Another OV-10 variant, used effectively as a Hunter-Killer in the Vietnam war at night.
With the IR and heat sensing, pilots could see through the forest canopy and fire upon targets on the ground in the dark. Often they would be escorted by another Bronco with rockets, and once a target was identified with the Night Gunship, the escort could unload Zuni rockets on them.
The Zuni 5-inch Folding-Fin Aircraft Rocket (FFAR), or simply Zuni, is a 5.0 in (127.0 mm) unguided rocket developed by the Hunter-Douglas Division of Bridgeport Brass Company and deployed by the United States armed forces. The rocket was developed for both air-to-air and air-to-ground operations. It can be used to carry various types of warheads, including chaff for countermeasures. It is usually fired from the LAU-10 rocket pod holding four rockets. [read more at Wikipedia]
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155395 pictured above was NAA’s YOV-10 mule as it began as a B, then again and again
as the airframe evolved to the YOV-10D and finally the D+. Today 155395 lies throughout
the interior of the CALFIRE warehouse inventory of spares. Dismantled, I was fortunate
to acquire the tilting forward portions of the front end as components for a future display
in the Fort Worth Aviation Museum.
My involvement with 155395 began in 1996 when I began collecting documentation for an
FAI F4C R/C project. Back then the OV-10 had just been mothballed and very little record
of 155395 and its sister ship 396 was readily available. As I continued to follow people who
were associated with N.A.A. and Rockwell, I eventually found we had a complete story yet
told about “One Tough Ride”.