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Patrick_Lasswell

Patrick_Lasswell

Portland, OR
January 2003

MAR 22, 2005 10:08 PM

Long known for its tremendous capability in combat, the A-10 "Warthog" showed a new capacity this week, directing the rescue of stranded flood victims.

More than 200 villagers were rescued from flood waters Friday as airborne A-10s from the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing out of Bagram Airfield helped identify and report the victims’ exact location.

One hour into a close-air-support combat mission, two A-10s received a call while refueling from an aerial tanker. They were redirected to coordinates about 70 kilometers northeast of Kandahar to search for survivors.

“We were on the tanker when we got a call from the [Air Support Operations Center], which passed us coordinates for an area where the Army was trying to rescue several hundred folks from rising flood waters,” said Capt. Andy Taylor, an A-10 pilot with the 75th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron. “We headed that way, coordinating with the Army helicopters working in the area. They wanted us to look for people stranded on the ground by the flood.

“There were several areas that had become islands and were continuing to be swamped over by raging waters,” he said. “We used the [infrared] feature on our targeting pods to locate several groups of people, marking those areas with IR to highlight for the helos where the folks were stranded.”

The A-10s worked the area for about an hour, helping the Army locate and rescue hundreds of Afghan villagers.

“Our targeting pod and the A-10's long loiter time allowed us to successfully carry out this support mission,” said Capt. Chad Anthony, also a 75th EFS A-10 pilot and flight lead during this rescue operation.

“The pod allows us to see great detail day or night, and the IR marker lets us, and those we’re supporting, identify what we're looking at,” Anthony said. “We practice a lot with the pod, so we were well prepared for Friday night’s mission. Also, there aren't many fighters that can stay in a target area as long as we can.”


Long at risk of being discarded by the Air Force, the ugly, slow, and old A-10 keeps proving its worth.

jayenh

jayenh

Fairbanks, AK
March 2004

MAR 23, 2005 12:09 PM

The A-10 does have a fantastic loiter time, compared with, say, the F-16, which can stay airborne long enough to land.

[Edited on Mar 23, 2005 by joe_n_bloe]

adjunct

adjunct

Philadelphia, PA
July 2002

MAR 23, 2005 12:26 PM

As cool as this non-traditional use of their targeting system is, I can imagine it must have been pretty scary for some of the people they were looking for. That thing is basically a huge gun with wings, and pug-ugly to boot.

stuzzy

stuzzy

Seattle, WA
June 2004

MAR 23, 2005 12:34 PM

Ugly my ass. The A10 is a beautiful machine in my humble opinion.

neat story.

[Edited on Mar 23, 2005 3:34PM]

adjunct

adjunct

Philadelphia, PA
July 2002

MAR 23, 2005 12:36 PM

A beautiful gun, maybe. As a flying vehicle, not so much.

jayenh

jayenh

Fairbanks, AK
March 2004

MAR 23, 2005 12:39 PM

It's creepy how quiet they are.

bgrrrr

bgrrrr

Portland, OR
November 2004

MAR 23, 2005 12:48 PM

I went to college at Univ of Arizona in Tucson. USAF flew A-10s out of Davis Monthan, and it was surprising how the campus always seemed to be in the flight path.

The warmer it got, the less clothes the co-eds wore, the lower the A-10s flew.

Funny thing is that when I was US Army enlisted, my MOS was 16-H, Air Defense Ops and Intel Assistant. I was assigned to the Short-Range Air Defense battalion of the 8th ID in Germany, and we had Vulcans and Stingers. I'm not sure either weapon system would so much as scratch an A-10, and I wouldn't want to be in the vicinity when it turned around and came after yer ass after your shot...

It's just a good thing that a pilot did not accidentally toggle-off a Maverick missile instead of his IR marker.

FrankMask

FrankMask

Saint Paul, MN
June 2003

MAR 23, 2005 12:48 PM

They're beautiful the way albatross are beautiful, because nothing that looks like that should be able to fly. I wonder if they had trained in using their gear for search and rescue, or if someone decided to try this off the cuff.

zyryx

zyryx

Tyler, TX
April 2004

MAR 23, 2005 12:50 PM

stuzzy said:
Ugly my ass. The A10 is a beautiful machine in my humble opinion.

neat story.

[Edited on Mar 23, 2005 3:34PM]



I agree, it's a beautiful plane

Michael_J_Totten

Michael_J_Totten

Iraq
February 2004

MAR 23, 2005 12:50 PM

bgrrrr said:
The warmer it got, the less clothes the co-eds wore, the lower the A-10s flew.


