NEWS: Attack Aircraft Rescue Afghan Flood Victims

POLITICS: Attack Aircraft Rescue Afghan Flood Victims

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.

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

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]

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.

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

neat story.

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

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

It's creepy how quiet they are.

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.

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.

I agree, it's a beautiful plane

Heh.

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.)

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.

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

I like hearing positive stories from over the pond

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

Close Air support saves the day again.

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

Awesome.

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...

I agree completely.

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.

30mm Shells. And how:
http://www.big-boys.com/articles/30mm.html
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/equip/gau-8.htm

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

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

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

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.

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