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Bronco Fest III Pictures
October 19-21, 2001 Ft. Worth, TX, USA |
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Bronco Fest III Pictures
October 19-21, 2001 Ft. Worth, TX, USA |
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Here are the photos that I (Merlin) took at BroncoFest III, presented in chronological order. Click on the thumbnails below to view the full-size picture. All of the full-size pictures are a maximum of 600 pixels high, 800 pixels wide, and less than 80KB each.
| Downtown Ft. Worth Friday, October 19, 2001 | |||
Downtown Ft. Worth is a friendly, clean place that had many interesting sights. The front of a local theater bears these two majestic angels to trumpet the latest performance. |
Another view of the angels. |
I'd say that these figures stand approximately 50 feet high. Very beautiful, and very impressive! |
There are two twin skyscrapers that dominate the Ft. Worth skyline; which have some interesting geomeetry to them. |
On March 28, 2000, a tornado tore through downtown Ft. Worth, causing immense amounts of damage. (Hail up to 8x10 inches in size from this storm also severely damaged TAC's OV-10 and broke 167 windows at the VFM hangar, both located at Meacham Field.) I was told that this storm damaged this building so badly that it is being demolished rather than rebuilt. This was the only remaining evidence of storm damage that I saw during my trip. |
This is a very large, impressive painting commemmorating the Chisholm Trail. It really looks 3-dimensional! |
While BroncoFest was going on, there was an art festival going on one block away. This fascinating piece of rolling bovinity drew lots of attention. |
The Ft. Worth courthouse is an impressive piece of architecture that dominates the local area. |
This armored guard was hired to protect a local building from the flying dragons that kept landing in the attic to eat lucnh, but kept accidentally setting fire to it when they reheated their food. |
So that's how anthrax gets into the mail! This is another of the many Texas-sized tributes to cattledom. The horns and tail contained a substance that looked for all the world like, well, something very cow-related. I ran into the landscaping crew later that day and asked about it, and the lady in charge of this spectacle said that it was just dried moss. I told her she oughta put some moss on the ground behind the bull, just to amuse the tourists. She seemed to have a twinkle in her eye that said she just might try that one day. |
Yeehaaw!!! Hi-ho shrubbery, away! |
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| Flight-Suit Party Friday, October 19, 2001 | |||
OBA Museum Curator Garry Goff created this patriotic display representing all the services that flew the OV-10. It obviously drew many positive comments. |
Here is the table where donated items that people brought in were displayed. There were many articles, manuals, photos, a shirt and even some bumper stickers contributed. |
Longtime OBA members Jim and Carolyn Carlton travelled to BroncoFest from Washington State. Jim was a Nail FAC. |
Emerson Smith and his lovely wife Elizabeth on the way to the Friday night party. |
Joe Copalman heads for the party. Why he was trying to look so serious, the world may never know. |
OBA Veep Tom Kemp and his wonderful wife Ruth chat at the Friday party. |
OBA Chaplain Howard Pierson poses with his dad, Pops Pierson. Howard was the next-to-last FAC to come back over the fence in Vietnam... his backseater was actually the last guy! |
Bronco Bill, aka Pops Pierson, is 103 years old... and he's just getting started! He's been known to go to events and quickly have all the young ladies wrapped around his finger. Pops is a fascinating guy to talk to, and we are blessed to have him in our group. |
Bronco engine rep Jack Norton (left) chats with Maney Aircraft's Larry Hustad. |
From left to right: Mike "Ichiban" Stirling, Bill Sleigh, Jim Lucas, and OBA Listkeeper Eric "Benjie" Raymond. |
The OBA is made up of a wide variety of folks. Ken Semmler (left) came to Texas all the way from Australia, and flew Broncos in Vietnam while he was an RAAF officer attached to a USAF unit. OBA researcher Joe Copalman (center) is a civilian from Phoenix Arizona, who is recording all of the things that the backseaters did in the OV-10. Gordy "Bear" Evans (right) is a VMO-2 Marine from California, who was elected to the OBA Board of Directors the day before this picture was taken. |
Joe Copalman (left) talks to Heath "Heeter" Thomas. |
While their hubbies catch up with old friends, some of the ladies get together to share a few war stories of their own. From left to right: Ruth Kemp, Marlyn Tabor, Carolyn Carlton, and Margaret Goff. |
Jack Goodman (left) chats with Terry Tabor (right) at the party. Jack came all the way from his home in Merry Olde England for BroncoFest. |
After beating Igor into submission, the lovely and telented Camille Burin takes a moment to make sure that Warren "Wild Man" McGowan stays in line. |
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| Breakfast and Briefing Saturday, October 20, 2001 | |||
Saturday's breakfast was well-attended and the food was tasty! The event saw presentations by the OBA Board, the GWOBA, and the VWOBA. |
