For Vietnam War pilot Ken Semmler, flying the Bronco was like driving a sportscar. It was a "delight". It was "brilliant".
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He was speaking in front of the plane he flew for 488 flying hours over hostile territory. The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is in the Australian War Memorial warehouse after finally being restored to go on public display.
Mr Semmler, who now grows grapes in the Barossa, remembers how nimble the aircraft was - as it had to be in its role as the first air support to arrive at firefights on the ground and then to circle and call in heavy artillery and bombers.
The Bronco was made to carry 1450 kilograms of bomb as well as human beings, either to land them on the ground or to get them off the ground, perhaps injured. It was designed to be able to land on roads.
This particular one has been reassembled after Mr Semmler and some comrades found it rusting in the Philippines. It was shipped to the memorial 16 years ago and put back together bit by bit.
"When it arrived, Bronco 639 was in poor condition," the AWM's Kim ''Woody'' Wood said.
"The aircraft was suffering from corrosion, was covered in paint that was not of aviation origin and more akin to what would be used on an outdoor building structure or a bridge," the aircraft maintenance engineer at the Memorial's Mitchell storage facility said.
"It was full of rubbish, old rats nests, and generally filthy.
"To start, the fuselage had to be disassembled, paint stripped, cleaned out, corrosion treated, repaired where required then reassembled. It was also repainted to represent the aircraft as it stood on the flight line in Vung Tau 13 July 1970 Vietnam."
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Flight Lieutenant Ken Semmler as he then was remembers the aircraft well. "The OV-10 was just a delight to fly and to restore it means a lot. It really does," he said.
"We're not many in the vast sea of thousands who participated during the war, but if we can convert that into something which people can prod, and poke, and read stories of, then that's pretty special. It's part of a living history, and it's very precious."
He grew up in South Australia and joined the air force at the age of 18.
"I survived the training and to my surprise was posted to fighters," he said.
But he then trained to be a Forward Air Controller, in the air above ground conflict and intervening with his own weapons or calling in support. They were 'on scene' air commanders.
"The OV-10 was just a brilliant aeroplane for the job," he said.
"When there was a fight going on, the FAC was the onsite controller of all that happened. No air strike went in in South Vietnam unless it was under the control of a FAC, and that was day or night.
"One was far too busy in the middle of a fight to think about any fear or anything like that. It was only afterwards that you'd say, 'Did that really happen?'."
Fifty years after the end of Australian involvement in Vietnam, he has no regrets or guilt for the Vietcong he must have killed. He sees Vietnam as a just war against communism.
"The inevitable result of an armed conflict is that people are killed," he said.
"And my approach is not hate - no way. I'm a Christian. I don't hate people but I hated what they were doing."