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IT WOULD BE A GOOD TOPIC I THOUGHT,WHY ONES HERE LOVE THE A-10.

I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE HOG ON APRIL 2 1985. I ARRIVED ON ENGLAND AFB LA ON THE 1ST. I IN PROCESSED AND WAS SENT DOWN TO "M.A.T." BACK THEN.
I SAT FOR ABOUT 20 MINS WAITING FOR SOMEONE IN THE SQUADRON TO GET ME.
MY SOON TO BE FLT CHIEF CAME AND GOT ME FROM THE 76TH AMU AFLT.
THE FIRST THING BARNEY NOTICED WAS THE MAC PATCHES
HE ASKED THE USUAL QUESTION,"WHERE",WHEN,WHY,HOW LONG YOU BEEN IN".
THEN HE FOUND OUT I HAD NO A-10 BACKGROUND, "OH WELL SARGE YOU'LL LEARN"
HE TOOK ME THREW THE AMU WHERE I MEET THE OIC "CAPT------" WONT GO THERE.
SHE SHOOK MY HAND TOLD ME WHO SHE WAS AND TOOK HER FINGER AND POKED IT IN MY CREWCHIEF PATCH AND SAID" WE DONT HAVE THESE IN TAC,TAKE IT OFF BY TOMMORROW"
I WAS PRETTY SHOCKED AT FIRST THEN PISSED-OFF,JUST LOOKED AT HER.
WE WALKED AWAY AND BARNEY SAID "SHE'S A REAL PAIN"
BUT WHEN WE WALKED OUT OF TOOL CRIB I SAW A LINE OF GREEN AND GRAY JETS THAT WERE A FAMILAR PAINT JOB, A WHOLE ROLE OF TEETH COVERED A-10'S.
I HAD TO STOP AND SOAK IT IN.
COMMING FROM A PASSENGER PLANE BASICALLY,THIS HAD A GUN AND DROPPED BOMBS!!!!!!!!
HE THEN TOOK ME OUT TO THE ECP,NEVER HAD TO WORK IN A ENTRY CONTROL POINT UP TO THEN. WENT THRU AND WALKED UP TO A A-10 GETTING READY TO CHALK OUT.
I COULDNT BELIEVE IT WAS RUNNING,AFTER J-60'S AND TRUBO PROPS FROM C-130'S AND ALL THE ENROUTE C-5'S ,C-141'S AND KC/EC-135'S.HOW QUITE IT WAS
WHAT SURPRISED ME WAS THE SIZE OF IT!,THE SIZE OF THE GAU-8 "HUGE!!!"
IT JUST HAD A LOOK OF A"BIG.UGLY,MEAN MACHINE" AND PUT IT ALL TOGETHER AND SOON SAW IT WAS JUST "BEAUTIFUL!"
I KNEW BACK IN THE FALL OF 84 WHEN THEY TOLD ME TOO PICK A NEW AIRFRAME ,AND FOLKS TOLD ME I WAS NUTS NOT TAKING THE F-15,F-16 OR SR-71,BUT THE A-10 I HAD MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE
THEN IN OCT 85 GETTING MY NAME ON THE BLOCK AS "DEDICATE CREWCHIEF"OF 80-0166 I FINALLY MADE IT TO THE BIG TIME IN MY BOOK!!!!!!!!
FROM PEACETIME TO DESERT STORM THE A-10 WAS "MY LOVE"
CREWING ET-39 WAS GREAT,BUT A-10'S FOR 6 YEARS TO THE DATE 4/91 THAT WAS "PRICELESS "MY FAVORITE TIME AND MEMORIES
WERE WITH THE 76TH AND THE "HOG"!
THAT IS WHY I LOVE THE A-10 THUNDERBOLT II,"WARTHOG"

PRESS TO TEST

Edited by - sgtgoose1 on Oct 07 2003 5:18 PM

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\"Live Free Or Die\"

Goose,

You crewed T-39s with the J60 engines? One of the last engines that converted fuel to noise with no bypass..

T7

Oh Goose...........I laughed, I cried...............you moved me Eddy ! <img src=icon_smile_clown.gif border=0 align=middle>
I hated the A10 when I got out of the Navy in 89. Well maybe hate is a bit to strong. I was ashamed. After all I was a self respecting F14 type from the TopHatters. There was nothing worse than going from Fitwing to MATwing, especially Air Force MATwing........... except going from fighters to P3's. That was worse ! So I sucked it up and went to Air Guard instead of to the Navy Reserve. It took a while for the A10 to grow on me but after Deny Flight, Nobil Anvil, Southern Watch, and OIF I just love it. It is the most butt kickinest bird on the planet. I inherited 80-166 as the full time crew chief in 96. It was agreat jet except for that darn water wash tank that was put in by some back alley butcher.........GOOSE YOU HACK ! Took a depot team to fix that job. Sorry man just jivin' just jivin'. But honestly I never had a real respect for CAS or the MATwing community untill I saw the A10 work. Huge eye opener.

