It’s proven a tough plane to kill; whether by ground fire or bureaucrats, it keeps flying.
There was a squadron of A-10s based at Grissom Air Reserve base just north of here. They liked fly training missions out by my brother’s farm. He said they’d hop the tree line at low level before you knew they were there, make a “run” at a tractor or shed, and be gone over the next tree line before you could react.
They are awesome.
I didn’t realize how impressive a real attack is until I witnessed a mock attack in South Korea. I was standing on the HQ buildings roof about 1/4 mile from the runway. They had two squadrons of F16s on the runway (32 planes) and they took off 4 at a time with after burner.
They then did an attack on the base and dropped flares instead of bombs. Truly glad they were on my side.
That line of Toyota Pickups in the photo the other day would have been decimated! Hard to hide in the desert.