Original subtitles

Narrator: Faster than a helicopter,

More maneuverable than a jet,

The ov-10 bronco offers more bang for the buck

Than either one.

Man: The ov-10 was the swiss army knife

Of military aviation.

Narrator: This rugged little warbird

Fills a critical role for troops on the ground.

Man: The ov-10 was always there, just one radio call away.

Narrator: And it devours its enemies

In even the most challenging missions.

Man: It was an aircraft

That you could take just about anywhere and use it.

Narrator: This is the story of a 50-year-old plane

That came out of retirement to fight a new kind of war.

Man: It can do things

That we can't do with modern-day aircraft.

Narrator: It has everything it needs to find, fix,

And finish the enemy.

Man: We took the aircraft

And put a lot of things on that aircraft

That it was not designed to do.

♪

[distant gunfire]

Narrator: 2015.

Iraq.

Operation inherent resolve.

[explosion]

U.S.-Trained forces battle isis for control of their country.

America promises to support its allies on the ground

With superior airpower.

[jet roaring]

But winning an air war is difficult and expensive.

High-flying jets cost thousands of dollars an hour to operate

And can't hang over the fight long enough

To guarantee accuracy in this gritty urban war.

In the senate, u.S. Leaders are anxious

That their strategy isn't working.

John mccain: 5,000 air strikes have been conducted.

75% of the air strikes returned without having dropped a weapon.

That's not a very impressive number.

Narrator: To win, the pentagon knows

It will have to get creative.

What it needs is a down and dirty aircraft

For a down and dirty war.

The aircraft it turns to: The 50-year-old ov-10 bronco.

[click]

[whirring]

Rugged, maneuverable, and versatile.

The ov-10 bronco is a little warbird with a big mission:

Do anything that the ground troops need.

Eric huppert: The ov-10 bronco is one of the most versatile

Aircraft that the united states

Military ever produced.

Narrator: 42 feet long with a 40-foot wingspan,

The bronco is one of the lightest attack aircraft

In the united states' arsenal.

Its weight: Just 7,200 pounds.

To fly it, a two-person crew--

One in the front seat to fly and fight,

Another to lock in the target in back.

Huppert: The pilot up front, his job was to fly the airplane,

Kill the targets when they found them,

And then coordinate all of the fighters

That were coming into the battle space overhead.

The back seat of the bronco is filled

By the weapons system officer,

Whose main job was to operate the sensor systems.

Narrator: It's a plane designed to get in close,

Sniff out its target, and make the call about who to attack.

May 2015.

A team of ov-10 broncos arrives

At a top-secret air base in northern iraq.

They're part of a special operations program

Called combat dragon ii.

Phil clay: The purpose of combat dragon ii

Was to find an aircraft that could fight isis.

Narrator: Commander phil clay is a light attack expert

And the officer in charge of combat dragon ii.

Clay: We had a hypothesis that we needed to prove.

Our theory was that we could employ this low-cost solution

And be equally, if not more effective,

In how we fight the war.

Narrator: Special operations commanders

Know it's a wild idea:

Flying a 50-year-old plane that hasn't seen glory since vietnam.

When they bring their plan to the pentagon,

The pushback is intense.

Clay: The f-18s, the f-22, the joint strike fighter,

They consume a large part of our aviation budget.

So it's difficult to say

I'm going to take some of that money away

And put it into a low-cost solution.

Narrator: But the promise of a light attack aircraft

That can win an urban war is too tempting to resist.

Congress gives the program $20 million

And 82 days to prove its worth.

August 2015.

The ov-10 broncos get an urgent request.

70 miles away in mosul,

American allies desperately need the ov-10's help.

Clay: The kurdish military, as we call them, the peshmerga,

Had been captured by isis and had overthrown their captors,

And were trying to escape.

Narrator: For the last year,

The kurds have been america's faithful partner,

Holding down an 80-mile stretch of the front lines

And stopping isis from gaining more ground.

Clay: We knew that if the military forces

Were to be recaptured by isis, they would probably be killed.

Narrator: Ov-10 pilots get into the plane quickly

And fly off toward mosul.

This is just the kind of mission

Combat dragon ii was designed to do.

Clay: There was a sense of urgency.

There was a sense of commitment and dedication to get there

And make sure that we were protecting our coalition forces

As we would any u.S. Force.

Narrator: 20 minutes after takeoff,

The bronco reaches its target

And circles at 10,000 feet.

Pilots scan carefully over the city below.

