A-10 Warthog

[Double-O-Dave]

Thank you for this excellent post. The A-10 Warthog is one of my absolute favorite aircraft ever - along with the AC-130 Spooky gunship. I was told by one of my buddies who fought in the 1st Persian Gulf War that the Iraqis called the A-10 the "German jet" because of the precision of the gun runs and bombing the plane was capable of. My favorite story about the A-10 concerns USAF General Charles ("Chuck") Horner - the supreme Air Force commander of the 1st Persian Gulf War and a fighter pilot as well as a Wild Weasel pilot. When he heard his son who graduated from the Air Force Academy wanted to fly A-10s, instead of fighters, Horner threatened to disown him!

Regards,

Dave

 

[Badkarma 1]

"Hogs overhead!"

Saw quite a few of these operating in Astan and loved then more than any warbird we had up there besides "Spooky"!
One one particular mission we had an Air Force Forward Air Controller call in a couple of Hogs to deal with a fortified outpost, I watched as these two birds came in low and "BRRRRIIIIPPPP!!!" Swiss Cheese!! I kept nudgeung the guy and kept saying "Do It Again!"
I hope these planes keep flying for a long time! Dale

 

[bitstream]

I've worked aircraft battle damage and repair (ABDR). I saw the rest of the pics of that damaged plane. As her initials are "KC", they called her Killer Chick. She had to fly it home with full rudder the entire way as I was told (not easy), but it flew. When it landed (and you cannot image what the rest of the pics show for serious damage), the decision was that plane would never fly again (and it has not). The ABDR guys on site swear to this day they could have had it back in the air in a couple of days if they would have been allowed.

My "final exam" in ABDR was on an F-16; the crew chief swung a fire axe into the side of the nose and told us to fix it. I had my crew done and cleaned up in about 3 hours. The guys on the other side of the nose were not so lucky, the axe blade cut all the way through a wire bundle leaving them an electrical mess to figure out. (my side only had 3 sliced wires and was easy to trace). When we were leaving the hanger, the other team was sitting there with wires everywhere trying to figure out which was which.

 

[BUFF]

The A-10 is being upgraded. New wings and a new digital cockpit. It is gaining the capability to use precision guided ('smart') bombs and rockets and be linked into the modern battlefield data systems. Awesome airplane.

 

[John Ross]

I knew a guy who was the GM at the GE Burlington, VT, factory that made those guns. He said there were always protestors at the plant.

He said that his predecessor told him that one morning, at the plant gate as he was going into work, he asked one of the protestors what he wanted. Protestor says, "Stop making those awful guns!" So the plant GM says, "What do you think we should make here?" Protestor says, "I dunno. Toasters or something."

The GM pauses, looks contemplative, and then shakes his head. "Nah. You know how many times you'd have to hit a guy with a toaster to kill him?"

Kathy Lomont used to do a brisk business selling powder-blue T-shirts with the GE logo and a picture of the GE Minigun, with the slogan, "GE: We bring good things to life."

One day she got a letter from GE's lawyers, asking her to stop using the GE trademark, but the letter was worded in such a wishy-washy way, without the normal use of lawyerly threats of retribution, that she didn't know what to make of it. She ended up calling the law firm, and got a junior clerk assigned to the case. When he found out what the call was about, he started laughing.

"GE didn't want us to send that letter, but our bosses wanted to cover their own butts. Every damn worker in the whole Minigun division has been showing up to work every day wearing your T-shirts."

 

[WC145]

.................

 

[The Big D]

Not too many fighting aircraft can accomodate a NFL player.

Chad Hennings Football Cards | Chad Hennings of the Dallas Cowboys

Be safe.

 

[Stainz]

WWII German weapons produced some interesting American weapons. The infamous MG-42 machine gun begot the infamous M60 machine gun. The MK-108 automatic cannon - used in the Me-262 Nazi jet in 2 or 4 in the nose - was an effective B17/B24 destroyer. One of it's 30mm rounds could sever a wing. That round was the design basis for the A10's Gatling gun's basic round. The German gun fired far more slowly - and the magazines only held 60-100 rounds - but it's high velocity made it a flat trajectory round.

Of course, their V-1 was the first guided 'cruise missle', while the V-2 was the basis for everything from ballistic missles to space flight.

The A10 - and Me-262 - are my two favorite warbirds of all time. The A10 Thunderbolt II replaced the A1 Skyraider - which had itself displaced the P-47, the original Thunderbolt, in my 'favorites' list. Interestingly, the A10 has a greater range - at a higher speed - and can carry a heavier bomb load - than any B17 of WWII. Of course, bombless, it still has that gun... and one guy (... or gal!) aboard, vs the B17's ten folks.

Stainz

 

[azranger]

That is an outstanding aircraft and does an awsome job. We never had to go out and find one of their pilots.

 

[TACC1]

Some years ago, A-10's were stationed in Wisconsin. While bass fishing in secluded lakes, I'd see something out of the corner of my eye.
It would be an A-10 in training mode. These planes would already
be within 500 yds. by the time I saw them, or heard them.
There wouldn't be any other sounds but Mother Nature's, and they could sneak up on you with no trouble at all. I used to be stationed
at air bases, and still never knew they were in the area.
What a GREAT aircraft!! TACC1

 

[FTG-05]

 

[Stevens]

That fantastic gun and plane carrying it could solve the problems on our southern border, let them fly about 1/2 mile or so along it on our side, run that gatling gun for a couple of seconds every few miles. Buy a ton of hamburger meat put 50 lbs of it into each of a bunch body bags, label them with a common spanish names. Let them sit in the sun for a couple of days then toss 'em over the fence on the Mexican side.
Steve W

 

[BuckeyeChuck]

The A10 Thunderbolt II replaced the A1 Skyraider - which had itself displaced the P-47, the original Thunderbolt, in my 'favorites' list. Interestingly, the A10 has a greater range - at a higher speed - and can carry a heavier bomb load - than any B17 of WWII.

I would replace "Interestingly" with "Unsurprisingly". The wing and the engines on the A10 are vastly superior to anything available in WWII.

GE doesn't just make the guns. They make the engines, too. GE - Aviation: TF34 The TF34 is the father of the CF34, which is flying in our skies everyday on Canadair regional jets (CRJ-200, CRJ-700, CRJ-900, CRJ-1000). Completing the circle, some of the latest technology in the CF34 has been worked back into the TF34, giving it far better performance than was available in 1971.

I'm not surprised that this airplane, which was supposed to be retired by the F-16 decades ago, might be on the list for upgraded avionics. If the engines keep getting better, why not improve its computers?

 

[bobf]

I've been retired for a while now, I worked on the A-10s my last 11 years active duty.

The 20 and 30mm cases make great displays. They polish up and look good with any kind of bullet you want to make for them.

A black talon or hollowpoint looks really good and leaves some people scratching their head.

This is a 20mm, 30mm and 12ga.
Bob

 

[Armyphotog]

I really respect the A-10 pilots for one simple reason. They are great tank killers, but if an enemy fighter shows up, they are usually toast. I hope they have air support when they need it.

 

[Engine 21]

And thats the birth of the A-10!