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Video about FACs
Rocky Raab
Member Posts: 14,438 ✭✭✭✭
If you have 45 minutes to spare, here is a YouTube about OV-10 FACs. FAC stands for Forward Air Controller, a now-extinct occupation because in today's war sky, it would be unsurvivable. It wasn't far from that back then.
If you've read my books, you'll realize that I named my main character after the NAIL FACs. I wasn't one of them, but they deserve the credit. The vid will give you a very small feel for the intensity of running airstrikes. You'll also learn why one of our most valuable pieces of gear was a grease pencil...
I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
Comments
👍 Thanks for posting that Rocky. The stress and the pucker factor would have been off the charts.
You are an accomplished 60s Renaissance man, Vietnam, NASA, author, and if we should ever meet the beer is on me. I bet you have a lot of interesting stories that you haven't put in print or online. Bob
A few. And you may buy only the first round.
Well then I'm buyin' the second!
Thanks for posting that video, Rocky. Was the OV-10 a better plane than the O-2 you flew? I read somewhere that they had been re-evaluating it for use again by some of the special ops guys.
Tankers talk about being able to, "Move, shoot and communicate" but they're only talking about moving in two dimensions at under 40 mph while protected by tons of armor.
FAC's do it in three dimensions, at ten times the speed and without armor.
Crazy or brave? Who can tell the difference.
I learned a few years ago that some smart "study group" in the Air Force determined that the FAC job was the most intense, most stressful, and most difficult flying job ever created. Don't know about that, but the number of things a FAC had to do simultaneously was incredible - and EVERY decision he made resulted in the death of one of four people, only one of which was the enemy. That's true. The lives of the ground troops, the fighter guys, the enemy, and himself rode on what he ordered. While flying his plane, navigating, observing all the fighters, and communicating on at least three radios. Plus documenting it all with that grease pencil. How the hell we managed all that I do not know, but we did. Oh, and while being shot at. Voluminously. I quit keeping track at half a million rounds fired at me - four months into my year tour.
Not patting my own back here. Just letting you folks know what every FAC did.
The OV-10 was supposed to be the "made to order" FAC aircraft. It couldn't be developed fast enough to replace the O-1 Bird Dog which was rapidly becoming unsurvivable. The O-2 was therefore "supposed" to be a cheap but temporary solution. It ended up being the most made and flown all all three types, by a large margin.
The OV was faster, offered far better all-round vision, and had ejection seats. The US Goobermint decided the OV would be used in the highest threat environments, such as the Laos section of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Except that it couldn't be used at night, because of problems with cockpit reflections of instrument lights. So they used O-2s for night missions over that same high-threat zone.
The Ruptured Duck (one of many less-then-complimentary names for the O-2) was slower, couldn't climb well at mission launch weights, had terrible vision anywhere but down to the left, had zero protective armor, and a successful bailout was dubious at best. It could not maintain level flight on one engine, especially if you lost the rear one. But the damned thing got me home again 300 times. Sometimes just barely, but it did. I would not own one now on a bet, but I loved it then.
BTW, one small correction to WildTurkey's comment. We did not fly at ten times a tank's 40 mph. It was three and a half times.
A very exciting video. I like that the radio chatter was included, something which is normally edited out due to some director's decision to include background music with the video.
As exciting as this video was, you are still on the sidelines "watching." If you want to be inside of the cockpit with a FAC (or as a FAC), then I cannot recommend Rocky's books highly enough.
In Baggy Zero Four, Rocky has you flying the mission. When the plane gets rattled by gunfire, you can feel it.
A good writer makes the reader a part of the story, and Rocky isn't just good, he's exceptional.
Thank you, Mark. Once again, I am overly flattered.
Regrettably, my publisher recently increased all prices due to Bidenomics (my claim, not theirs.) But they are still a lot cheaper buying direct than from Amazon or other book sources. Get print or ebooks here:
https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rraab
Thanks Rocky
I booked marked it will watch one evening looking forward too it