Clay: Mosul is an amazing place.

It's not war-torn and tattered like we all tend to think.

It's very much a thriving metropolis of activity,

Which makes it problematic for us

In trying to conduct operations there.

Narrator: In this urban battleground,

Bronco crews have to be able to separate the bad guys

From the friendlies,

Or risk killing the very people they're trying to help.

Clay: We know we have to fight a war.

But we need the ability to identify the difference

Between a child, a man, a woman.

'cause we want to get it right.

Narrator: Letting its crew get eyes on the target

Is a key part of the bronco's mission.

Its bug-eyed canopy offers a perfect view

Of the battlefield below.

Huppert: These windows are bowed out from the side,

So all the pilot has to do is nudge the stick a little bit

And stick his head over the side,

And he's looking straight down.

Narrator: Another asset: Turboprop engines.

They let the bronco hang over the battlefield

For as along as it needs.

Huppert: One of the main advantages of a turboprop

Over a jet engine

Is that the airplane doesn't have to carry

Anywhere near as much fuel as a jet does

In order to remain airborne for the same amount of time.

With the maximum amount of fuel this airplane can take,

The turboprop will give you

About five and a half hours of flying time.

Narrator: That's five and half hours of hunting

For enemy soldiers or friendly troops in need of help.

Against isis, the bronco crew will need every minute.

High over mosul, the ov-10 crew scours the ground

For insurgents,

Looking carefully for signs of ill intent.

Man on radio: Pkc and ak-47 fire. Over.

Man on radio: Roger, is it coming

From your south southwest still?

Clay: We're going from car to car.

We're going from people that are walking on the streets.

And when we find one that we believe is isis,

We go through our checklist.

Are they flying a flag? Do we see weapons?

Are there groups? Are they adult-aged males?

Narrator: Finally, their persistence pays off.

They spot a group of armed men

Entering a building known to be an isis stronghold.

Clay: This was a building that was on a hit list

Of an executable strike if need be.

We know we have to go and shoot rockets into the building.

♪

Narrator: The bronco's go-to weapons--

Its rockets, roughly three and a half feet long.

Huppert: These are the rocket pods that the bronco carried.

These are seven-shot rocket pods,

But they also make big barrel ones,

Which are up to 19-shot rocket pods.

Narrator: Two short stub wings, called sponsons,

Are on each side of the aircraft.

Together, they give the bronco another 300 pounds of firepower.

Huppert: These are the ov-10 sponsons.

Basically they're a suitcase for our guns.

There's four 7.62 mini guns with 500 rounds apiece per gun.

Underneath the sponson also is a hard point,

Outboard and inboard, where we can hang external stores,

Sensors, bombs, rockets, or missiles.

Whatever situation you were going into,

You could load the airplane up.

Narrator: For combat dragon ii, the rockets are modified

With a new feature, designed specifically for urban combat.

It's called the advanced precision kill weapon system.

Clay: It's a derivation of the old unguided rocket

That we'd been flying for ages and ages.

We unscrew the warhead off of the front,

Screw on a laser guidance package,

And then put the warhead on top of that.

Narrator: These laser-guided rockets explode

With surgical accuracy.

Their blast radius is just 15 feet.

At least that's what ov-10 pilots hope.

These new guided rockets haven't been used in combat.

It's up to the broncos of combat dragon ii

To find out if they really work.

High above mosul, the ov-10 team radios the command center,

Checking to see if they've been cleared to make the strike.

Clay: We have to make sure

That we're not going to harm anybody else.

Let's make sure we're not going to damage any other structures.

We have another two and a half hours of fuel

On board this aircraft, so we're not in any hurry.

Let's make sure we get this one right.

Narrator: Intelligence verifies that the men in the building

Are isis insurgents,

And gives the bronco the ok to fire.

The bronco crew knows that this is their moment of truth.

Shooting a rocket into a building in an urban area

Is the kind of mission

That only a close-in attack aircraft could do.

The bronco crew gets ready to fire.

A lot's riding on what happens next.

Clay: From the time that you fire,

You have about 20, 25 seconds.

It's the 25 seconds

Of it's going to either make this program

Or it's going to break this program.

♪

Narrator: August 2015.

Mosul, iraq.

An ov-10 bronco fires three laser-guided rockets

Into a building filled with isis insurgents.

[explosions]

Clay: They actually detonated inside,

So it trapped the isis members inside.

We saw how the concept of light attack works

And how we can make sure that the people that we need to kill

Are going to be the ones that we kill.

