TheGrumman OV-1 Mohawk is an American armed military observation and attack aircraft that was designed for battlefield surveillance and light strike capabilities. It has a twinturboprop configuration, and carries two crew members in side-by-side seating. The Mohawk was intended to operate from short, unimproved runways in support ofUnited States Army maneuver forces.
The Mohawk began as a joint Army-Marine program through the then-NavyBureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), for an observation/attack plane that would outperform theCessna L-19 Bird Dog. In June 1956, the Army issued Type Specification TS145, which called for the development and procurement of a two-seat, twin turboprop aircraft designed to operate from small, unimproved fields under all weather conditions. It would be faster, with greater firepower, and heavier armour than the Bird Dog, which had proved vulnerable during theKorean War. The Mohawk's mission would include observation,artillery spotting, air control, emergency resupply, naval target spotting, liaison, and radiological monitoring. The Navy specified that the aircraft must be capable of operating from small "jeep"escort carriers. The DoD selected Grumman Aircraft Corporation's G-134 design as the winner of the competition in 1957. Marine requirements contributed an unusual feature to the design. As originally proposed, the OF-1 could be fitted with water skis that would allow the aircraft to land at sea and taxi to island beaches at 20 knots (37 km/h). Since the Marines were authorized to operate fixed-wing aircraft in theclose air support (CAS) role, the mockup also featured underwing pylons for rockets, bombs, and other stores.
The Air Force did not like the armament capability of the Mohawk and tried to get it removed, while the Marines did not want the Army's sophisticated sensors. However the Navy then opted to spend the allocated budget on a fleet oil tanker instead, so the Marines had to drop out of the program in September 1957. The Army continued with armed Mohawks and developed cargo pods that could be dropped from underwing hard points to resupply troops in emergencies.
The radar imaging capability of the Mohawk was to prove a significant advance in both peace and war. TheSide-Looking Airborne Radar (SLAR) could look through foliage and map terrain, presenting the observer with a film image of the earth below only minutes after the area was scanned. In military operations, the image was split in two parts, one showing fixed terrain features, the other spotting moving targets.
The prototype (YAO-1AF) first flew on April 14, 1959. The OV-1 entered production in October 1959.
In mid-1961, the first Mohawks to serve with U.S. forces overseas were delivered to the7th Army atSandhofen Airfield near Mannheim, Germany. Before its formal acceptance, the camera-carrying AO-1AF was flown by Ralph Donnell on a tour of 29 European airfields to display it to the U.S. Army field commanders and potential European customers. In addition to their Vietnam and European service, SLAR-equipped Mohawks began operational missions in 1963 patrolling theKorean Demilitarized Zone. Germany and France showed early interest in the Mohawk, and Grumman actually signed a license production agreement with the French manufacturerBreguet Aviation in exchange for American rights to theAtlantic maritime patrol aircraft.
The very nature of the joint Army/Marine program had forced design compromises, such asejection seats,[1] that made the aircraft expensive and, sometimes, an openly resisted item in Army budgets. Orders for the OV-1 stopped in Fiscal 1964, and the controversy in the Pentagon over the armed Mohawk peaked with a 1965 directive that prohibited the Army from operating armed fixed-wing aircraft (See theJohnson-McConnell agreement of 1966). Operational success in Vietnam led to additional Mohawk orders in 1966, and by 1968, five surveillance companies were operating in Southeast Asia.
The last of the Mohawk versions to enter production was the OV-1D with more powerfulT53-L-701 engines, improved avionics, and interchangeable mission pallets that made it possible to switch the aircraft from infrared to SLAR configuration in about an hour. The first four OV-1Ds were prototypes converted from earlier production airframes, and the first flew in 1969. These were followed by 37 new-build aircraft, the last of which was delivered in December 1970.
Over the years, the mission and the aircraft underwent many changes and roughly 380 were built over all variants. Mohawk variants included the JOV-1 [armed reconnaissance], OV-1A, [visual and photographic], OV-1B [visual, photographic, and side-looking radar (SLAR) pod], the OV-1C [visual, photographic, and infrared], and the OV-1D (SLAR pod and bigger wings), OV-1E [enlarged fuselage for more sensor operators or cargo], EV-1E [specialelectronic intelligence installation] and RV-1E [advanced ELINT reconnaissance]. A four-engined Model 134E withtiltwings and tailducted fan for control forVTOL was proposed to the Army but not built. Model 134R was a tandem cockpit version offered to meet theLight Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (LARA) requirement, but the NA300 was chosen instead becoming theOV-10.
