This video clip from the US Department of Defense shows A-10 Thunderbolt II strike aircraft (colloquially known as 'Warthogs') of the 81st Fighter Squadron training in Germany.
I wish we'd had such support aircraft during my time 'up the sharp end' . . . it would have made things a lot more comfortable!
Peter
8 comments:
Fun stuff, and O.M.G. what they can do to a T-72!!! :-)
It is a continuous source of amazement to me how the 60-70 decades produced some of the most incredible planes ever designed. The A10 is a perfect example, the SR71A and F15 Eagle other notabl cases.
Nowadays, it'd still be very difficult to come up with a fundamentally better design.
Engineers with slide rules, RULE!
:)
Great post Peter. Do you recommend reading the various works by Dick Lord to become more familiar with the SAAF?
B Company, 1/52 INF (M), at Grafenwohr, late Autumn 1982. First time I ever saw Warthogs in flight, only time I got to see them work. I was a grunt temporarily assigned to the maintenance section of HQ platoon of my infantry company and sat atop the tool trailer one fine day watching the A-10s do gun runs on a range nearby. A few days later as the battalion lined up our vehicles in the track park in readiness to road march back to barracks several A-10s happened to pass overhead and took a few minutes to put on a flight display for us. Loops, tight turns, and barrel rolls were met by roars of approval from us grunts. The Warthog may well be the best friend the infantryman has ever had. Too bad they don't fly fast and are therefore not sexy enough for the Air Force, which keeps trying to get rid of them despite their proven record of service.
@Themav1977: Yes, I do. Dick Lord knew his stuff, and wrote good books.
With Drones, are the Warthogs on the way out? Ironic how the Air Force wanted to kill the Warthog program because it just wasn't 'glamourous' to be supporting grunts on the ground. So much for inter-service cooperation. Do you really have to have pilots operating drones?
Drones versus (Piloted) Warthogs.
Many years ago, a British member of Parliament, Duncan Sandys (pronounced 'Sands'), at the stroke of his pen, almost destroyed the Royal Air Force, by forcing the opinion that due to the rapid advancement in aeroplane design and sophistication, remotely controlled missiles would be as good as, or better than, piloted 'planes. The cutbacks were close to ruinous.
It still holds true that, even with todays 'sophistication', there's still nothing as good as the MK1 Brain and Eyeball, as Niel Armstrong proved during his lunar landing.
I rest my case.
I love the A-10. It's totally my aesthetic. :D
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