4/13/2003: A-10 Warthog injured

I had cleared out my cache of war images (hints taken) when someone whose name I can't link up to a Cellar userid (thank you, friend) sent this along, and it's too wild to pass up. This and three other images of the beast are here:

http://forums.prospero.com/tp-breakt...s/?msg=29530.1

Kind of interesting, the shots were sent home to the US and posted on this homebuilding forum which has nothing to do with military.

The thread points to an old-media story (link below) which tells you how the aircraft got into that condition. And notes that the pilot is Air Force Capt. Kim Campbell (yup, female). The story says you can see more images at www.a-10.org , but that site seems to be DOA.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercuryne...aq/5592254.htm

Capt Campbell is said to be the first A-10 pilot to ever land a Warthog intact without hydralics. She was shot up over Baghdad the same day another Warthog was shot down.

Bad day. These are the best airplanes in the Air Force. All other planes basically serve a support function for the A-10. There are just not enough of them. My guess is that only 36 remain in service - about 1/3rd based in Willow Grove PA.

There are about 267 A-10 and OA-10 variants in service.


This is THE plane pictured above.

The 442nd Combat Wing (formerly the 442 Military Transport Wing..don't ask how they got from one to the other) used to be based at now-defunct Richards Gebaur Air Force Base here in Grandview, MO, where I live. Before they moved all operations there to Whiteman (yes, the same base where the B-2's live), the 'Hogs used to fly over my house several times a day. They are amazing aircraft, which is proven by these pics, beyond a doubt.

There are sexier, faster planes, but nothing is more manuverable, tougher or deadly to targets on the ground than an A-10.

Way to go, Hogs!

How do you list that on a resume? "Major Skill?" "Staying awake during long perioids of extreme discomfort and boredom."

That's one of the reasons I stayed the hell away from the military...I would have ended up as a laundry clerk or something.

I've been to a couple of airshows at Whiteman in recent years (it is the closest one now that we don't have Richards-Gebaur anymore...they used to put on a *bitchin'* annual show, though). They feature the B2 quite prominently, although you don't get to get really close to it like the other, older aircraft. It is still pretty damn neat standing about 150' away from the taxiway and seeing it, though. It is a weird looking thing from the side. Looks more like the submarine from "Fantastic Voyage" than an aircraft in that profile.

I've got some pretty good video of the B2 from that perspective...I should digitize a bit of it and put it up on my web space.

The only thing I didn't do on the B-2 program was actually ride along in the right seat. When they first arrived out there at Whiteman they took the mayor of the town (Knob Noster, MO) on a ride, I believe. Lucky bastard.

A friend forwarded the PowerPoint slide show of this aircraft to me. This is what I had to say in response:

"A-10s are built to be heavily armored - the cockpit is a titanium tub to protect the pilot from ground-based fire. They are simple aircraft, too. Not a lot of electronics, no fly-by-wire stuff, low pressure hydraulics, so not a lot to damage by AAA or automatic weapons fire, which is what that looks like. That also means this aircraft was very low when it took those hits, I think.

"I saw a B-52 at the Wright-Patterson AFB Air Force Museum that had about 20 000 man hours of damage repair on it. It was a Viet Nam War era relic. It was shot up pretty good, too."

I've seen many demos, both in-air and on-ground of the A-10. One of the maintenance guys out at R-G once told me that they had essentially designed the rotary cannon, and then designed an aircraft around it that would allow them to put the weapon in the most favorable location for maximum effectiveness.

I think they did a hell of a job of that. The A-10 is one badass weapon, something to be feared when you see it coming at you over a battlefield, no matter what kind of armor you're driving.

I used to be an Aircraft Battle Damage Repair (ABDR) engineer for A-10s at McClellan AFB. The EOD guys would come out and blow a hold in our retired A-10 so we could practice repair design. Since my assignment was after Desert Storm, but before Iraqi Freedom, I was never able to practice the art of ABDR in the field.

These planes can handle an amazing amount of damage before they are totally non-airworthy. I'm proud to have been associated with the A-10 and think it's the coolest airplane in the DoD!

Too bad Fairchild isn't around anymore, or we could pay them to make some more...

I hate to say it, but the DoD would probably be better off with 747s.

Thank you Bruce!!!

xoxoxo
teri

I once took down ( shot down ) an A10 , It was equiped with full miles gear ( lazer tag for you civi folks ) with an M60 .
My LT bought me a case of beer ..
We were at FT Irwin in the desert , being the bad guys for an entire Bragade of Army guys ( I am ex USAM ) . I got first blood of the entire engagement . They made is carry man pacs
( transponders that tracked our position and shots fired ) they kept stats on all of us , the top guns( the folks who stasticaly took the most good guys to kill us bad guys ) were presented with OPFOR(oposing force ) berets . I still have mine,,,
16 to 1 ratio

P.S.OH yeah A10's ROCK you can't hear them till they pass you

Thank you for your service.

