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A piece of obscure history, illustrated through a somewhat related drawing.

US Navy squadron VAL-4 "The Black Ponies"

Commissioned in January 1969, VAL-4 was the Navy's only permanently based fixed wing attack squadron in Vietnam. Decommissioned after just over three years of service, VAL-4 was upon its departure the Navy's last combat unit in Vietnam. Flying the OV-10 Bronco, VAL-4 delivered 11,000 tons of ordnance in support of ground and riverine forces.

In their brief three year career, they earned a Presidential Unit Citation and two Navy Unit Citations.

The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco continued to serve as a light armed reconnaissance aircraft and airborne forward air control platform for the Air Force and Marines into the 1990's.

The OV-10 could operate from unimproved runways and did tests aboard aircraft carriers without needing catapults or arresting gear. It was armed with four M60 machine guns and could mount a variety of missiles, rockets, and bombs.

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As for the drawing itself, you can pretend those lights in the sky are either stars or flak. The plane itself, and in real life, is kind of a weird looking design.

The aircrew I picked because they were some of the few canon black ponies I could think of. Maybe Sombra would have been better. He would at least be laughing along with Nightmare Moon. I intended for Thunderlane to be scared, but instead it came out looking like he's asking if they can stop for ice cream later.

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Posted previously at: 2014-07-09T17:32:53 | Posted previously by: totallynotabronyfim