Grumman
OV-1
Mohawk
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Photo: Robert Deering 1969
Idlewild AAF (A805)
Taegu, Korea
The Grumman OV-1 Mohawk is an armed military observation and attack aircraft, designed for battlefield surveillance and light strike capabilities. It is of twin turboprop configuration, and carried two crewmembers with side by side seating. The Mohawk was intended to operate from short, unimproved runways in support of United States Army maneuver forces.

The OV-1 served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and during Operation Desert Storm.

Starting in 1972, the Army National Guard (ARNG) began to receive the Mohawk, with the ARNG eventually operating 13 OV-1Bs, 24 OV-1Cs, and 16 OV-1Ds serving with three aviation units in Georgia and Oregon.

U.S. Army OV-1s were retired from Europe in 1992, from Korea in September 1996, and finally in the US in 1996, superseded by newer systems, newer aircraft, and the evolution of spy satellites. The OV-1 was primarily replaced by militarized version of the de Havilland DH-7 turboprop commuter airliner equipped with a SLAR system until the U.S. Air Force's E-8 J-STARS (Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) aircraft, based on converted Boeing 707 airframes with powerful side-looking radar, became fully operational.

As of 2011, Alliant Techsystems has partnered with the Broadbay Group and Mohawk Technologies of Florida in a venture to return an armed, modernized version of the OV-1D to operational use as a counter-insurgency aircraft. A demonstrator has been equipped with a FLIR Star Safire turret and a ventral, trainable M230 Chain Gun. 

SPECIFICATIONS: PERFORMANCE:
Span:  48 ft 0 in (14.63 m) Maximum speed:  305 mph (265 knots, 491 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
Length:  41 ft 0 in (12.50 m) Cruising speed:  207 mph (180 knots, 334 km/h)
Height:  12 ft 8 in (3.86 m) Range:  944 mi (820 nmi, 1,520 km) (SLAR mission)
Empty Weight:  12,054 lb (5,467 kg) Service ceiling:  25,000 ft (7,620 m)
Gross Weight:  18,109 lb (8,214 kg)  
Crew:  Two: pilot, observer
Engines:  2 × Lycoming T53-L-701 turboprops, 1,400 shp (1,044 kW) each
Armament: 
SOURCE:   Wikipedia  

Robert Deering 10/12/2008
Alliance Airport (AFW)
Fort Worth, Texas