Its nickname is “warthog.” That’s the first clue that flying an A-10 is not the Air Force’s most glamorous mission. It’s designed to support ground troops, not to engage in the dogfighting that makes up the pop culture image of air combat. The wars in the Middle East, though, have made close-air support — bombing targets near troops — one of the Air Force’s top missions. “The A-10 was not the most sexy, popular weapon system the Air Force had,”said Lt. Col. Paul Johnson, the 414th Combat Training Squadron director of operations at Nellis Air Force Base. “But now since...