18-20 had ALR-46 RWR. It was mounted on top of the right instrument panel, above the weapons-select switches, as I recall. I just remember less than half the planes had it. When you see pics of VV tailcode planes, you can tell because there was a little box mounted below each rudder in the boom, and an antenna on each side of the nose.

@guardherc1309 8 ай бұрын

@@brrrtbacheniraq873 thanks for clearing that up, figured that was a later edition. I have a tape one of his squadron mates in the 22d TASS made of a flight around Hawaii and it lacked a RWR scope. Good to know what to look for exterior wise.

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

@@guardherc1309 I flew as an ORI evaluator with the 22 TASS, summer of 86! They brought me and another squadron mate over from George, and we just rode in the backseat while the guys flew to the Big Island to shoot Willy Petes at the range on the volcano. Only there a week, and three sorties. That was a good time!

@guardherc1309 8 ай бұрын

@@brrrtbacheniraq873 that’s awesome, it seemed like an awesome assignment out there. My dad enjoyed the video, brought back some memories for him, remembered using the ADF to listen to oldies stations around Oahu. Apparently they flew with the guns installed quite often and were able to shoot at a number of islands out there.

@Ian-Saxon 8 ай бұрын

Spike's back. Yes!

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

Thanks! My pleasure!

@MikeC-ry1dk Ай бұрын

The AN/ASM-75A Compass System is very basic. Never had a problem with a flux valve going bad. A few times where the back seat and front didn't agree. I was always a bad indicator. The maintenance tech had to be very careful when ordering or repairing a control stick. The useable on codes were horrible. You could put the wrong stick on the aircraft. Same went for the Arm Control Panel. I remember an incident where the wrong stick and control panel had been installed on an OV-10 and the aircraft had rockets installed before a stray voltage check had been done on the pods. First person to get in the cockpit checked the 781 and saw no problems and hit the battery switch. The crew chief powered up the MD-1 generator and when the guy in the cockpit hit the inverter switch all hell broke loose. Rocket went down range on the ground, hit a sand pile, and scared a bunch of workers filling sand bags.

@brrrtbacheniraq873 Ай бұрын

Wow! Was this in Vietnam?

@MikeC-ry1dk Ай бұрын

@@brrrtbacheniraq873 Yes at Danang, the 20TASS. We also had a problem with a RAM Team doing a TCTO wiring change. The old civilian who was doing the work was in a hanger that had bad lighting which changed the color of the wires. We would have to do a first power on check and would pull the aircraft to a safe location because you didn't know what would happen. Like the M-60C machine guns trying to fire. Or the center line tank falling off.

@brrrtbacheniraq873 Ай бұрын

@@MikeC-ry1dk 😳😬YIKES!!!

@mcgiff2061 8 ай бұрын

Small critique; at 4:10. There are no production ejection seats that ‘know which way is up’ & change trajectory in the way implied. Common misconception; probably from seats that have pitch-stabilization control. They don’t change trajectory; they minimize seat tumbling. Still, excellent video on an under appreciated aircraft. Great job!

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

Interesting! I have seen videos of advanced Russian seats that seemed to “roll upright,” and assumed ours did similar. And thanks!

@mrod2b216 8 ай бұрын

Spike, I believe there may be a misunderstanding about the seat. The chute was in a cannister behind the seat back. It was attached to a rocket/catapult bolt. On ejection initiation, the rocket/catapult bolt would fire, break the canopy, and pull the chute out of the cannister. As the chute streamed out of the aircraft, it would pull/yank the seat out along with it. That's why the system worked so well at low altitudes. The chute was almost immediately inflating upon clearing the airframe. The front seat chute cannister was mounted on one side of the seat back, while the rear seat cannister was mounted on the opposite side in order to provide lateral spacing between front and back seat pilot's ejections. This system was similar to the Yankee system that was used by some other slow-movers. (Yankee meaning that the pilot was yanked out of the aircraft.) The canopy breaker on top of the seat was for any remaining Plexiglas which the rocket catapult had not already shattered when it was deployed. At least those are my own recollections from flying the bird from '76-'79. OFP MRO

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

mrod, I just dug out my Dash-1 to check. In the description in Chapter 1, it says the seat penetrates the canopy first, then the drogue chute fires. In Chapter 3, the sequence diagram shows the rocket motor of the seat firing first, penetrating the canopy, and then the drogue…ie, the same as the description in Chapter 1. I learned about the Yankee System only a few years ago. Great system, but by your description, I thought “How would it clear the tail?” So, I think my description is accurate. My Dash-1 is current as of 1986/7, so maybe they updated the description.

@jakeb7087 8 ай бұрын

What TASS were you with?

@jakeb7087 8 ай бұрын

@@brrrtbacheniraq873in the instance of my grandfather’s experience, he couldn’t punch out due to the back seaters parachute condition. Had he ejected, Mikes parachute wouldn’t have opened anyway. That’s why (among other reasons) grandaddy elected to ditch in the Gulf.

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

@@jakeb7087 27 TASS, George AFB. 1984-1986.

@brrrtbacheniraq873 8 ай бұрын

@@jakeb7087 If the backseater’s chute was damaged, yes: most aircraft are set up so that if the pilot ejects, it makes the backseater eject first. This is so a “non pilot” isn’t left in the plane, but also to prevent collision between the seats. Did your grandfather survive? I hope so. Ditching in the Bronco was NOT recommended, because with the high wing, it would almost certainly nose over and flip.