Narrator: The bronco's success

Catches the pentagon's attention.

Perhaps a low-cost aircraft can fight in an urban war

And succeed.

Clay: It was a huge win for that aircrew.

It was a huge win for the ov-10.

It's that type of artisan professionalism

That has made the ov-10 combat dragon ii program a success.

Narrator: The ov-10 was just a call away

When america's allies needed it.

But the concept of air assistance took flight

Almost 100 years ago.

Darrel whitcomb: The idea of using power from above

To help the ground forces

Goes back to the beginning of aviation.

Narrator: Colonel darrel whitcomb

Is an air force historian and author

Who served three tours of duty in vietnam.

Whitcomb: Once we had aircraft,

We realized that this had direct application

In the field of battle,

Because now we have these devices

Which will allow us to outflank our enemy from above.

Narrator: In world war I,

Aviators bomb and strafe enemy soldiers...

[explosion]

Barely coordinating with troops on the ground.

[gun fires]

By the end of the war,

There's no doubt that aircraft are a powerful new weapon.

But turf wars in the army air corps

Lead to squabbles about how to use them.

Some see planes as a mobile artillery force

To support the army's movement.

Others want to bomb far behind the front lines,

And believe that airpower

Will soon make the ground war obsolete.

Whitcomb: Aviation-minded generals said, wait a minute,

We can do a lot more with those aircraft

Than support the ground forces.

We could go in, and we could bomb their supply depots,

Troop convoys, fuel supply lines,

Fuel supply depots,

So that we don't have to fight tomorrow's battle.

Narrator: At the start of world war ii,

The army air corps sends attack planes and bombers

Deep into enemy territory,

Leaving front line troops largely on their own.

Roger connor: Airplanes would attack key infrastructure,

Like bridges or road junctions,

And it would attack columns on the March.

Narrator: Roger connor is a curator

In the national air and space museum's aeronautics department.

Connor: They were not designed for attacking troops

In the field, because often they couldn't put their bombs

Within more than a half mile of their intended aim point.

Narrator: The army comes up with a solution:

Giving soldiers a two-way radio

So they can talk to fighter-bombers

To call in strikes.

Connor: The coordinates of an enemy position were given out,

And it was entirely up to the pilot to try and figure out

What they were shooting at

And how to approach that target and what weapons to use.

Narrator: Allowing an infantryman

To call in air strikes proves dangerous.

Misjudging where to drop ordnance

Too often leads to friendly fire.

Whitcomb: That was always a very serious concern,

Because when you're conducting an airstrike,

The ordnance that you put in

Doesn't really care who it kills.

Connor: The problem was that they would have no understanding

Of how the aircraft performed.

They didn't understand what the pilot would see from the air.

Narrator: In normandy,

Generals fine tune the close air support concept.

The soldier gets replaced with an air corps pilot,

And the air strikes' accuracy immediately improves.

Connor: Because he knew the performance of the aircraft

And he knew how to set up an attack,

He could talk that pilot

Precisely onto that enemy position

And engage it in the most effective manner possible.

Narrator: The position soon gets a name: Forward air controller.

It becomes part of the allies' strategy for winning the war.

It appears that the air-ground relationship

Is finally on the right track.

But as soon as the war is over,

Aviation-minded generals push

For a different kind of airpower to be the star.

Whitcomb: There were those who felt that long range bombing

Was such a unique mission that it had to have its own service,

And so that led, ultimately,

To the creation of the air force in 1947.

Narrator: The new air force quickly builds up its fleet

Of high-flying bombers.

They believe that wars will be won with airpower,

Not by troops on the ground.

The army doesn't agree

And worries that their soldiers will be left out.

Whitcomb: One of the things that was not really sorted out

Was this idea of the effective use of u.S. Air force firepower

Now in support of the united states army.

They hadn't really thought down to the idea

Of who would support the army forces in the field.

Connor: Everything now was oriented towards nuclear combat,

Strategic bombers, and even the development of missiles.

And the idea of close supporting troops in the field

Really kind of receded into the background.

Narrator: 1950. Korea.

The united states sends troops into south korea

To fight back an invasion from the communist north.

Air force generals soon find

It's a tough place for an air campaign.

Connor: Forces were moving rapidly,

And they were moving over terrain

That was mapped quite poorly.

So, it was very difficult for the pilot

To sort out friend from foe.

Whitcomb: At one point,

General macarthur was so concerned about this

That he didn't even want the air force

Flying anywhere near the front lines.