The U.S. Army flew the OV-1 operationally in theVietnam War, with sixty-five lost to accidents and ground fire, and one shot down by a North Vietnamese fighter.[2]
In early 1968, while flying an OV-1 over South Vietnam, U.S. Army Captain Ken Lee shot down aMiG-17 “Fresco” fighter jet with his XM14 .50 in. (12.7 mm) caliber gun pods as well as two M159 unguided rocket pods, becoming the only Army Aviator to ever down a MiG. Due to theKey West Agreement, the Army tried to keep the shootdown a secret for fear that it would allow the USAF to transfer Mohawks to its inventory. Lee's kill was finally formally recognized by the Army in 2007.[3]
Starting in 1972, theArmy National Guard (ARNG) began to receive the Mohawk, with the ARNG eventually operating thirteen OV-1Bs, twenty-four OV-1Cs, and sixteen OV-1Ds serving with three aviation units in Georgia and Oregon. The Oregon Army National Guard Unit operating the Mohawk was located atMcNary Field in Oregon, initially as the 1042nd Military Intelligence Company (Aerial Surveillance), then reflagged as the 641st Military Intelligence Battalion (CEWI)(Aerial Exploitation).
U.S. Army OV-1s were retired from Europe in 1992, from South Korea in September 1996, and finally in the United States in 1996, superseded by newer systems, newer aircraft, and the evolution ofreconnaissance satellites. The OV-1 was primarily replaced by the EO-5C, a militarized version of thede Havilland Canada Dash 7 turboprop airliner equipped with a SLAR system, until the U.S. Air Force'sNorthrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS (Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) aircraft became fully operational.
As of 2011,Alliant Techsystems 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 acounter-insurgency aircraft. A demonstrator was equipped with aFLIR Star Safire turret and a ventral, trainableM230 chain gun.[4][5]
This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(March 2016)
TheArgentine Army Aviation received twenty-three OV-1s in the 1990s. Ten were operational and the rest were used for spare parts.[6] They became inactive and retired from use in 2015.
On 1 November 2019, a Grumman OV-1D Mohawk operated by Mohawk Airshows crashed at Witham Field,Stuart, Florida, during the Stuart Air Show. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot was killed. Its serial number was 68-15958.[7]
On 14 January 1981, a Grumman OV-1D Mohawk crashed and burned in a rural area nearLampasas, Texas during a maintenance test flight out ofFort Hood, Texas for engine rigging and nose gear strut replacement. TheInertial Navigation System had stretched a wire/pulled a pin at a computer connector and the pin re-locked. Pilot CW3 Sandy L. Oliphant and SSG Roger A. Meadows were killed instantly.[8][9][10]
62-5906 – Cockpit only on display at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum.[41]
63-13128 – Military Aviation Preservation Society (MAPS) Air Museum (under restoration for museum display)[42]
64-14247 – The United States Army'sTobyhanna Army Depot in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, has an OV-1B on display outside the main gate access control point.[citation needed]
67-18930 –Fort Huachuca, Arizona maintains a static display of an OV-1 Mohawk[47]
68-15932 – OV-1D c/n 136C,Argentine Army Aviation AE-021 – displayed at the Argentine Army Museum ((in Spanish)Museo Histórico del Ejército), Buenos Aires, Argentina.[48]
69-17010? – TheUnited States Army Aviation Museum at Fort Novosel, Alabama displays a static OV-1D as part of the outdoor exhibit at the intersection of Red Cloud Avenue and Ruf Avenue[citation needed]
69-17021 – TheFort Worth Aviation Museum at Fort Worth, Texas displays a static OV-1D as part of the outdoor exhibit[53]
69-17022 - United States Army Garrison Humphreys in South Korea, OV-1 Mohawk displayed outdoors at the intersection round-a-bout of Key Street & CPX Road
^Defense Technology International Magazine.5 (4)). Washington, D.C.: McGraw-Hill/DTI: 40. April 2011.ISSN1935-6269.{{cite journal}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved26 February 2016.
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Archived fromthe original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved26 February 2016.
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved26 February 2016.
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved25 February 2016.
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Archived fromthe original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved26 February 2016.
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Retrieved26 February 2016.
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Archived fromthe original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved26 February 2016.
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved26 February 2016.
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Archived fromthe original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved26 February 2016.
^"FAA REGISTRY".Federal Aviation Administration. U.S. Department of Transportation. Archived fromthe original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved25 February 2016.
^"MOHAWK".Pima Air & Space Museum. PimaAir.org. Retrieved6 January 2016.
^"Aircraft". Wings of Eagles Discovery Center. Archived fromthe original on 2011-09-07. Retrieved2011-09-07.
^"Fixed Wing".United States Army Aviation Museum. Army Aviation Museum Foundation, Inc. Archived fromthe original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved6 January 2016.
Gebel, Guillermo; Mosquera, Javier; Clariá, Horacio; Cettolo, Vladimiro; Marino, Atilio; Posadas, Guillermo (2007).Grumman OV-1D Mohawk en la Aviación de Ejército [Grumman OV-1D Mohawk in the Army Aviation] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires, Argentina: Avialatina.ISBN978-987-24081-0-7. Retrieved15 August 2015.
.jpg)
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg)
%2c_USA_-_Army_AN1188459.jpg)
.jpg)