But damn, Zip, how do they know for ABSOLUTE certain that the main gun on the A-10 nose is loaded with blanks...? I'd hate to stare that down, thinking that if somebody made a dumb mistake I was gonna be instantly perforated (and probably cut right in half).

UT my miles gear didn't go beep ,, and the A10's blinker light and smoke pot weht off ,,, I was amazed , seeing as tough as an A10 is (TI bath tub and all ) Damn hard to shoot down ...
I saw 2 black bots comeing at us across the desert and said "sir we have incomeing ",, he said hit the deck !!!!! I said "sir i think i can take one down , he said do it ,,, i let loose ,, i lead it and the lights and the smoke pot went off and he did a barrel roll to show he had been hit .... I was stoked !!!!!!!!!! The LT called in to confirm ,,, I had first blood of the whole engagement !!!!!!

The A-10 in this thread had been hit too. Many times. But it didn't take it out. War games, like paint ball, determines hits but doesn't determine fatality. Either way, I'd say congratulations, you did some damn fine shootin'.

Late one night just after the 1991 Gulf War. On Horsham Rd outside Willow Grove NAS. An A-10 was doing touch and goes - except he never left the perimeter of base's chain link fence. An A-10 in full right turn - almost 90 degrees - turning around for another pass and not even going over Horsham Road. They look a lot bigger when they are that close. Even the 747 would only be another support function for the A-10.

In a last Willow Grove airshow, one ground crewman was an Army soldier in the Gulf War. He chose reserve duty as on A-10 ground support because, he said, he was alive only because of the Hawg.

Primary Function: A-10 -- close air support, OA-10 - airborne forward air control
Contractor: Fairchild Republic Co.
Power Plant: Two General Electric TF34-GE-100 turbofans
Thrust: 9,065 pounds each engine
Length: 53 feet, 4 inches (16.16 meters)
Height: 14 feet, 8 inches (4.42 meters)
Wingspan: 57 feet, 6 inches (17.42 meters)
Speed: 420 miles per hour (Mach 0.56)
Ceiling: 45,000 feet (13,636 meters)
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 51,000 pounds (22,950 kilograms)
Range: 800 miles (695 nautical miles)
Armament: One 30 mm GAU-8/A seven-barrel Gatling gun; up to 16,000 pounds (7,200 kilograms) of mixed ordnance on eight under-wing and three under-fuselage pylon stations, including 500 pounds (225 kilograms) of Mk-82 and 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) of Mk-84 series low/high drag bombs, incendiary cluster bombs, combined effects munitions, mine dispensing munitions, AGM-65 Maverick missiles and laser-guided/electro-optically guided bombs; infrared countermeasure flares; electronic countermeasure chaff; jammer pods; 2.75-inch (6.99 centimeters) rockets; illumination flares and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.
Crew: One
Date Deployed: March 1976
Unit Cost: $9.8 million (fiscal 98 constant dollars)

Have any of you seen the A-10 "music video?" I saw it at Squadron Officer's School. It was a homemade affair with a funny little song that had a catchy refrain:

I'm a Yank in a bank, killing commies in their tanks (snort snort)

I've always wanted to see it posted to the web, but my wish hasn't come true yet that I know of...

teri

I don't think MiGs or Mirages fly that low. Plus, they might not even be able to slow down enough to shoot down a Warthog...

Here's a cool article from Air Force Magazine about how A-10s did during Desert Storm:

http://www.afa.org/magazine/perspect...893warhog.html

I just found this picture of the gatling gun. Daaaaamn!

Not just for shooting airplanes . . .

Those AIM 9's work great on most helo's too. Big heat signature and slow moving (compared to a MIG), Sidewinder will just eat it up.

And as for durability, I recall reading that the backup surface controls are cable.

here's a pretty good warthog history.

Found this pic of an injured Warthog being loaded up for the trip home. It WILL fly again.

I gather the A-10 is quite good at turning inside most missles

But, even IF the vaerage AA missle hits an A-10, it has a GOOD chance of coming home. The reason the engines are Up and OUT like they are is that if one engine is hit by a missle, the A-10 can limp home on the other

The modern all aspect heat seakers should have no problem locking on. However, the Hog was designed to be VERY hard to lock onto with the older seekers. You'll notice that the engines are BETWEEN the Vertical Stabs, and ABOVE the Horizontal stab. That is to give the exhaust time to mix with ambient air before becoming visible to ground based seeker. In addition, hte hog was one of the first attack aircraft to use high bypass turbofans, which have a MUCH lower exhaust temp, as something like 70% of the air does NOT go through the combustion chamber. Also, if you look closely, you will see that the center core exhaust (aka, the hot part), is angled up, again, to mix the air

Her's the pilot, Capt. Campbell. She should be proud. She looks it.

Damn Slang , that must suck spending the Tgiveing over seas !!

I saw that! Funny stuff but I cant remember the caption.

previous pic: pilot doesnt look proud, she looke like shes got a broomstick up her ass!

The Warthog "music video" has finally been posted to YouTube. The quality isn't great, but the words and visuals are great! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md6heX6Yplk