Heh.

kerulian

kerulian

Key West, FL
March 2004

MAR 23, 2005 12:52 PM

This reminds me of the History Channels "From Tactical to Practical". This my be something that civilian Search and Rescue could use right now. (I know that putting a targeting system on a civilian plane is not going to happen, but it wouldn't be impossible to find a way to make a marking system similar to what the military already has.)

effstop

effstop

Las Vegas, NV
June 2004

MAR 23, 2005 01:36 PM

that plane is a marvel in engineering. ugly is NOT the word to describe it. it can fly with one engine and half a wing missing. eeek

not to mention, the chain gun mounted to the front fires so hard, that unless the plane flies a certain speed, it will stall. shocked

Jimbo

Jimbo

Dallas, TX
August 2003

MAR 23, 2005 01:44 PM

I like hearing positive stories from over the pond smile

luckyride

luckyride

Portland, OR
May 2003

MAR 23, 2005 01:48 PM

i fucking love a10's. those and migs were my favorites growing up!


theseeman

theseeman

Asheville, NC
December 2002

MAR 23, 2005 01:50 PM

Close Air support saves the day again.

Lufy

Lufy

Ithaca, NY
May 2004

MAR 23, 2005 02:07 PM

You gotta love the A10. They started with a gun - then built a plane around it.

Awesome.

travelinfool

travelinfool

Shippensburg, PA
February 2005

MAR 23, 2005 02:16 PM

I always loved the A-10's!
I remember in the 80's my little *farm* was on the test flight path. You see the Fairchild factory that built A-10’s is in Hagerstown MD, about 30 min drive from me.

I remember a big family gathering in the summer where we were all cleaning up the dishes and looking out the kitchen windows at the birds. (mom fed the heck out of them and we got all kinds of rare birds)

My back yard goes about 50 yards and ends at a hay field that goes up a slight rise. About 200-300 yards from my house on the other side of the field is the neighbor's house and tree line.

Me, mom, dad, grandparents, uncles, aunts etc. were all admiring some bird when an A-10 popped UP over the neighbors tree line (he was lower than the trees) and came back DOWN into the field directly at us. Everyone was horrified as we were sure it was crashing into the house. I mean, you’re talking a space of 300 yards or so!

It popped back UP and over the 100' pine trees by our house and disappeared.

I thought it was the coolest thing and was a fan ever since. You don't get that kind of fooling around any more...

PogMoThoin

PogMoThoin

Jamaica, NY
January 2004

MAR 23, 2005 04:33 PM

stuzzy said:
Ugly my ass. The A10 is a beautiful machine in my humble opinion.

neat story.

[Edited on Mar 23, 2005 3:34PM]



I agree completely.

MagnaDolce

MagnaDolce

Portland, ME
January 2004

MAR 23, 2005 05:04 PM

Ah, but wouldn't some of the great writers/thinkers of today and yesteryear think of the beauty that is this machine built to destroy tanks and anything else with a gattling gun that rolls out 10mm shells like a bolt of lightning in the nose was put to use in the actual rescue of a few Afghans that found themselves the victim of the power of nature...
Ah the irony, ah the beauty,... ah fuck it.

theseeman

theseeman

Asheville, NC
December 2002
MagnaDolce

MagnaDolce

Portland, ME
January 2004

MAR 23, 2005 05:40 PM



Right-o, 30mm. Geezus, that video clip is fucking scary!

Razorchild

Razorchild

Simi Valley, CA
March 2005

MAR 23, 2005 06:00 PM

stuzzy said:
Ugly my ass. The A10 is a beautiful machine in my humble opinion.



I disagree. The A-10 is a hiedeous lump of flying metal.

Still, I love that plane. It's my second fave, after the SR-71.

- RazorChild

BadStoryDan

BadStoryDan

Vancouver, BC
January 2005

MAR 23, 2005 06:05 PM

Dude, I remember building a model of one of these as a kid...

MarginWalker2002

MarginWalker2002

San Diego, CA
April 2004

MAR 23, 2005 06:14 PM

GoodBoy said:



Right-o, 30mm. Geezus, that video clip is fucking scary!



Gotta love am aircraft that can only fire it's gun in short bursts so as not to clog its engines with all the powder expellant...

Warthog love, baby. love

jrave

jrave

Italy
January 2004

MAR 23, 2005 06:24 PM

holy shit. another use for the gun with wings. neato.

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