The Warthog has 9 Lives

Yeah, you definitely do not want to be on the receiving end of that instrument.

Definitely qualifies for a picture is worth a thousand words!

Word has it, They started out with the GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling-type cannon. And then built the plane around it.

That is what I have always heard as well. The GAU-8 was the initial requirement and the plane came afterwards.

yipes

Hour long documentary on A-10... awesome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXpz_IMZWPQ

A lovely close-up pic of an A-10 sporting the Shark's Teeth from the 23rd FW, which are based at England AFB in LA. They wrecked Hell on the Iraqi Republican Guard Divisions, and again during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq..

BTW, that's a 30 mike mike "Practice Round", painted in blue, used to teach armament crews the art of loading and unloading the GAU-8B gun. I have one sitting on my desk here, thanks to one of my College Roomies when he flew A-10s with the Boys from Syracuse before they swapped their 10s for F-16A....a nice trinket to own. Nope, there's no DU or Tungsten and powder in that bugger, just plain steel inert warshot.

I had a friend who had a DU version slug on his desk. It was the perfect weight for skinny me to do two arm curls.

Did your buddy glow? LOL!

Naw, all the Mil-H-5606 I ingested in Hooks absorbs all that radiation.

LOL!!!!

One of my office mates at West Point twenty years ago was a tanker and he had a DU sabot from an M1A1 as a going away trinket from his armor battalion. Amazing to think those things just burrowed their way through all that armor.

And, not to be morbid, but what was left inside after it ricocheted around for awhile wasn't worth recovering from what I've been told.

I've heard the same things. Yuck.

Technically, the DPU does not 'ricochet' inside the vehicle. the heat of firing and the force of the impact tend to cause the shell to go 'plastic,' the outside becoming almost a liquid, acting as an oil to the inner portion can slide in easier, but that portion also becomes 'plactic' during the penetration, so what you get on the inside is a spray of molten metal.

The impact is also strong and focused, that it may cause the armor to 'spall.' Have you ever hit a piece of drywall with a hammer, then looked at the other side? If you hit it just right, you'll find a wide, cone-shaped piece of drywall has fallen off the back. That's 'spalling,' and when it happens to armor plate, the effect is similar to the shrapnel from a grenade bouncing around the crew compartment.

Yeah, when you manage a 'crew kill' on an armored vehicle, the hardware may still be driveable, the guns may still work, but you do NOT want to look inside it, not if you ever want to sleep at night again.

changes nothing,.... same results...

#41

Yeah, what Phoenix said.

And I'm a bit familiar with spalling caused by weapons fire on Chinook armor plate (and lesser materials). Fortunately it was nothing heavier than 7.62mm.

Hooker

A close look at the top pic will show that the Pilot is carrying a flag. They did this all the time, you could buy your own flag at the BX and give it to the flying squadron who would have a pilot fly with it. You would get a letter back with your flag saying where it was flown and when. If you look around places that donate to deployed troops you will see a cased flag in some of them that the deployed troops sent back in thanks for the donations.

Looking at the background I can confirm that it looks like an air base downrange somewhere, no way of telling from that photo. I fueled A-10's, CH-53's, CV-22's and many other aircraft in combat turn arounds that were always exciting. I was at a large airbase in Al-Anbar Provenance Iraq.

SSgt Anon

I learned something knew.... I didn't catch that flag.... ^{(the big gun and planes war-face is so distracting)}

Closer inspection shows that the bomb pod seen on the right hand wing is not loaded so he is not flying a combat mission. They are probably at an air base in Turkey during a rather quite time I am almost tempted to do an image comparison search to find out more.

Look at the nose just above the gun, the horizontal white stripe is for the air to air refueling port, there are dents in the nose where the boom has bumped while the refueler was trying to 'fly' the boom to the port.

There are stories from older wars of shot up fighters catching a tanker and flying back connected because they were loosing too much fuel from the holes, I can't confirm them though, just stories heard at the officers club.

The quote from my career field is "Without POL, Pilots are pedestrians" (POL=petroleum oil and lubricants...and other more humorous sayings)

SSgt Anon

Battle hardened, just like us old guys.

Young punks with their fancy doodads can't cut it up close and personal.

