VIETNAM GRUMMAN OV-1 MOHAWK
124 FLYPAST May 2015surveillance and fire control aircraft,
the marines bowed out of the
programme early in its development.
In my opinion [they] made a huge
mistake with that decision, because
the Mohawk ended up possessing
tremendous flight capabilities and
proved to be versatile enough to
adapt to most any mission.
“The army had originally
planned for us to fly Mohawks as
a surveillance and reconnaissance
aircraft, so my early training was
learning to maximise the flight
capabilities and some work on
the employment of the yet to be
developed infrared [IR] and side-
looking airborne radar [SLAR]
system.“Because the Marines were
involved in the beginning, the
Mohawk had ended up being built
with all the wiring and hardpoints
needed for an air-to-ground attack
platform. The ‘unintended’ original
capability quickly came into play
with the army. When the latter
started to develop the air assault
concept at Fort Benning, the
Mohawk was assigned a new role
as a fire support platform to cover
air assault helicopters and troops
inserted on the battlefield.”AIR FORCE POLITICS
William was one of the first OV-1
pilots assigned to the newly-
formed 11th Air Assault Divisionin early 1963. “I spent the next
2 ½ years dropping bombs, firing
Zuni rockets and strafing targets.
The Mohawk was rock steady
as a gun platform and our navy
instructor pilots really loved flying
the small attack aircraft, which
they affectionately nicknamed
‘Little Bear’. The Mohawk was a
well armed and accurate close air
support platform and a helluva
strafing weapon!
“Unfortunately politics came into
play during the spring of 1965 and
we lost our guns to the concerns of
the air force, who demanded that
there be no armament of any kind
on any army fixed-wing aircraft.
Unfortunately for us, and our“When the army started
to develop the air assault
concept at Fort Benning, the
Mohawk was assigned a new role as
a fi re support platform to cover
air assault helicopters and troops
inserted on the battlefi eld”“When the army started
to develop the air assault“When the army started
to develop the air assault“When the army started
concept at Fort Benning, the
to develop the air assault
concept at Fort Benning, theto develop the air assault
Mohawk was assigned a new role as
concept at Fort Benning, the
Mohawk was assigned a new role asconcept at Fort Benning, the
a fi re support platform to cover
Mohawk was assigned a new role as
a fi re support platform to coverMohawk was assigned a new role as
air assault helicopters and troops
a fi re support platform to cover
air assault helicopters and troopsa fi re support platform to cover
inserted on the battlefi eld”
air assault helicopters and troops
inserted on the battlefi eld”air assault helicopters and troops
To p
Major William C Page,
commanding offi ce
of the 225th
Surveillance
Airplane Company at Phú
Hiêp in July 1969.Above right
A handful of former army
Mohawks are privately
owned and fl own in the
US as warbirds. One of
the most distinctive is
Joe Masessa’s OV-1D
68-15958 (N10VD). See
the panel on page 126 for
more about this aircraft.
ALL PHOTOS VIA AUTHOR
UNLESS NOTED122-128_Mohawk_fpSBB.indd 124 13/03/2015 11:59