North American OV-10 Bronco

[Jeff D. Welker]

OV-10G 155481 at Marsh. Later became one of two Combat Dragon aircraft.

Scott, is this film or pixels?  Terrific image and I especially like this was at Falcon.  Who is the fellow on the left side of the frame?  A Marsh employee or military?  Also, was the pilot working for Marsh or the military?  Very interesting history.

[Scott Youmans]

Thanks Jeff, the guy off to the left was a Marsh employee. The pilot is Bill Walker a long time Marsh employee and test pilot. Very interesting guy, lots of good flying stories. Photos was taken with a Canon EOS-20D on November 30, 2005. Focal length was 50mm but not sure which lens, very likely a 24-105mm f/4. The aircraft, a former USMC OV-10D, was being modified for the DoS by Marsh for spraying "non-food" crops.

[Scott Youmans]

Joe C. tipped me off about the existence of a Calfire OV-10 with 5-bladed props. I asked around at work and found out that a company in Germany (MT) built some new props for Calfire to address a parts shortage on the old original 3-bladed units. As far as I know this is a one off mod but this configuration might end up being standard on at least some of their Broncos. This one appears to be one of the Marsh conversions based on the larger exhausts. Not sure why they put the new props on this one as it already had the newer four-bladed units. I'll see what I can find out.