Forget ground support, the pilots like air to air combat too! She can turn inside of any other aircraft out there. Loaded with guided missiles she is more dangerous than an F-18, she will even give the hyperactive ADD afflicted F-16 lots of trouble.

The only way ANY military veteran I have spoken with would be ok with retiring the A-10 would be if they came out with an A-11 with completely updated software and hardware.

SSgt Anon

Airbohn.

"...With growing global chaos and turmoil on the rise, we simply cannot afford to prematurely retire the best close air support weapon in our arsenal..."

Thank God! I have a personal connection to this aircraft - I'm still breathing because of it; it saved my butt more than once in a few Danger Close situations.

https://www.funker530.com/entire-taliban-motorcycle-gang-meets-the-us-airforce/

They should put the Warthog under direct Army command. This would be a great help to the helicopter gunships. The Army already has some fixed wing aircraft. So, just transfer the Warthog over to the Army. Is that too simple?

Have some fun today,

Burtis

It would be simple, if not for inter-service politics and rivalry.

Each branch has something they consider 'their' element:

• The Army claims dominion over everything that walks, crawls, rolls, or slithers over the Ground.
• The Navy asserts its rule over everything that is on, in, or under the Water.
• The Air Force claims everything above the Ground and Water, from the sky up to and including Deep Space (should we ever fight there).
• The Marines have called dibs on every beachhead and other 'first assault' scenario, throughout the universe, in perpetuity AND retroactively.

The A-10 would be a marvelous addition to the Army inventory, and the dogfaces would treat them as the "King's Consort" of the battlefield that they are⁽¹⁾, but the Air Force does not want to surrender authority over ANOTHER plane to the 'groundcrawlers.' The Air force considers the A-10 'unsexy' and don't want it, but they also don't want to give it away. The Air Force dossed out the Harrier Jump Jet as 'useless, we don't want a thing to do with that mechanical jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none monstrosity,' and the Marines swooped in and eloped with the Harrier. The Air Force is still feeling ashamed that all the other branches now have some fixed-wing aircraft in their roster; it makes the Air Force feel less 'special.'

Notes:

1. The A-10 would be the Queen of the Battlefield, except that title is already taken by the Artillery. Being King's Consort isn't such a bad title, especially since the A-10's do something the Artillery does not; get up close with the fighting, standing side-by-side⁽²⁾ with the Infantry, the King of the Battlefield⁽³⁾. Much more like a 'battle companion' than the Queen, who simply sits back where it is safe and says, 'nobody can stand here, under pain of death, nobody can stand there, under pain of death. We have someone standing in the other spot? Fine, off with their heads. Is there a bridge I can kill that will disrupt enemy supply lines?'
2. Well, flying overhead, but you know what I mean.
3. For those who may not know the terms, Infantry is the King of the Battlefield because it can do one thing that no other unit can: it can Take and Hold the field. Artillery, air support, naval bombardment, all they can do is Deny the field to the enemy, they cannot actually Occupy the field. Armor (tanks) are considered secondary to Infantry, since while they can Take and Hold open areas, there are places where treads and wheels cannot go, requiring the use of 'boots on the ground' to complete the mission.
   

Don't forget the effect of the AC-130 in combat. Just knowing it is in the neighborhood shakes fear into the boots of any enemy combatant.

SSgt Anon

Did you mention a can of whoopass? Well, follow the link to see what they look like on the inside!

Can o whoop

The image with the guy standing back to the camera is in a C-17, I recognize the large tank looking thing above. The images that look like an aerial picture are inside a C-5.

SSgt Anon

"The Air Force's version of the F-35 will eventually replace the A-10 Thunderbolt."

They can't be serious! The F-35 could never equal the A-10's ability. Completely different kettle of fish - and far more expensive. You have to wonder why a newer version of the A-10 was never produced. What are they thinking of?

I watched, with a ring side seat, A-1E's, C-47's and C-130's perform close air support in Vietnam. Awesome machines. Everybody was impressed to see the A-1E's replacement in the A-10. I've never seen an A-10 live fire but I've read much and seen plenty of videos. And I can personally vouch that the grunts love it.

There will ALWAYS be a need for close air support. The A-10's, like my beloved Hooks, are as relevant today as they were when they were introduced.

