Evening Gents,

It just dawned on me that I may not have contacted each of you when you sent your applications in other than sending a receipt for you enlistment. Well, let me fix that.

On behalf of Mike Richardson, Jim Graham, Ron Fix and myself, WELCOME ABOARD!

The attached list constitutes the majority of the official members of the OV-10 Bronco Association. I will run each down in a second, but first here's what's up. Mike has closed on the hangar at Meacham Field in Fort Worth and we expect to move in later this month or in October. Mike plans to move into the 2,000 sf living space and is looking for some renters to help fill the 7,000 sf hangar until we fill it with OV-10's.

The airplane is in a hangar at Hicks Field in Saginaw and will have to be moved.

We've had a great piece of luck come our way. We were contacted a few months ago by Vince Sapero. Vince was a former Marine Sgt. Maj. with lots of OV back seat time. Vince works for American and was living in Tulsa. He heard about us and got so involved that he has taken a job here to help out. Unofficially he is our maintenance chief and will help Ron Fix, former Marine OV Maintenance Officer survey the airplane.

As you may or may not know, the airplane we have was an Air Force PAVE NAIL #799 that was transferred to the Marine Corps for SLEP, but wasn't. Mike and Jim rescued it at Langley where it was being used for spare parts. Anyway, some retired Raytheon people have found us and want to write a book on the whole PAVE NAIL thing. Seems most of there work took place at Meacham Field across from where we will be.

For those of you not familiar with Meacham, we are on the southwest, side right next to the tower and the Tarrant County Junior College Aero Tech Center. We've met some of the neighbors and there seems to be a chance of getting some educated assistance from the JC. We've also made some contacts with some O-1 and O-2 groups in the area. Lots of ideas are flowing but my guess is a fly-in of some sort in the spring is very likely. It seems FAC types have been looking for a place to call home for a long time and we might be it.

Next month in October, a mini reunion of sorts is shaping up here. Mike is working on getting Jack Ballard, world famous OV-10 Tech Rep here along with Ira Hughes of Rockwell to look over the airplane. Ron and my involvement with these two folks goes back to VMO-2 in the 70's. Chuck "Igor" Burin may also make an appearance I'm told. Chuck is the Association Historian. He helped write the Squadron Signal book on the OV and has histories on every OV built.

Later this month, Ron, Igor and I are going to Pensacola to officially announce the formation of the Association at the Marine Vietnam Helicopter Association reunion. In October, Darrel Whitcomb, "Nail 25" and a couple other interested parties are going to introduce us to the Air Force FAC Association reunion in Fort Walton Beach. Since we haven't officially announced our formation, I guess this makes you all plank owners, doesn't it?

Let's see, what else? We have been in contact with numerous Air Force, Navy and Marine OV-10 associates. In fact, we hear from somebody new every couple days or so. We are also in contact with the Australian and New Zealand OV FACs and have made contact with one of the Colombian Air Force OV drivers. Spare parts are going to be a problem, so we are making contacts in the Philippines and Thailand to see what is happening with their airplanes. Soon, you will be getting your sticker and patch. T-shirts are in the works as well as custom built mahogany OV's personalized to your order. Igor is working out the details of you receiving your subscription to the "Bronco Flyer" newsletter. We don't write it, but it has been around for a few years and Don Overfield, former Marine, does a nice job with it. They are always looking for stories and items of interest for future publications.

Mike "Merlin" Whaley, our Webmaster, is currently between jobs. Once he's settled again, we are planning a private section of the site for members only. Plans are, that the "Ready Room" will include a "Daily" read an initial from Mike, and a chat area for us to exchanges ideas, stories, lies, whatever.

I'm getting kind of long here, so I'm going to pull up. Please keep this in mind. A few of us have started this thing but the Association belongs to YOU. Let us know what your expectations are and where you want this thing to go. We are also going to need all kinds of help in all kinds of areas, so if you can or want to help out in ANY way let us know. Again, thanks for the support and Welcome Aboard!

Sempre fi,

Jim Hodgson
OV-10 Association
Secretary/Treasurer

Member profiles:

Tom "Scooter" Skutca is a former Marine avionics technician who lives in Grapevine, Texas.

Ron "Sandollar" Fix is a former Marine OV driver and Maintenance Officer. He is also the Association Executive Vice President and ATR driver for American Eagle here at DFW.

Richard Wood, RUSTIC 11, is an Aviation Safety Consultant from Snohomish, Washington. He is a former Air Force 19th TASS member.

Patrick "Bunker" Hill is a former Marine VMO-2 member with 2,000+ hours in the A & D. He also has special knowledge of BuNo 155430 since he was the last pilot to fly it near MCAS Futenma, Okinawa.

Mark Robin is a former Air Force TASS member. He presently flies for Continental in Houston and I believe has time in our airplane.

Larry Schulte is a former Marine ordinance man with VMO-2 at Camp Pendleton, California. He now works for the Corps of Engineers in South Dakota.

Darrel Whitcomb, NAIL 25 is a former Air Force driver and now Delta pilot. He is also the author of the book, "Rescue of BAT 21."