What happened here?

[piper17 1]

I took these in DeLand in the winter of '81-'82.

What is the story behind this aircraft and how did it happen?

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[SkydiveJack 1]

I remember that. It was a US Customs OV-10 that was chasing a small twin engine drug runner aircraft at night. The drug runner apparently figured out that he was being followed and landed in a very short distance at DeLand, got out and ran. The Customs plane was landing right after him and couldn't stop in time. Chopped the drug plane all up and sprayed cocaine all over the runway.

[jonstark 8]

Chet always enjoyed his morning run around the airport didn't he? He he

jon

[billabx 1]

I remember this incident too, as I was living a couple of blocks from the airport. The aircraft isn't an OV-10, but an OV-1 Mohawk. As Jack said the smugglers landed (a twin Piper, I think)about 1/3 to 1/2 way down runway 30, shut the plane down and beat feet for the bushes. The customs plane didn't see the Piper and pretty completely shreded it with their prop. We joked that the good news was there was a 100 foot long line of coke on the runway. The bad news was it was cut with jet fuel! I may have some shots of the Piper around somewhere. I'll post them if I can find them.

[piper17 1]

You are right. The OV-1 is the Mohawk by Grumman (the aircraft pictured) while the OV-10 is the Bronco by North American.

"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"...Rudyard Kipling

[johan420 0]

wow..some story huh?

[billbooth 10]

I'll always remember folks running out onto the runway after this incident, and coming back into the airport bar with pockets overflowing with cocaine (something about it finally "snowing in florida". The next morning DEA agents scooped up all that cocaine (while we all watched...and sighed) with SNOW SHOVELS. I always wondered exactly where they got those snow shovels in Florida so quickly.