Originally Posted by
DaveReidUK
I very much doubt that.
The YouTube video shows (at 7:58) a rocket pod on the the port wing of what is probably (judging from the nose decal) the same or a similar Bird Dog.
The O-1 and O-2s had standard wing racks for target marker rockets which were used in their primary FAC role. You'll see examples of these in use in many places, including the film "BAT21". It would be relatively straightforward to produce a mod kit to mount the small rocket pod seen in the OP's photograph as the hardpoint and armament wiring will all be there for the target markers, and rocket pods have no recoil. They may or may not have needed heat-resistant material on the underside or the wing and flap to protect from the rocket exhaust, and if it was a proper DA mod (which I doubt this was, given that it's a CIA op) I would also want to see an interlock which inhibited the firing when the flaps were in any position other than "up".
The machine-gun in the photo features two support legs whose only function, if fitted on the wing, would be to bang around in the slipstream. Not to mention the difficulty of arranging to activate the trigger mechanism of a weapon borrowed from the infantry and the problem of devising a strong enough pick-up on the engine cowling.
Or indeed how the ammunition belts would be fed (in either wing or cowling installation).
I have little doubt that it's posed purely for the photo.
Mee two.
PDR