Roden Aircraft 1/48 OV1C Mohawk Photo-Recon Aircraft Kit
The OV-1C Mohawk was operated together with the OV-A and the OV-1B by the U.S. Army during the war in Vietnam; one of the earliest deliveries was received by the 73rd Special Aviation Group. In the course of operations the infra-red equipment was replaced by a new and even more sensitive one - the AAS-14 system could detect single gun shots or thermal emissions from recently stopped motor vehicle engines. In 1968 during the special SEAMORE Project some of the OV-1C Mohawk aircraft were fitted with highly classified reconnaissance equipment of unknown specification - the details of this activity of the OV-1C over the territory of Vietnam is still a military secret.
After the end of the Vietnam campaign the OV-1C Mohawks together with other military vehicles were returned to the USA. Some of them were upgraded to the more modern OV-1D standard, thus entirely changing the reconnaissance equipment; some were transferred to training departments; and a small number of the 133 aircraft of this variant were transferred to the Customs Service - their OV-1C basically carried out surveillance of the cross-border narcotics traffic. During the Quick Look I program two machines were modified to the RV-1C standard, but the project did not progress beyond experimenting with the newest radio-electronic technologies.
Manufacture of the OV-1C Mohawk stopped in 1967. In the circumstances of the Vietnam campaign it played an uncommonly important role, supporting the Army and seeking out concentrations of the opponent's forces in the theater of operations and beyond its borders. However, later on the need for this kind of aircraft greatly decreased, as radio electronic reconnaissance technology became even more sophisticated. The OV-1C Mohawk endures in aviation history as one of the most effective reconnaissance planes of its era.
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