Many people spoke at the Saturday morning breakfast, ably emceed by BroncoFest coordinator Jim "Boomer" Bloomberg. |
Tammi Bush gives a presentation about Maney Aircraft during the Saturday breakfast. Maney is our longest-running corporate sponsor and underwrites the Bronco Flyer, as well as sponsoring the Hospitality Sutieee (aka The Hootch.) |
The German Wing showed a very professional video that chronicled the journey from obtaining their airplanes through the ferry flights to Duxford, which happened shortly before BroncoFest. We hope to have this video available for purchase soon... it had music, professional narration, and often showed many details that are of real interest to OV-10 lovers. |
Tony De Bruyn and wife adjust the projector for the video part of their presentation. |
Joe Copalman work his magic to improve the sound for the GWOBA presentation. After a small amount of experimentation with the assistance of Bill Sleigh, we got it set up just right for the remainder of the presentation. |
FAV 1st Lt. Angel Condi addresses attendees at Saturday's breakfast meeting, pointing out that America's Bronco past is Venezuela's present. |
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| The Hootch | |||
A typical scene from the hootch. The partying went on until the wee hours of the morning! |
Grump, Bear and Igor check out the hootch. |
Gary "Niedermeyer" Goff took on the ambitious task of accurately mapping out all OV-10 bases and losses during Vietnam and the Gulf War, which are color-coded as to the circumstances and status of the crews. This was a very impressive effort... Bravo Zulu! |
We heard that there was once an incident involving Bear, a bathtub, iced liquor, and a party hootch. So, we made sure that alternate accommodations were available. As OBA president, Tim Sikorski got the unfortunate task of enforcing the rules. |
We even had some items from the other side on display in the hootch. |
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| Museum Tour Saturday, October 20, 2001 | |||
The group arrives at the VFM hangar on Saturday morning, gathering in front of "Chuckie", the only flyable B-17 formation ship. Notice that Chuckie is getting an engine repaired. |
The Venezuelan Air Force contingent in the OBA museum. L-R: Macedonio Cierpa, Luis Mendoza, Angel Condi, Jorge Galvis. |
Now here's a slice of history!! While Fred Stratman looks on, NAA engineer Emerson Smith examines the mockup's canopy latch. Emerson was on the OV-10 design team and was there when the mockup was first built... he never expected to see it again 35 years later! |
Here's the mockup's cargo bay, with a bunch of random mockup parts & pieces stored within. |
A view of the flap assembly. Note the shaped wooden slot on the leading edge. |
The front cockpit of the mockup. As you can see, this will someday make an excellent "get inside and sit down" display! |
The group was very impressed with the mockup!! I think we were all taken aback by how close to a "real" airplane it is. |
Ken Semmler poses in front of the tailboom assemblies. |
MaryAnn Harrison poses with the mockup. Her late husband, Marshall Harrison, authored the excellent book A Lonely Kind of War about his OV-10 FAC experiences in Vietnam. |
The nose of the Bronco mockup is made of fiberglass, similar to the production part. It seems to have fared fairly well over the last few decades, although it has shed most of the exterior paint. |
This is one of the most fascinating pieces of the mockup. The nosewheel is actually a solid, turned piece of wood! Hopefully we can reproduce this piece accurately if it can't be repaired, as this is an innovative and eye-catching piece of craftsmanship. |
A view of the major assemblies, except for the fuselage. Note how the horizontal stabilizer (resting on top of the wing) has large fairings and a different design than what actually went into production. |
Here's a shot of a sponson. At this stage of development, the sponsons were flat. After flight testing of the prototype, they were changed to the canted-downwards design seen in all production aircraft, in order to aid separation of the stores. |
Another shot of the sponson with the gun access door open. The M-60 machine guns were simulated inside the sponsons with wooden replicas! The final production versions, in addition to being canted downwards, had a single large door covering both guns. |
Here is the right-side fin and rudder assembly, still bearing the original "Tri-Service" logo. |
Here is a fragment of the wooden elevator trim tab, split and decayed after so many years. There are several large pieces that will have to be re-created based on relatively small surviving portions of the airframe. |
Tony De Bruyn and wife Edith inspect the wing mount area of the fuselage. |
The front of the wing mount. |
The wing root, showing some of the control linkages. |
The wing of the mockup still has the original insignia, faded but recognizable. |
Here you can see the pulley for the aileron cables in the wing of the mockup. |
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| Alliance International Airshow Saturday, October 20, 2001 | |||
Few things are as American as aviation! |
