AOP
In Remembrance 2023
50 years ago today, at Hurlburt Field, Florida, an OV-10A crashed on approach to a landing. My brother, Capt. Henry James Smith, and a Lt. Ross, were both killed. They were practicing single engine approaches, with Jimmy as the check pilot in the rear seat. Normally, you always turn into the good engine to avoid a severely asymmetrical thrust situation which can cause you to lose control. However, in combat, you can't always do that, so military fliers typically practice both methods. They were turning into the dead engine. Ross overcorrected in the turn to final, the airplane went out of control at approximately 200 feet, and crashed just short of the runway. Jim had served a tour in F-4s, and had been transitioned into the OV-10 as a Forward Air Controller (FAC) in Viet Nam. He served a combat tour with the 23rd TASS at NKP, then sent to Hurlburt as the School Check Airman. He was the first from Delaware to attend the AF Academy, (Class of '64)
