Thank You, Veterans!!
WHAT IS A VET?
Some veterans bear visible signs of their service… a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg – or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s ally forged in the refinery of diversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking.
What is a vet? He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.
She – or he – is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another – or didn’t come back AT ALL.
He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat – but he has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other’s backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb of The Unknowns, who presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes who’s valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean’s sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket – palsied now and aggravatingly slow – who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being – a person who offered some of his life’s most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.
He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.
So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That’s all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded. Two little words that mean a lot,
(Author unknown.)
Welcome to the Philippine Wing of the OBA!
Not only has the new German Wing joined OBA with two nearly-flyable OV-10Bs (one should fly by year’s end), now the Philippine Wing (aka the 16th Attack Squadron of the Philippine AF, which is the primary unit for internal security operations of the PAF) is on board! This active-duty unit has flown AT-28Ds from 1974 to 1992 and OV-10A’s from 1992 to present.
Welcome all!!
OV-10 BRONCO ASSOCIATION
BRONCO OPERATORS
RESEARCH
FEATURED NEWS
Happy 50th Birthday To The OV-10 Bronco!
Happy 50th Birthday To The OV-10 Bronco! On July 16, 1965 the OV-10 Bronco was born! On July 16, 1965, North American Aviation test
Gone West: Legendary NAA/Rockwell Test Pilot Ed Gillespie
We are deeply saddened to report that our friend Ed Gillespie flew west on July 9, 2015. Ed was well known to many
OV-10B Bronco Crashes In UK
Tony de Bruyn Seriously Injured in Crash on July 10, 2012 By Mike Whaley UPDATE: Tony is back to good health and is
Light Attack Aircraft Proposal Rejected By Congress
But Is Boeing's OV-10X Bronco Proposal Still Under Consideration? By Mike Whaley The Navy Times reported on Oct. 14, 2011 that both branches
MEDIA COVERAGE
Air Classics Magazine
October 2005 (Vol. 41, No. 10) Air Classics Magazine, October 2005 (Vol. 41, No. 10) is featuring Rick Clemen's OV-10 Bronco, the first
Model Airplane News
The January 2006 issue of Model Airplane News has a construction article for a neat electric-powered OV-10 designed by Keith Sparks. Check it
Air & Space Magazine
Check out the article "Fork-Tailed Devils" on pages 64-71 of the Jan. 2005 issue of Air & Space magazine. It has a great
Flightline
No. 13, Summer/Fall 2002 By Arnold Swanberg Flightline magazine published an article entitled "OV-10's in Civies" on pages 51-57. It's about civilian-registered
FlyPast
Flypast's 12/2001 issue mentions the German Wing OBA's B-model Broncos twice (and has a picture) on pages 13 and 16. It was slightly
Flight Journal
Flight Journal (has two F-15s on the cover) has a good article by Ted Carlson entitled "Aerial Fire Bombers" in the August issue
Aeroplane
The most excellent UK warbird magazine Aeroplane (usually available in the USA from your local Barnes & Noble) listed the restoration of the two OV-10B's
Reader’s Digest
Cindy Acree's The Gulf Between Us is the featured book. A must-read!! January 2001 By Mike Whaley