This is the same Antonov An-124 that brought the Navy EP-3 home from China. It's a really neat airplane!! It seemed slightly bigger than a C-5, and it even has an overhead crane that traverses the entire cargo bay on rails. Here you can see the outright massive main wheel assembly... most Russian military aircraft are designed to be able to operate from less-than-ideal surfaces. |
What better way to be patriotic than watch the Blue Angels?!This was their first performance since the September 11th terrorist attacks, and they put on a great show. They even concluded with a missing man formation. |
Are these guys good or what? |
The Blue Angels going over the top. |
Sometimes you can see the shadows of the smoke on the clouds. |
The Blue Angels cross in front of the sun. |
You know, OBA Director Ashby Shoop works for Boeing... and this is a Lockheed airplane. Hmmmmmmmmm... |
While the current events kept the numbers of static aircraft displays down from previous years, there were still many interesting planes available. This is a particularly colorful S-3 Viking anti-submarine aircraft. |
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| Saturday Night Banquet Saturday, October 20, 2001 | |||
Jim "Boomer" Bloomberg, OBA's BroncoFest coordinator, checks his watch. Boomer did a great job of keeping the events moving along smoothly all weekend long! |
Camille and Chuck "Igor" Burin pause for a photo break. |
There was a lot of socializing at the Saturday night banquet. |
"Yo, dude, what are yous lookin' at?" OBA researcher Joe Copalman smiles... er... poses for the camera. |
SandDollar presents German Wing OBA (GWOBA) leader Tony De bruyn with a plaque in recognition of their sucessful return of two OV-10Bs to flight. |
Ron Fix did most of the presentations with Grump assisting with handing out the plaques and certificates. We did, however, make sure that Jim didn't end up presenting himself with the Bronco Buster award plaque! |
Bill Sleigh addresses banquet attendees on behalf of the FAC Association. |
Australian OBA member Ken Semmler delivers a heartfelt message, and an Australian flag, to the group on behalf of the entire Australian FAC family. Ron "SandDollar" Fix looks on. Thanks, mate! |
Ron proudly announces the creation of the Venezuelan Wing of the OBA. As stated by 1Lt Condi, Bronco people worldwide are all one family. |
Jim accepts the Bronco Buster award for 2001. |
Jim "Grump" Hodgson says a few words after being presented with the 2001 Bronco Buster award. Jim tries to downplay his role, but don't let him fool you... he's truly the driving force behind much of what OBA is today! |
New OBA President Tim Sikorski addresses the banquet. |
Grump takes a break from overseeing the PX to chat with Jon Miller. |
Outgoing OBA President Ron "SandDollar" Fix and Venezuelan Air Force First Lt. Angel Condi prepare a toast with a fine gift from the Venezuelan contingent. |
Lendy Edwards, former president of the FAC Association, notices that one of our Bronco license plates is USAF bird 626. This is the plane which, thanks to the efforts of both of our groups, now sits proudly at the FAC Memorial Park at Hurlburt AFB. |
Ben and Carolyn Petty's kids did a great job in helping to make sure that everyone was in party mode! |
Mike "Wolfman 45" Brown and Jim Carlton catch up on things after the banquet. Mike was Steve Bennett's backseater during Bennett's Medal of Honor mission. |
The youngest and oldest OBA members: Robert "Moonman" Hodgson and Pops "I'm 103 and just getting started!" Pierson. |
Tammi Bush of Maney Aircraft and longtime OV-10 engine tech rep Jack Norton at the banquet. Tammi is the editor of the Bronco Flyer, the OBA's official newsletter. Jack became the main Garrett OV-10 engine technical representative when the Bronco program began - and to this day, he's still doing it! |
VWOBA meets GWOBA, and a good time was had by all! |
| The Bronco PX | |||
A tiny selection of the multitude of items available at the Bronco PX. |
Run by Grump with assistance from a cast of thousands, the OBA PX stayed active throughout BroncoFest and got rave reviews from attendees. From left to right: Warren McGowan, Joe Copalman, Lendy Edwards, Jim Hodgson, Tom Kemp. |
A shot of a nice desk display model of the YOV-10A prototype. This is the same aircraft that the mockup represents, even down to the serial number. I can vouch for this being a nice model... this photo is of the one I bought! You can get one too from the OBA PX. |
Chuck "Igor" Burin helps out in the Bronco PX, which was yet again extremely popular! |
OV-10 Bronco Association, Inc.
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| President: |
Jim "Grump" Hodgson |
Board of Directors:
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| Vice President: | Jim "Grump" Hodgson | |||||||
| Executive Director: | Jim "Grump" Hodgson | |||||||
| Treasurer: | Tom Kemp | |||||||
| Secretary: | Debbi Lambert | |||||||
 COLOMBIA Colombian Wing OBA Jorge Gutierrez President, CWOBA kfireto@hotmail.com |
  EUROPE / UK German Wing OBA Tony De Bruyn Commander, GWOBA P.O. Box 70 Zavenetem 1 B-1930 Zavenetem Belgium Phone: + 32 2 758 02 60 Fax: + 32 2 758 02 70 tony.debruyn@EurekaAviation.com |
 THE PHILIPPINES Philippine Wing OBA Capt. Silvestre U. Glinoga, Jr. Commander, PWOBA 16th Attack Squadron Sangley Air Base Cavite City, Philippines 4101 Phone: (006346) 431-1492 agila@cavite.net |
 VENEZUELA Venezuelan Wing OBA (Info coming soon) |
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