| Date: 5 June 1973 |
| Aircraft type: OV-10A Bronco |
| Serial Number: unknown |
| Military Unit: 23 TASS, 56 SOW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Nakhon Phanom |
| Name(s): |
| 1Lt Richard Tenney Gray (KWF) |
| A Bronco Nail FAC crashed on take off from Nakhon Phanom for a mission over Cambodia, killing the pilot. 1Lt Gray was the last of 29 graduates of the Air Force Academy to die during the war. He was also the last of about 250 FAC pilots to die. This was the last of 64 Broncos lost by the USAF during the war. The OV-10A had proved to be a capable FAC aircraft during its first five years of service. Its performance was significantly better than the O-1 and O-2 but it was still vulnerable to light weapons and SA-7s, especially at the altitudes it was forced to fly at in order to perform its tasks. The aircraft had a long career with the USAF and USMC in the FAC role until replaced by the OA-37 and OA-10. The Bronco was one of only two aircraft types (the other being the F-4 Phantom) to be used by the Air Force, Navy and the Marines in Southeast Asia. |
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