Narrator: It's a huge blow to the fledgling air force.

They scramble for a quick solution.

Connor: The tactics used in normandy

Did not work in this situation,

Because the front lines were changing so fast,

And because jet aircraft were now moving,

Covering a lot more ground than they had before.

So, a new type of forward air controller was required.

Narrator: The air force soon has a brainstorm--

To put the forward air controller in the air

Rather than on the ground.

They turn to the t-6 texan,

An aircraft used to train pilots since before world war ii.

Connor: It was certainly an obsolete aircraft.

But it had a good combination of speed, visibility.

You could put a rear observer in there with a radio

And talk these fast-moving jets onto a target

In fairly short order.

So, it was making the best of a bad situation.

Narrator: The t-6s log thousands of hours,

Completing 40,000 sorties in support of ground troops.

Whitcomb: The need for the forward air controller

Had become obvious.

However, after the war was over,

It was kind of like we forgot all of that,

And the old rivalries

Between the air force and the army

About who controls what and when

Were never really, really resolved.

Narrator: In 1956, the united states military

Holds a conference in seoul

To discuss the future of forward air control.

But no agreement on the ground-air doctrine

Can be reached.

Whitcomb: Unfortunately we had to learn that again.

We had to learn it the hard way.

[gunfire]

Narrator: December 1961.

Vietnam.

The south struggles to defend itself against guerrilla attacks

From the communist north.

President kennedy commits to expanding support

For america's southern allies.

Yet again, america's air force finds that the planes they have

Aren't right for the job.

Whitcomb: One of the challenges that we immediately recognized

Was the fact that we're dealing in a jungle environment.

And we're dealing with guerrilla forces.

Connor: Fighting rebels in the jungle

Falls under the category of counterinsurgency warfare.

It means fighting an enemy

That's often carrying all their supplies on their back

In jungle that might hide their movements.

And so, an airplane is a very useful tool,

Because, particularly if you can get down low enough,

You can spot things

That might not be visible at all from the ground.

Narrator: By 1963, the air force

Has almost 5,000 airmen in vietnam...

And brings in an observation plane called the o-1 bird dog

To help ground troops call in strikes.

Whitcomb: Forward air controllers

Were flying the o-1 because that's what we had.

But as the war wore on,

It became obvious that the o-1s were not sufficient

For what we needed to do.

Narrator: The o-1 has no armor and no weapons,

Making it vulnerable to artillery fire.

Over 450 are shot down over the course of the war.

Whitcomb: It was obvious we needed something else.

We needed something that could fly higher, a little bit faster,

Had longer range,

And had some ability to deliver some light strike.

Connor: There just wasn't an aircraft like that

In the inventory at the time.

And going forward,

The requirements for a counterinsurgency aircraft

Began to evolve.

Narrator: Late 1963.

The department of defense requests design proposals

For a light attack counterinsurgency aircraft.

The winner: North american aviation's ov-10,

An aircraft developed in the garage of marine corps aviators

Major w.H. Beckett and lieutenant colonel k.P. Rice.

Connor: Rice and beckett realized

That counterinsurgency warfare was getting to be a big thing.

And they understood that if you could have an aircraft

That could operate from short strips,

Was easy to maintain, easy to fly,

And could carry pretty good payloads,

It could be a formidable opponent on the battlefield.

Narrator: In 1965, the ov-10 bronco

Has its first test flight in columbus, ohio...

Undergoing extensive trials

To ensure its ruggedness and reliability.

♪

By 1968, the military takes ownership

Of the brand new aircraft.

Its destination: Vietnam.

1968.

The mekong delta.

U.S. Navy river boats patrol the vast system of waterways,

Trying to prevent the communist vietcong

From moving weapons and supplies.

Whitcomb: The mekong delta was a guerrilla-type war.

And over the years, the united states navy

Was taking their navy seal teams down there

And doing a lot of special operations.

Narrator: Providing air support,

Uh-1b huey gunships, called seawolves.

The seawolves fight tough,

But the navy doesn't have enough of them.

Their other problem: Limited weapons and range.

What the navy needs is a fixed-wing attack squadron

That can fly low and provide enough firepower

To keep navy vessels safe.

They set their sights on the brand new ov-10.

March 1969.

Binh thuy, vietnam.

The 36 naval officers and 110 enlisted men

Of the navy's new ov-10 light attack squadron four

Arrive, ready for battle.

