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Picture of the Day: When Pigs Fly
By John
I'm too hungover to blog anything coherent right now, so here...look at the pretty picture.
Two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from the 52nd Fighter Wing, 81st Fighter Squadron, Spangdhalem Air Base, Germany, drop away from a refueling tanker during a NATO Operation Allied Force combat mission. The "Warthogs," deployed to Aviano Air Base, Italy, are specially designed for close air support of ground forces.
Photo Courtesy of the US Air Force
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BC: I heard a similiar rumor. Only it involved the Air Force wanting to retire the A-10 a decade ago, the Army saying "forget that we will take them," and then Air Force saying "nevermind we'll keep them."
I think that after Iraq and Afghanistan the supreme usefullness of this aircraft has been well proven. It would be a mistake to retire them.
it's an excellent aircraft and also from a female point of view: it's simply beautiful although you won't think of it the first time you see it :o)
Ah, too much to drink, John?
I really like the Warthog design. It just looks bad ass.
Cpl M, yeah.
Perhaps this would be a good time suffer everyone with my lecture on the dangers of uber light beers like Corona.
The stuff is so light, it doesn't feel like you're drinking much at all.... and before you realize it, you're 11 (12?) deep.
Did everything right this morning...woke up, chugged water, took an advil, took a shower, drank a pot's worth of coffee, chugged more water, did the greasy breakfast.
Still suffered. Beware the light beers.
Oooh! Aaah!
Very pretty picture.
Thanks.
That brings me back...I worked on those exact aircraft, when they were "new" and stationed in the UK, duirng the mid-80's. I think we should "divert" some of the money to be used for the F-35, and get the Warthog line back into production!! Especially if we gave it an updated (but not too sophisticated) avionics suite.
Cas is spot on.
That A-10 is not only beautiful, but one bad-ass fighter with that Gatling gun! Best plane ever built for close-in ground support.
This plane is also built for maximum survivability. The pilot sits in a three-inch thick titanium bathtub. It has three independent sets of rudder controls.
In the First Gulf War, one A-10 actually took a direct hit from a SAM-II and remained air-borne! The pilot regained consciousness to find the craft cruising towards Kurdistan on auto-pilot with half the right wing missing and the starboard engine with 20% power left from eating shredded metal. He was able to manually steer the plane back to Kuwait with the 2nd set of back-up controls.
One tough aircraft.
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rumor is that the air force plans to replace the A-10 with the F-35.
terrible idea, if it is true.