When I was stationed in England back in the early 90's our base (RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge) would participate twice a year in multi-national/mulit-organizational ORE's. Having been crossed trained into security as well as a multitude of other jobs I was often part of our base's "team" during these ORE's and it was amazing to hear the Royal marines talk and describe the sheer terror that our boys in the base's A-10's could evoke when a pair of them would pop up over some tree tops and "unleash death" on a comapny of unsuspecting marines. The A-10's were never heard till too late, and slipped away just as silently as they had arrived. My favorite plane in the USAF was the F-15E, that is until I saw the A-10 in action, and what it lacks in looks and speed it more than makes up for it in manuverability and firepower and it's ability to inspire fear in people. Craig
Don't WORRY!!! According to the 4042 Loonhouse they are just transporting tortured Al-Queda prisoners. But they have protested and now we are all going to be alot better!! I am confident.
Sometimes ugly is Beautamous Craig, A look at the WartHog on the ground demeans its capabilities. It looks ugly and ungainly, and seems "unusual" based on the stereotypical view of a AF fast mover. We're guilty of stereotyping the AF drivers as high altitude, drop lots of ordnance, tuck in the flight scarf, land..O Club, steak and a drink...end of the day... WartHog drivers are usually considered to be grunts gone bad...yeah they learned to read without moving their lips and write legibly, and do the pilot stuff, but at heart, they really like being on the ground, hence the close air gig... First time I ever saw a "'Hog", it was a demo at Bragg. Couldn't see crap, didn't hear a thing, and all of a sudden, those turbofan whispers let us know there was a new sheriff in town...put so much CAS ordnance on the ground that the brigade commander told us to teach our units to stop badmouthing the USAF..at least the Hog crews... I swear that the Hog drivers had his plane dancing in the sky...twisting and jinking, and giving us a demo of what our friends in blue would do for us....we met the crew, drivers and the guys who really own them, but let the officers drive for a beer blast and a barBQ...swapped patches and challenge coins, with an oath to always buy the first round for them guys. Luvs me some A10...and here to tell about it, with thanks to them.
Here is a site that has some good videos of the A-10. http://www.sonicbomb.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=search&query= Craig