Hooker

Well, would you look at that! With fuel cost so low and unemployment so high you would think they would have someone to fly these things, or put them to good use.

REOPEN the A-10 production lines, even if all the Republic-Fairchild tooling was destroyed long ago!

The F-35 is a freaking joke if the USAF Brass Nuggets think it can replace and do a better job of the A-10. It cannot.

Nothing can loiter above the fluid battlefield like an A-10, which is essential in CAS, and yes, during Desert Storm I did call in CAS and the A-10's did a fantastic job mopping up the enemy.

Buy an A-10 Driver a beer today! I do whenever I meet one!

Went on a field trip with my son's scout troop back in the 80's to McGuire AF Base in NJ. Highlite of trip was A-10 in hangar with complete inspection and lecture by one of the pilots followed by a live fire demo as several pilots took training practice on targets. The pilot was very enthusiastic about the plane and how the greenhouse was armored to protect the pilot and could fly basically on one engine, a wing and a prayer. Agree that an updated version should be a mainstay in our forces. Probably not a single marine or soldier would argue against their continuance.

Occasionally I go to the EAA fly-in, in Oshkosh Wisconsin. About 40 miles where I live, (Green Bay) They'll have military aircraft, B17, B24, a lot of fighter jets and planes, if I find out an A10 will be there, I diffently mark my calender for that.

If you can get to an Air Force air show there's usually one on static display. They used to do flying displays but I'm not sure if that's being done anymore. Quite impressive if you get to see one fly.

Hooker

I love Oshkosh, just for the variety, EAA fly-in is usually in July, we would also go there in February-March, off season. No lines and go through the museum.

2 years ago, they added a new exhibit of a ball turret, just the ball turret I can't believe people actually squeezed in there.

when I turn 18, I I'd go out and played pool at a tavern with a neighbor of ours, he was in his in his sixtys I guess, he was a squirt of a guy, he was a turret gunner in WWII.

Loved it when he shared his stories.

He may have been a squirt, but a fight broke out at the bar one time, and this guy was an animal. As an 18 year old, I made dam sure I was on his good side.

I don't know who I admire more; ball turret gunners, WWII Merchant Mariners (like my favorite uncle) or the Old Guard who stand guard at Arlington through the miserable weather that's going on.

Unfortunately, I've never been to Oshkosh, though I have worked on quite a few aircraft that have been displayed there.

Hooker

There was a rival to the A-10, which has been all but forgotten - the Northrop YA-9. The sole example is outside at the March ARB Aircraft Museum near Riverside, California. I lived nearby at one time and had never heard of it previously. It was rather more elegant than the Warthog - but the low mounted engines probably counted against it due to vulnerability and it lost out.

The Air Combat Command (ACC) has two A-10 Demo teams, a East Coast one and a West Coast one, that they send to airshows, unless Emperor Barry has cancelled that too....

Up until about 10 years ago there was a flock of A10s about 10 miles from my house. One or two Saturdays a month I would be in my yard and have either a single or a formation pair fly directly overhead as they went down south to play. I was often amazed at the differences in how much noise they made. Sometimes I could hear them 3 or 4 minutes out. Sometimes I didn't hear them until they were overhead.

One Saturday one of the pilots must have had family or friends rather close to my neighborhood. I was out raking leaves and didn't hear a thing. I then hear a very loud sound that was basically a boom and when I looked up I saw the back end of a pair of A10s at about 500 feet. After many days of hearing them miles away it was very impressive that a pair of them could be 500 feet directly overhead and hitting the gas for their exit before I knew that they were there. If they were in a bad mood I would have never know that they were there.

I wouldn't want to make an A10 mad at me.

I almost got "shot down" in my back yard by three F18s one day. That's a different story. I don't recommend making the F18 mad either.

Please excuse my ignorance but does the USMC fly any warthogs at all?

It seems to me that if I was a marine I would love to know that there was a marine pilot up there in one of these that would be available to render assistance as and if required.

I guess they may not come in an aircraft carrier approved version. Would that make an interesting excuse for an upgrade?

BAB

Pretty much Harriers and AH-1's form the backbone of organic CAS for the Marines. Like us Army dudes, I'm sure the Marines really appreciate it when A-10's are added to the mix.