Olney, Tx,, new counter-insurgency aircraft

[tex-fan]

i posted this over in "military matters" but i thought it might have intrest here also. there is some new people looking at it.
http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/200 ... r-takeoff/

[jet1]

why re-invent the wheel

[John Dupre]

I have seen an article that says they are considering bringing the Bronco back into production.

Seeing the armed Air Tractor reminds me of a story from a local ex Army pilot. (Interesting guy, flew P-47s in WW2 and remained in the Army when the USAAF separated into the USAF) Anyway sometime in the 1960s the Army was looking for a replacement for the O-1 Birddog and got a proposal for evaluation of a Grumman product. A team was put together to evaluate the aircraft. They loved it. It was built rugged and for easy maintenance and used the same engine as the U6 Beaver. It had a cockpit placed high on the fuselage for excellent visibility. Maneuverability and short field take off was superb. Weight carrying and range was also excellent. The people at Grumman were estactic as it looked like a sure thing for the next O type aircraft. Then it came, one member of the Army team turned to the commander and said, "But General do you really want to be known as the man who ordered BIPLANES for the Army?" The airplane was the G-164 AgCat.