Patchcollector Posted May 19, 2016 Share #1 Posted May 19, 2016 Hi all,Normally I don't pick up a lot of "Buy it Now" deals,but when I saw this one I liked it right away so I pulled the trigger and added it to my collection.This is a Japanese made piece.Sellers pics. "NPE" Stands for "Navy Preliminary Evaluation",so these patches would have been worn by the Team members that did the initial evaluations on the Broncos.I'm thinking that there weren't many of these patches made as the Teams wouldn't have been very large. Doing some research online I came across a very informative PDF document that I'll post a link to here: http://www.blackpony.org/vsky-paper.pdf If you scroll to page 11 you will see a rendition of the patch,and a similar,ASEG(All Service Evaluation Group) patch that was used a year later on page 12. Here is some info about the NPE "Green Hornet" Team evaluations for the 0V-10A in 1966: "NPE TESTING: Navy Preliminary Evaluation (NPE) began in March 1966 with airplanes 1, 2, and 3. These consisted of flight qualities, performance, and operational test flights totaling 77 hours. These tests included the well-known rough landing exercise. A washboard undulating runway surface was constructed and airplane number 4 was used to evaluate rough runway takeoffs and landings. Later the same airplane was used to demonstrate ground operations over simulated holes and obstacles. The rough field capability was a specification holdover from L2VMA that had little operational meaning but added weight and complexity to the operational OV-10. The airplane passed the test but it was a challenge to pilots. Airplane number 4’s structure was permanently distorted by rough field testing and it was not flown again after a ferry flight back to the North American Columbus, Ohio plant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patchcollector Posted May 19, 2016 Author Share #2 Posted May 19, 2016 Back view Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Scott Posted May 20, 2016 Share #3 Posted May 20, 2016 Now that's a neat looking piece of insignia.I love the eyes on the Hornet looks like real trouble.Thanks for showing it I have never seen one.Scotty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mohawkALSE Posted August 18, 2018 Share #4 Posted August 18, 2018 I came across this like you not really intending to buy. Wasn't a buy it now but no one else bid on it at all. I'm hoping its legit, I looked all over trying to find actual pictures of another one or listings about them and couldn't find anything. Only reference to it I saw was from the Blackpony article linked above. This is the All Services Evaluation Group patch used a year later after the NPE variant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mohawkALSE Posted August 18, 2018 Share #5 Posted August 18, 2018 Reverse: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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