Wouldnt the A-10 give you the best of both worlds? Wasnt designed the way it was for nothing!

I thought the Mohawk was even more capable than the Bronco.

OV-10X and Combat Dragon II
 

Boeing had proposed the OV-10X a few years back

http://www.ov-10bronco.net/Technical...rd_2009_01.pdf

and of course

Combat Dragon II

The Amazing OV-10 Bronco Was Never Allowed To Meet Its Full Potential

With the appropriate weaponry as well

http://militaryhumor.net/wp-content/...aft-bomb-1.jpg

Ensure the armourers have filled container with requisite contents during pre flight

Looks familiar shape and one wonders if Boeing will be pushing it as a Bronco replacement

Boeing and Paramount join forces for multi-role aircraft | The National

If a modern Bronco is good, a modern Skyraider would be better.

No way could a Bronco haul bombs like a Spad.

I really don't get why the A-10 is not in theatre......

I seem to recall that the reason the A-1 was adopted by the USAF in Vietnam was that the fast whizzy pointy things were not always the right tool for the job, and that was in a high risk environment with regard to enemy fighters. With that in mind it is hardly surprising that in an environment with no enemy aircraft and threat from MANPADs only that slower, cheaper aircraft are being looked on with favour.

And though my earlier post was very much tongue in cheek, why would a Bronco be unacceptable in anti-ISIS ops while an Apache would not? Or has anyone else noticed how, over the last few decades the attack helicopter has grown in provenance at the same time that slow COIN aircraft have waned? Perhaps this is showing that it is the attack helicopter that is the dead end concept, not the slow moving fixed wing COIN aircraft?

Ummm interesting, but always going to need a dedicated AH on the battlefield - for the simple fact of hovering, then popping up , fire etc etc...

Also if you look at the Brazilian Air Force - their Mi-35 Hinds were bought to .......replace their Super Tucanos...

IMHO is that COIN slow movers are complement to AH ....

USMC aviation FOB assets in the 80s were the following

AH-1J/T/W
UH-1N
OV-10A/D
CH-46E
CH-53E
AV-8B

For sure the VMO squadrons could always be found with the HMLA / HMM / HMH base such as New River or Camp Pendleton,

cheers

I agree about the A-10, and the 2 seater version that was mooted (I think 1 prototype was built, and am OA-10 was mooted) would be even better in the armed FAC role.

You're not inferring there weren't SA-7s running around the jungles of Vietnam are you?

Not at all. I'm well aware that SA-7s were being toted around and popped off at US aircraft on a regular basis in South East Asia.

I was referring to the present day environment such as Iraq in which there are no enemy aircraft present and the missile threat is from MANPADs only. I could have phrased it a little clearer, however.

Understood, thanks.

Octane wrote A-10s should still be there. They were in action during November 2015 in Syria.

A-10s and C-130s destroy Islamic State fuel trucks

wanabee777 (your #18)
.
Now, there's a real aeroplane ! About the size of my Vultee Vengeance (A-31 to you), a lot heavier loaded, but with 1,000 hp more 'poke' could do the business. (Brute Force can solve many problems). Probably much the same as a VV to handle. Glad to see that they've discarded the twist'n-pushback u/c at last.

Thank you for the nice bit of You Tube, thought the chap was going to dive-bomb with it, but without dive brakes could end badly.

Rather sardonically amused by the Posters above, who are concerned with the possibility of being shot down, and what might happen afterwards. What did they imagine they would be getting into if they signed on the dotted line for Uncle Sam ? (Good thing your Grandfathers didn't think like that in their time).

Danny42C.

Danny 42C said:

Except of course that these days they will star in their own rather short reality TV show available across the internet. If they're lucky they'll be beheaded; if not, they'll be burned alive.

Martin the Martian,
The probable fate of a good proportion of Bomber Command's 55,000+ dead.

Danny,

While TDY at RAF Mildenhall, occasionally we would get time to visit the surrounding area. By chance, on an outing down to Cambridge, my crew and I stumbled upon the American Cemetery nearby. It was a very sobering experience for us young stud novice airmen.

Extremely humbling.

Danny, the A-1 has massive air brakes. They consist of a large slab on each side of the fuselage hinged in line with the wing trailing edge, and also a slab beneath the fuselage. Whether they could be modulated I don't know, but if they were fully extended I'd imagine you could almost parachute down (tongue firmly in cheek). Trim change (nose up) with the belly panel may have been an issue, as it was on the T-28.

They didn't. The A-1 Skyraider was a carrier bird, flown by the USN. The USAF did fly the T-28D Trojans. (My uncle got a lot of hours in them).