MAJ W.H. BECKETT, MAG-15
MAJ K.P. RICE, AIRFMFPAC

L ² V M A

The Korean Conflict showed the afterburning Air Force zoomsters that there was still a strong need for Close Air Support (CAS). The young Air Force was totally into the jets that they thought were the answer to everything; the Army was miffed about what to do to help their infantry; the Navy was busy defending their turf against the Air Force's quest to rule the sky; and the Marines wanted CAS as bad as the Army but were forced to make do with what they had.
 
In 1960, two Marine Aviators; K. P. Rice and W. H. Beckett put pencil to paper – usually napkins – and created what they thought was the ideal Short Landing and Take Off Counterinsurgency Light Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft; but since they could not find anybody to build it for them, they decided to build a mockup in a garage.
 
In addition to building a mockup, they developed a concept for what a Short Landing and TakeOff Counterinsurgency Light Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft would do for the ‘boots-on-the-ground’ Grunts. When word got out about what they were building and what they hoped to do with it, the ‘System’ turned in on them. The design they came up with was definitely not “normal,” but they thought it would tactically do the job that no other airplane was doing.
 
But their design was sound, their concept was solid, their perseverance was sincere and the need was severe. In the end the system didn’t give them what they wanted, but they believed the resulting product would get the job done.
 
Their time spent building the mockup was offset by writing the L2VMA Concept and even though the ‘System’ didn’t fully accept their Concept, it did lead to the LARA / COIN competition and their balsa wood and fiberglass mockup turned into the North American Aviation OV-10 ‘Bronco'.

<- To the OV-10 Story                To the L ² V M A Concept ->

These webpages were originally created in 2002 when K.P. was still involved with Volante Aircraft. He knew it all wouldn't last forever and agreed to let me put post these OV-10 Bronco web pages on an alternate site for posterity. K.P. and his wife did manage to make it to the Chino Air Show to see the work Mike Manclark's OV10 Squadron as they restore his OV-10 Broncos.