Kit lavell: We called ourselves the black ponies,

Because the ov-10 is called the bronco.

Narrator: Lieutenant kit lavell flew 243 missions

With the black ponies in the mekong delta.

Lavell: On the side of the aircraft we had a black pony.

We used the ov-10 unlike anybody used the ov-10 before.

We were the only user to use it as an attack aircraft.

We took the aircraft and put a lot of things on that aircraft

That it was not designed to do.

Narrator: The ponies fly heavy.

19 2.75-inch rockets

And 16 supersonic 5-inch zuni rockets

Are the usual load.

Lavell: The way we used them, they were very accurate.

The zuni rockets is what everybody on the ground

Really wanted when we came in

To fly close air support for them.

Narrator: The black ponies quickly become

The guardian angels for the troops on the ground.

In their first two years, they log over 39,000 flight hours

And destroy over 6,500 enemy outposts.

Lavell: We would check in with all of the units,

Every unit we could think of, all the boats, you know,

The swift boats, the patrol boats,

And would try to find some business.

Narrator: November 1971.

The base gets word that there are troops in contact.

Lavell and his wingman answer the call.

Lavell: About one o'clock in the morning

I was awakened from a deep sleep.

It was a base being overrun by north vietnamese soldiers.

We were needed to get out there

And save them from being overrun.

Narrator: Lavell and his wingman bolt out the door

And head straight for their planes.

Six minutes later,

They find themselves flying over a pitch-black jungle,

Scanning desperately for the friendly base.

[radio chatter]

After nearly three years of combat,

They can tell where they're headed, even at night.

Lavell: I knew all of the little,

We called them squigglies, you know,

Little tributaries of canals and rivers and streams.

You would know from practicing this,

And looking at it, and flying it so often,

You would know it day and night.

Narrator: Finally, a glowing red spot in the forest

Catches their attention.

Man on radio: Ok, 1-1-2, that's it,

If you can see the fire down there.

Lavell: We found the forward firebase

Quite by accident, almost.

It was burning in the middle.

Narrator: The ground controller radios in with the story.

Man on radio: We're still receiving it--

Automatic weapons fire.

Narrator: The vietcong have destroyed the base

In an all-out attack.

Now the friendlies hide in the jungle,

Surrounded and waiting for the ov-10s' help.

Lavell: They had been receiving mortar fire.

And they left the base

Because they were being mortared and machine-gunned.

There were three sets of bad guys

Converging on the good guys.

Narrator: Locating the troops is difficult.

The jungle canopy hides much of the action below.

If they want to provide close air support,

The ov-10s first have to light up the ground.

Lavell: You had to know where the good guys were,

You had to know where the bad guys were.

You had to have positive identification of that

Before you could prosecute a target.

Narrator: The solution: Paraflares--

Phosphorus flares on small white parachutes.

A 30-second burn means lavell has to spot his target quickly.

Lavell: It had a million candlepower of light.

Very, very, very bright.

And it would swing, and it would throw shadows on the ground.

Narrator: But lavell and his wingman

Know that the light is a double-edged sword.

Lavell: The problem with that, though,

Is it made us sitting ducks.

Because as soon as we drop a flare,

Then the bad guys on the ground can see us.

When we're under 3,000 feet or so,

You know that they can get you with ak-47s.

Narrator: The vietcong unleash relentless machine gun fire

Upon the ov-10s.

The aircraft quickly maneuver, trying to avoid the enemy fire.

Lavell: We were jinking the aircraft around.

We'd drop the nose, turn left, turn right, pull up.

You try to play hide-and-seek from the enemy.

Narrator: Lavell and his wingman reset

With a new sense of purpose.

The flares offer just enough light

For lavell to get a glimpse of the friendlies.

Radioing the ground controller confirms the location...

And a problem.

The vietcong are just 300 feet away.

Lavell readies his rockets and does a quick calculation.

The trapped soldiers are too close to the enemy

To guarantee they'll survive a rocket blast.

Lavell: The first thing that came through my mind

Was they're inside that kill radius.

About three meters above the ground it will explode.

And if you're inside that, you know,

The probability of you getting killed

Is about, I think, six-tenths or seven-tenths.

Narrator: Lavell radios the soldiers to share the bad news.

Man on radio: Five, seven recoilless in there. Over.

Narrator: The friendlies counter with a desperate plea.

Enemy soldiers are closing in fast.

If lavell doesn't take action,

There's no way that the friendlies will last.

