Liberal, KS — The Mid-America Air Museum is home to more than 100 aircraft and other artifacts of aviation history. One of those pieces of history, an OV-10 “Bronco” aircraft, will soon be getting some much-needed repair work along with a face lift.
The aircraft is on loan from the National Museum of the Marine Corps and it was secured by the foundation board members of the museum back in 1994, according to museum director Jim Bert. The aircraft was picked up from the Marine Corps station in Yuma and then brought back to Liberal and re-assembled. Since then, the aircraft has been here as part of the museum display.
“We’re very lucky to have it,” Bert said.
The OV-10 is a historically significant military aircraft. It was designed and built by North American Aviation and it was created in the 1960s for a Ford Air Control. It is known for being lightly armed but it can also loiter or fly over a war zone for a long period of time. The aircraft has large, bulbous canopies so both the pilot and the Aerial Observer can have excellent vision.
“From that platform flying low and slow over the battlefield they can spot targets and they can guide MedEvac missions,” Bert explained. “But a big function is also to call in artillery or close air support to help accomplish a particular mission.”
In the opening operations of the first Desert Storm, two OV-10s were shot down very quickly due to being so low-flying, which made both the Marine Corps and the Air Force pull the OV-10s out of combat. However, Bert said, they are still being evaluated,and there is a possibility they will be brought back into inventory with slightly different configurations because the military really came into appreciating the ability to stay over a battlefield for a long time.
The OV-10 aircraft currently out at the Mid-America Air Museum has unfortunately sat outside for the past several years and cannot endure the outdoor conditions anymore. The aircraft will be undergoing some repair work and will also be repainted in proper Marine Corps colors (which will be dictated by the Marine Corps museum). The craft will then be brought inside the museum where it will stay permanently suspended from the museum’s ceiling as part of the museum’s collection of Aerial Observer aircraft.
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