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

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YGBSM !

i fell in love @ 85 also, saw it in a magazine called Warplane, i and many of my friends @ school were very impressed by it, huge payload, massive tank defeating gun, increadible manouverability, we were awe struck by it, from then on i tried to find as many books as my pocket money (allowance) would let me buy..

got my first real taste of the Hog up close in '90 (i thought it was '91, but i took pictures with my brothers camera b4 he went to uni) i took a tape measure to get the size of the Gun.. i even snuck under the tape so i could get a pic of me standing next to it- got caught by the driver (had to pleed with him that it would only take a second to take it, i gave in and let me have the pic <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>)

during desert storm i was there sat by the video recorder watching the news, hoping to see them either on the ground or in flight, trying to catch any information on them i could..

now all these years on, i still love the beast for what it is, hope/salvation to the ground troops who need support for whatever reason and don't just want a 1 pass, haul ass attack from a lawndart, but need something thats going to stick around for as long as it takes to get the job done.. nothing can beat the Hog for putting fear in the enemy.. <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

if it were me on the other end of the Hog, i don't think it would take me long to surrender.. especially if there were 2 on station attacking every 16 seconds..

that is why i love the Hog <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

TYPE-7,THEY WERE A REAL PAIN SOMETIMES TO WORK ON,NOISY!!!!!!!! BUT REALIABLE AS HELL! THE J-60 WAS EASY TO CHANGE TOO BACK THEN,JUST CALLED FMS ENGINE SHOP,GO TO THE TERMINAL FOR A CHEESE BURGER AND COKE COME BACK 2 HOURS LATER!<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>
BY THE TIME I LEFT THEM THOUGH I WAS CHANGING MY OWN WITH THE RE-STRUCTING OF THE SHOPS.

THEN MEAN TO DO IT BILLY! IT WAS A COMBAT FIX!,YOU CANT PUT A 79'S WASH BOTTLE IN A 80 HOG.

YOU'LL NEVER LET FORGET<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

PRESS TO TEST

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

nothing was more impressive then as kid watching the a-10 at the bell chase air show dive over run way. It was gracefull and you could see the purpose of the design. We would always love watching them fly over SE Louisiana. And the other thing was New Orleans had only one real combat tie to the first gulf war and the the A-10. Rember the stories of how the hogs flew out over Superbowl in New Orleans to the Gulf War.

Wow...being the young puke kid that I am, I gotta say that this plane stole my heart around '96. One of my teachers, who happened to be my swim coach, was ex-Army and was telling me about the A-10 during my freshman year of highschool. He knew that I was think about the military, and thinking about going infentry. It was one of his favorite pieces of military equipment. So I took a gander at it, at first I saw this ugly, bastard of a plane. Then I saw the nose, and some rather large barrels glaring at me, then I understood why this plane kicked butt. Then one of my friends dad, also ex-Army, told me of the precison of the plane and how the cannon was able to place rounds 2 feet apart causing a swarth of destruction. And I was like..whoa...Ugly, yet somehow the one of the best looking aircraft...ever...

Air Power

I had my first close encounters in the early 80's when I was still a kid, enjoying a holyday with my parents in the Sauerland in Germany. A-10's tend to fly very low over the village where we stayed. It was very impressive to see them maneuvering through the valleys. I had never seen an A-10 before, didn't know what this strange looking aircraft was good for but I immediately fell in love. That holyday I didn't do much more than climbing the highest hills I could find to watch the Warthogs do their thing. I can say this experience absolutely woke my interest in militairy aviation.

My second close encounter was when I tried to find the aircraft gunnery range near the village of Nordhorn, in the west of Germany close to the Dutch border. After some asking around, my father, my brother and me drove into a long straight landroad that
should lead us directly to a spot where we would have a nice overview over the range. At some point we couldn't drive further and I walked a few hundred meters further down the road when suddenly two Warthogs appeared just above the treetops. Only seconds later, I saw something that looked like a sandstorm or so in what later turned out to be the target area, immediately followed by this huge fart-like noise of the GAU-8. I was totally unprepared for this, and I don't think I ever experienced more exitement and fright than in this very moment. According to my father I jumped about 1 meter (3ft.) off the ground. Something I'll never forget.

I became a regular visitor of the Nordhorn Range. The A-10's always impressed me. The only aircraft to stay on the scene all the time, silent, flying low and with fearsome striking power. It must be terrible knowing they are out there looking for you.

So that's my story. Things have changed since and I'm grown up now, but I'm still loving the A-10. I love to follow this forum and read about the people who are working on them and flying them.

I'm sure there are more people with experiences like me, perhaps even following this forum...

I joined the USAF right out of High School in 1975 and went in to be Air Traffic Controller, but eye problem kept me out of that job, so I eneded up Weapons. Was sent to DM for first base and the A-10.
Was with the A-10 til retirement in 1996. Aside from DM, I was at Nellis, Eielson, England and back to Nellis. The A-10 was such a blast to work with and it is a job truely missed. I guess because I worked with it for so long is my reason for being so fond of it, but then again, I know former F-16 techs that hat their bird.
The Hog is a special part of my life, never to be forgotten.
God Bless you all !!



Gary L. Coots

When I was in basic training (Oct-Dec 81), our TI sat us all down in the day room and was telling us about the aircraft in the USAF. He said an A-10 could turn 180 degrees in the area between the building we were in and the one across the street. I imagined some high-tech space-age looking rocketplane...

After tech training at Chanute, I got my first assignment to the 81 TFW at RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge, UK. When I first saw the A-10 I thought it was uglier than sin, I couldn't believe this was the plane my TI told me about. But at the end of the month they did a demo for the flightline and here comes a Warthog sideways in between the TAB-Vs. The pilot did a couple of strafing runs at us (I worked in the DCM building and was standing between it and the runway), and I thought he was going to take my head off! It was an awesome sight to see an A-10 barreling down right at us then pulling out at the last moment. The 5-10 minute demo had me hooked, this was one f***ing great aircraft. When I later saw what the GAU-8 would do to Sovier armor, I realized this was a beautiful machine!

That was over 20 years ago, and to this day I am still in love with the airplane. Oddly enough, A-10s are also a sign of good luck for me as well...the day I was called about my promotion recommendation to major, I was out hiking with my dog in San Antonio. I heard that distinctive sound and looked up to see a two-ship go by. As always I loved seeing a pair of A-10s, but I also took it to be a good sign. I later found out I was given a 'definite promote' recommendation.

Cheers! M2