"Fast Movers" are not so great at Low & Slow CLOSE air support. Some of our best CAS in Vietnam was from the Korean War era "Spads", the A-1 Skyraider. They were a welcome sight!
Posted on 06/18/2019 6:42:08 PM PDT by Rebelbase
On the same page. Give it to the Marines.
Before I retired I was in law enforcement. I was also a firearms instructor for my department and we used the local ANG small arms range for quals. It was really a lot of fun during breaks to just sit there and watch the A-10’s flying around.
CC
Love the sound of these things. I call it “God’s Zipper”.
Can they evade SAM-3s & SAM-5s?
I remember working out in Tuscon, AZ in the late 1990s and the A-10s were constantly doing maneuvers, touch & gos, circling the area etc. around Davis Monthan AFB They would get your attention...nothing like em.
If the Air Farce doesn’t want the A-10s, they can give them to the Army.
They would love too and have tried, but the Army demanded the support package necessary to keep the planes flying and the AF will not give up that force structure.
Might as well give them to the Army, too.
To see one flying sideways through a Mt pass laying down cannon fire is a trip.
Basically, a flying tank. Not sexy enough for the Air Force brass, but the Army and Marines must love the sound of that 30mm Gatling. Its WWII grandfather was the P-47 Thunderbolt. There are stories of Luftwaffe fighters running out of ammunition trying to bring one down and the pilots ending up flying alongside and saluting. It was replaced in the bomber escort role with the P-51 Mustang, but as a heavily armored ground attack plane it was unmatched. Just like Junior.
You have that right. The fighter jock AF never liked the A-10. It was too slow and went too low. They would actually have to get down into hot engagements in the dirt.
Well enough. They can concentrate on air to air and leave the real work to the A-10 supporting our troops.
One morning, about 25 years ago, I was skiing the slalom course on Heritage Lake, a 375 acre private lake about 30 miles west of Indianapolis. I had just gotten around buoy number 3, pulled the rope handle to my hip and started digging for buoy number 4. That’s when I got the shit scared out of me.
As I turned my head to the other shoreline to square-up my shoulders, two A-10 Thunderbolts, undoubtedly flying for the Indiana ANG’s 181st Fighter Wing at Hulman field, came ripping over the lake directly on top of me, in the middle of my field of vision and only about 75 to 100 feet off the water. I will never forget how startled I was and just how cool it was to see them in flight that closely.
Needless to say, I didn’t make it around buoy number 4.
DAAAYYAMMM !!! Glad You are still with us. Thank You for Your Service.
That’s the ticket for me!
Another crock of dung from the wing airdales; as an old Marine the only close air support I ever want to see has a human pilot at bomb and gun controls.
A human being who can see me on the ground and can discriminate me from the enemy.
The A-10 is a great ground attack, ground support aircraft where you control the sky.
If you control the sky the A-10 can destroy just about anything the enemy has on the ground.
The A-10 is also famous for its survivability. It can take a lot of hits and still get the pilot home.
Have them fly border patrol.
Eventually the F-35 will provide oit by controlling drones.
Eventually there will be a new Ice Age also
The thing about those weapons is they require a live body to fire them ... oh look at that guy with the stick on his shoulder BRRRRRRT
"Fast Movers" are not so great at Low & Slow CLOSE air support. Some of our best CAS in Vietnam was from the Korean War era "Spads", the A-1 Skyraider. They were a welcome sight!
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