Tribute to the A-10 'Warthog'

[Bennie]

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Hawgsmoke, Davis Monthan 2012



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NAS Fort Worth JRB airshow, 2011

[warthog64]

Today 3 years ago,
Hawgsmoke 2010 departure day.

[warthog64]

About time to put this topic on top!

Nice Michigan ANG A-10 taken at Boise Idaho during hawgsmoke 2010,



go get then at Spangdahlem!

[GerritsFinest]

I see fantastic shots of the beautiful A10 passing by... you may find this contribution rather dull, but in 1977 on that grey drizzly weather at Gilze-Rijen the first A10 had it's three greens for the runway 28! I arrived just one day for the Open House straight from the Paris airshow (if I remember well). It even was the first appearance in Holland! Seeing these aircraft later on it never was boaring but impressive. At Cornfield shooting range they mostly emptied their guns on the late Friday afternoon, or at some time the range was about to close because on the ground nothing was left over after strafing the targets . So they had plenty of time to repair...

[GerritsFinest]

One of the most memorable polar spottertrips was to Nordholz in Northern Germany Friday 19th of January 1979. Coronet HOOF was planned to bring 18 A10’s of 355TFS/354TFW MB for a three week deployment to the base (ending February 14th). Leaving early that day because KING Winter was in charge for a long time already. Strong easterly wind had blown the snow up to metres high snow dunes and blocked the local roads on many spots. The flightplans still said everything would be okay but the closer we came after many hours the general idea was ‘what the f… are we doing here’. But finally we came at the westerly side of the runway and notice that snow removal was in progress and a lot of American cars were driving around. Luckily 17 arrived in three flights with half an hour interval from Lajes in rather dark weather. Let’s imagine that the temp difference was about 30 degrees… One aircraft was u/s at Lajes and came with 81 TFW A10’s to Bentwaters 25 January and continued to Nordholz that day. We went to the gate dressed up like horrible snowmen to ask permission to shoot some shot on the flightline. They felt pity for us in this freezing cold and were allowed to come inside! That warmed us up for the very long trip back home!

[Nilson]

Nice ones Gerrit!

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[GerritsFinest]

Again from my side some 'historical' pictures of the A10. Now 81TFW Bentwaters/Woodbridge. Six Squadrons were active here beginning 80thies with more than 70 aircraft! These shots taken at Bentwaters in the very beginning. The first camo's were noted also and look at the solid fresh grey shelters just built...

[Bennie]

Again from my side some 'historical' pictures of the A10. Now 81TFW Bentwaters/Woodbridge. Six Squadrons were active here beginning 80thies with more than 70 aircraft! These shots taken at Bentwaters in the very beginning. The first camo's were noted also and look at the solid fresh grey shelters just built...

Nice!! Spent a few morning hours there on July 14th 1987 (my only visit to EGVJ) and managed to log 36 examples! Not so lucky at Woodbridge unfortunately (only 1 HC130)....

[GerritsFinest]

Again a common shot of a Bentwaters A10... sorry! But the location makes it interesting! These shots were taken 24-3-1981 at Deelen airbase. Jets were seldom seen over here (except for the KLu airshows). This one was operating with OV10 14639 that day, in connection with GPLV helicopters. Too bad this airfield with it's beautiful natural scenery isn't operational as it should be ...

[Hans Rolink]

Impressive shots and stories!

Hans.

[Marco DeG]

Spangdahlem 40 by Marco de Groot, on Flickr

82-648DM 2 by Marco de Groot, on Flickr

A-10 649 2 LR by Marco de Groot, on Flickr

[Marco DeG]

A recent catch...

78-612-MD 2 by Marco de Groot, on Flickr

00232 3 by Marco de Groot, on Flickr

[Marco DeG]

One of the most memorable polar spottertrips was to Nordholz in Northern Germany Friday 19th of January 1979. Coronet HOOF was planned to bring 18 A10’s of 355TFS/354TFW MB for a three week deployment to the base (ending February 14th). Leaving early that day because KING Winter was in charge for a long time already. Strong easterly wind had blown the snow up to metres high snow dunes and blocked the local roads on many spots. The flightplans still said everything would be okay but the closer we came after many hours the general idea was ‘what the f… are we doing here’. But finally we came at the westerly side of the runway and notice that snow removal was in progress and a lot of American cars were driving around. Luckily 17 arrived in three flights with half an hour interval from Lajes in rather dark weather. Let’s imagine that the temp difference was about 30 degrees… One aircraft was u/s at Lajes and came with 81 TFW A10’s to Bentwaters 25 January and continued to Nordholz that day. We went to the gate dressed up like horrible snowmen to ask permission to shoot some shot on the flightline. They felt pity for us in this freezing cold and were allowed to come inside! That warmed us up for the very long trip back home!

Fantastic story!! What a memorable experience!!

[Marco DeG]

Let's keep this topic alive, always nice to see some other contributions....

78-653 Idaho3 by Marco de Groot, on Flickr

Take Off 634 by Marco de Groot, on Flickr

707 Pre-check by Marco de Groot, on Flickr

Ciao,
Marco

[warthog64]

https://flic.kr/p/RxZwPb
from last years red flag in March at Nellis AFB