Lavell carefully prepares his rockets to fire.

[firing]

This will be the test of his life.

[gunfire]

Lavell: It's missions like this that stick with you,

And those are the ones that I wake up thinking about

Or dreaming about still 46 years later.

[explosion]

♪

Narrator: November 1971.

U minh forest, vietnam.

[rockets firing]

Lieutenant kit lavell fires a pod of zuni rockets

Straight into enemy troops

And perilously close to the friendlies they are attacking.

The radio is silent.

Lavell waits anxiously.

Then...

Man on radio: Ok, 1-1-2, that's it.

Lavell: As we were orbiting, we got the radio call.

And he said, "you're released from the target.

Good job, black ponies."

We took it to mean that we did what we needed to do.

Huge sigh of relief.

Narrator: Lavell and his team head back to their base,

Exhausted.

Lavell: We were drained.

We were just so tired.

Narrator: But the night is only just beginning.

Lavell: We were about six minutes away

From being back at the base,

When we got a call over the radio

Saying, "black ponies, can you come back?"

At first we thought, are you asking us to come back

After we rearm and refuel?

But then we realized, by the tone of his voice,

That no, he meant right now.

[gunfire]

Narrator: A group of north vietnamese troops

Has survived lavell's strike and is barreling down

Upon the friendly forces trapped in the base.

Lavell immediately turns his ov-10 around,

But makes a horrific discovery.

Lavell: I realized, well, we didn't have any ammunition.

Narrator: The black ponies must make a difficult decision.

Lavell consults his wingman.

Lavell: I said, "what do you think?"

And bubba said, "hey, we got flares."

I knew exactly what was going through bubba's head.

Narrator: Lavell and his wingman decide to use

Their remaining paraflares to trick the enemy

Into thinking they are a fresh pair of planes.

Lavell: You know, they have to assume the worst,

That we're different aircraft, and we're all armed and ready

To do, you know, exactly what the first group of pilots did.

Our intention was to totally disorient

What was left of the enemy there,

To make them think that we could put in a full air strike.

Narrator: As they approach the outpost,

Lavell and his wingman precisely mimic their actions

From their last air strike.

Lavell: So, when we came back,

We did the initial flying over the outpost,

Like we did the first time.

We went and dropped the flares right on top of these guys,

From a couple of different directions,

Until we got them all dropped.

And that seemed to do the trick.

Narrator: Paraflares rain down upon the enemy,

Tricking them into thinking another air strike is imminent.

The south vietnamese use the confusion to their advantage,

Launching a stiff defense against remaining enemy forces.

Lavell: We orbited high for a couple of minutes,

And then we got the word from the, the senior advisor

That, "you did a good job, black ponies."

That gave us, you know, kind of the, the assurances

That the bad guys were getting away from there, retreating.

Narrator: Lavell and his squadron head for home,

Having used every last one of their munitions.

Back at base, lavell learns

That every friendly survived the attack.

Lavell: In the middle of the combat mission,

You don't have a chance to think about things,

And if you did, you're probably doing something wrong.

But on the way back, or once you get on the ground,

You think about it, it's a lot different.

Narrator: For his actions that day,

Lavell receives the distinguished flying cross.

The ov-10 bronco helps the black ponies cement their legacy

As an elite fighting force.

Lavell: The ov-10, the way that the black ponies flew it

In vietnam, was the perfect close air support aircraft.

It saved a lot of lives.

I still have a placard that I have at my office,

46 years later, and it says when you're out of ov-10s,

You're out of close air support.

Narrator: While the ov-10 fights its way across the mekong delta

With the black ponies,

The air force comes up with other ways to use the new plane.

Connor: Because the ov-10 was built

With a fairly spacious airframe,

And because it had been built with a lot of hard points,

It was easy to modify.

Narrator: In 1971, the air force modifies 15 ov-10s

With new equipment

To increase their precision strike capabilities.

The project is called pave nail.

When a modified ov-10 teams up with an f-4 fighter-bomber,

The result is an extremely accurate air attack.

Here's how it works:

The weapons systems officer in the ov-10

Detects an enemy target using a scope

And designates it with a laser.

The laser communicates with a long range navigation system

Called a loran.

The ov-10's loran receiver

Uses radio signals from ground transmitter stations

To pinpoint the target's exact coordinates.

The ov-10 crew passes the information

To the crew of an f-4,

Who feed the data into their weapons delivery system.

The f-4 crew positions their aircraft,

And the ov-10 crew laser designates the target.

