We've had all sorts of shapes and sizes of aircraft here. Two wings, two tails, high wing, low wing but nothing which quite looks like this.
Yet another very first display at Old Buckenham is in the offing when the Bronco Display Team finally make it here, with their chief pilot Tony de Bruyn doing what he loves best, showing off this ultra rare Cold War oddity.
It's formally known as a North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco. It was designed to do lots of things, sometimes all at once. You might notice it's got a big glass bubble at the back of the fuselage which hints and one of its main roles; being a spotter and reconnaissance aircraft. However, you can also spot a bomb like thing on the underside. As the Cold War is over this is a fuel tank, but hints at another role - it was capable of being fitted with guns, rockets and other such then attacking the enemy.
It could also be used for medical evacuations, dropping parachutists, simply shifting stuff about the place and generally being very useful. It has two extremely efficient turbo prop engines, which meant that when you wanted to hang about in the sky looking at things it could do that for a very long time. Turboprops also produce massive amounts of power, so it can also take off and land in very short distances. How much power? That'll be 2,080 shaft horsepower total, so this is also one of the most powerful aircraft in the airshow. It'll take off, on our short runway in an absurdly short 220m.
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