Posted on 10/31/2022 3:58:53 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
When was it un-retired?
Regardless, I still love the plane, so Welcome Back!
—”When was it un-retired?”
A political hot potato.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II#Future
“In January 2016, the USAF was “indefinitely freezing” plans to retire the A-10 for at least several years. In addition to Congressional opposition, its use in anti-ISIS operations, deployments to Eastern Europe as a response to Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine, and reevaluation of F-35 numbers necessitated its retention.[144][145] In February 2016, the Air Force deferred the final retirement of the aircraft until 2022 after being replaced by F-35s on a squadron-by-squadron basis.[146][147] In October 2016, the Air Force Materiel Command brought the depot maintenance line back to full capacity in preparation for re-winging the fleet.[148] In June 2017, it was announced that the aircraft “...will now be kept in the air force’s inventory indefinitely.”[149][6] The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine spurred some American observers to push for the loaning of A-10s to Ukraine, particularly following reports of an extended, stalled Russian convoy outside Kyiv, with critics of such a proposal noting the diplomatic and tactical complications to such an approach.”
NB: Armies are always prepared to fight their last battle.
I used to do a lot of Civil engineering on airports. We had our handy dandy FAA data books that contained all the pertinent sizes and weights of all known aircraft. While the Antonov’s and C5’s are huge, they are also hollow tubes and empty weight is in the 350,000 lb +/- range. The Boeing 747 actually has a weight of 830,000 lbs +/-.
I had to design a wall at Paine Field to withstand the weight of the nose landing gear sitting on the wall to keep from blowing the wall out.
Um, “Fat Albert” is a US Marine C-130 transport used by the Blue Angels support teams.
Um... See post 52.
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