Then, the f-4 releases its laser-guided bomb.

The ov-10 crew keeps the laser fixed on the target,

Guiding the bomb to its final destination.

[boom]

♪

Whitcomb: Initially, the goal was to use them

To better find and destroy trucks

Along the ho chi minh trail.

We start monkeying with this stuff and realize,

Hey, this machine can do a lot more

Than just go out and find trucks to destroy.

Narrator: Ov-10 pilots soon discover

That the pave nail system is uniquely equipped

For another key mission: Search and rescue.

April 1972.

The north vietnamese army launches an offensive

Against the south vietnamese and their u.S. Allies.

It's the largest attack in the war.

Three days in, they manage to shoot down

An american douglas eb-66 destroyer.

[explosion]

The navigator has top secret information

About the united states' electronic warfare program.

His capture would be a huge advantage for enemy forces.

The air force knows that its high-flying fighters

Can't get low enough to pinpoint the downed airman's location.

They call on the one plane that can: The ov-10 bronco.

A day after the shootdown,

Two pave nail ov-10 pilots gear up

To take part in a massive search and rescue operation.

Richard atchison: We were not about to leave

Any survivor on the ground.

No, we will go to the ends of the earth to pull somebody out.

Narrator: Captain richard atchison

Flew in the 23rd tactical air support squadron in vietnam.

Atchison: I knew as an ov-10 weapons systems officer

That we had to go in,

Because we were the one that could precisely locate him

And then kill the guns, cut the roads,

Anything that you can do to keep the bad guys off of him.

Narrator: Just before sunrise, the ov-10s head into vietnam.

Their first task: Pinpointing the downed airman's location.

They rely on their loran device to navigate the jungle below.

Atchison: We knew the general area that he was in.

So, I felt very confident in our capability to find the survivor.

Narrator: Atchison radios down to the airman,

Letting him know they'll be coming in low.

Atchison: We just dove down and then came right back up again.

And when he said, "you're over the top of me,"

We hit the reference button on the loran system

So that we did get a very accurate location.

Narrator: A close look at the ground

Tells the ov-10s right away

That saving the downed airman is going to be a challenge.

He's stuck on the wrong side

Of a north vietnamese offensive thrust, 30,000 men strong.

Atchison: We could see an awful lot of enemy forces

On the ground--trucks, tanks, that type of thing--

Moving through that area.

We had no idea that we were facing that size of an enemy.

Pretty evident that this was going to be one fistfight.

Man on radio: Guys, keep it open,

Keep your eyes open, keep it moving.

Narrator: The pave nails quickly activate their system

And start clearing in flights of loran-equipped f-4 phantoms.

Atchison: We started doing

Our normal forward air controller duties,

Which is to destroy targets.

It was a very target-rich environment.

Narrator: For the rest of the day,

American forces work the ground over,

Taking out as many north vietnamese forces

As they possibly can.

♪

[explosion]

The broncos act as forward air controllers,

Managing the battle space and marking the targets

For the f-4s to fly in and drop bombs.

Atchison: We had navy and air force aircraft

Dropping bombs on those targets.

We were kind of the orchestrator.

Narrator: Bronco pilots fly on rotation,

Hoping to bring in a rescue chopper

As soon as it's safe.

Atchison: When we felt that we needed to take a break,

We would go back out over the water north of da nang,

Orbit over the ships, take a drink of water,

Do whatever we wanted to do,

And then when we felt like we were ready to go,

We'd just turn around and go right back in.

[explosion]

Man on radio: Straight ahead about 400 meters.

Narrator: A day later, the downed airman

Is still in enemy territory, and the ov-10s are getting weary.

North vietnamese anti-aircraft weapons offer non-stop attacks.

Atchison: I can remember being shot at with two missiles.

The first one we saw, came up and arced over the aircraft

And came right down toward us.

And I looked at that,

And I thought, man, this is going to hurt.

And that missile went off and just went like this.

The fragments came out and stopped

Before it got to our aircraft.

Narrator: Midway through the day,

Atchison heads back to base.

Another ov-10 comes in to relieve him.

Moments later, his radio crackles

With the worst kind of news:

The ov-10 has just been shot down.

Two of his pave nail brothers

Are now somewhere in north vietnamese territory, too.

Atchison: If you're going to go into a fight,

Then you're going to have to expect

Some losses in that fight,

But what we were doing, it wasn't working.

We knew that.

Narrator: Three downed american crewmen.

30,000 north vietnamese soldiers.

With the rescue mission swiftly going downhill,

Ov-10 pilots will need to come up with a new plan, and fast.

♪

1972.

South vietnam.

Captain richard atchison and his ov-10 bronco

Are trying to rescue three downed americans,

Surrounded by over 30,000 enemy soldiers.

Atchison: There was no doubt in any one of our minds

That we were going to do whatever needed to be done

To get them out.

[anti-aircraft fire]

Narrator: Five days after the first crewman is downed,

The mission takes a turn for the worse.

The air force brings in

A super jolly green giant helicopter

To attempt a rescue.

The north vietnamese are ready.

They greet it with a barrage of anti-aircraft fire.

It erupts into a giant fireball, killing all six men aboard.

Atchison: After the jolly got shot down,

We had to come to the conclusion

That we did not have enough aircraft

To continue to support this.

That you were losing too many airplanes.

So, we needed to have a new plan.

Narrator: American forces come up with a new strategy:

While rescue choppers try to locate the newly downed aircrew,

The downed navigator will slowly make his way

Out of enemy territory

With the ov-10 as his guide.

Atchison: We provided him with the information

On the direction he should go.

We did not stay over him,

Because we did not want to compromise him.

But we were always there in case he got in trouble,

We could go in and help him.

[radio chatter]

Narrator: Ov-10s feed instructions

To the airman on the ground,

Using their pave nail system to carry out strikes

If the enemy gets too close.

Man on radio: We got him! Look at that beauty go!

[explosions]

Narrator: On April 12, 10 days after being shot down,

The navigator is finally rescued by american forces.

It becomes known as bat-21,

The largest air rescue mission of the vietnam war.

The other two downed aircrew also survive,

Although one is captured and remains a p.O.W.

For the rest of the war.

Over the course of the war,

Broncos are a key part of search and rescue operations

And destroy numerous enemy convoys.

Whitcomb: If you think of airpower as a fist,

The ov-10 was the finger of the fist.

We were the ones who found the targets and pointed the way.

We were the key link between our air and ground forces,

And I think that, more than anything else, is our legacy.

Narrator: By the time the war ends,

Vietnamese surface-to-air missiles

Have become too much of a threat to the low-flying plane,

Shooting down almost 70% of the 81 ov-10 broncos lost.

Whitcomb: We realized that there were areas

That were just too dangerous, even for the ov-10s.

Narrator: After vietnam,

The air force retires the bronco for good.

The marine corps keeps faith,

Modifying 17 broncos for better performance after dark.

These new ov-10ds are equipped with bigger engines

And an infrared observation system.

In 1991, the marine corps gives the bronco

Another shot at glory,

Deploying two ov-10 units in operation desert storm.

The sa-7 surface-to-air missile quickly halts their heroics.

Whitcomb: They were absolutely devastating

For aircraft like the ov-10.

We had no warning device

Other than visually seeing the missiles themselves.

Narrator: In just a month, two have been shot down.

The bronco is removed from the front lines.

Whitcomb: I think it was pretty obvious

That after desert storm

Aerial warfare had kind of passed the ov-10 by.

Narrator: In 1995, after 27 years of service,

The ov-10 bronco is officially retired.

Since then, the versatile ov-10

Has enjoyed a robust civilian life.

Broncos are a key part

Of the state department's anti-drug efforts in colombia.

Nasa uses the aircraft for aeronautical research.

And in california, 15 ov-10s fly

With the department of forestry and fire protection.

In 2015, the bronco comes out of retirement--

Navy and special operations commanders send it to iraq.

The ov-10s exceed expectations,

Racking up 134 sorties and 120 combat missions

Over 82 days.

Inspired by the bronco's success,

The air force is considering adding

A permanent light attack aircraft to its arsenal.

Clay: They're asking for upwards of $4 billion

To buy somewhere in the number of 300 light attack aircraft,

And hopefully see something like the ov-10.

Narrator: In almost 50 years of existence,

The ov-10 has proven to be a tough and reliable fighter.

Lavell: The ov-10 looked a lot like a guppy,

But it fought like a shark.

It saved a lot of lives.

♪

[explosions]

Narrator: It's a legendary aircraft--

Versatile, brave,

And flown by some of america's toughest pilots.

Atchison: It was an aircraft that you could take

Just about anywhere and use it.

Narrator: The ov-10...

A guardian angel of metal and glass,

Hovering over the battlefield

And delivering just what the ground troops need.