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Here's what I've written about your door, do I need to add/change anything? I also have a couple of questions. Did this jet come from New Orleans after it shut-down? It this your units flag-ship? Would your pilot \"Rags\" like his real name used or just leave his call-sign?






Photo by Don Hardway 79-0121 303d Fighter Squadron Whiteman AFB, Missouri 2008. This door is based on artwork found on the heavy metal band Megadeth’s website. It features their mascot Vic Rattlehead holding a GBU-12 surrounded by flames. In the original artwork Vic is shown holding A World War II style gravity bomb but, Don updated with a modern-day LASER guided bomb to better match the new capabilities of the A-10C. If you look closely in the upper-right-hand corner of the painting there’s a silhouette of an A-10 hidden in the flames, nice touch. The door was done by a local motorcycle shop and paid for by the aircraft’s pilot “Rags”. This is one sweet airbrush job, and one of the best doors, I’ve ever seen.

If they wanted to better represent the capabilities of the A-10C, they should have used a JDAM or WCMD instead of the LGB. We've been dropping LGB's since the early days of the A-10.

But, the JDAM is for pussies!

Coach

_________________
\"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week. \"

George S. Patton

It may be time for me to get coached and schooled all at the same time but Coach, I know the A-10 has always been certified to carry LGBs but, I have never seen it done pry to the A-10 (with an AIMs box), the A-10+ or on the A-10C, which IMHO, were precursors/test-beds for the A-10C?? Outside of museums or static displays (and of course during the weapons certification in the 70s) I can’t remember ever seeing an LGB loaded on an A-10, either for training or combat, before the above mentioned modifications?

Also, I know the A-10C has been using JDAMs and WCMDS more and more but, in most images I’ve seen of OIF/OEF the LGB has become a “standard” load-out for the A-10C much like the maverick was for the first 30 years of the A-10As operational life? So to an outsider like myself the LGB has become linked to the A-10C like the above mentioned maverick was to the A-10A??

Let the lesson began…

Remember the Pave Penny? That, combined with the Expanded Mode in the old HUD allowed the pilot to drop laser guided bombs on a laser spot. I first dropped an LGB in 1985.

The AIM was a quick-fix solution to allow the pilot to control the targeting pod using the Maverick controls already in the aircraft.

From there, we progressed to the A-10A+ with the SCMFD, which improved the mechanization of the targeting pod and allowed the pilot to control the pod without using switches associated with weapons release. It also added some other features like moving map and SADL.

The A-10C has the wiring and computer processing to employ newer munitions like the JDAM and WCMD. I think the A-10+ could do JDAM, but only on some specifically modified aircraft. Maybe OC can confirm that for sure.

The BL is that LGBs on Hogs is not a new concept nor one associated only with the A-10C. The reason we are using them in the current operation is that it is a great weapon for the tactical situation.

Hope this helps.

Coach

That's basically correct Coach though it was never certified because the Air Force stopped the process. It would have been a minimal procedure to have all the A-10+ aircraft ready for PGM's.

OC

Thanks for the info Coach but, I would have to disagree with you on one of your points. I believe LGBs are associated with the A-10C and not the A-10A...at least in the mind of the public. I guess I'm a good example of that because, as you know, I've been associated with the A-10 for a number of years now and in my mind LGBs and the A-10A do not go together, mainly because of the reasons I stated above. Maybe this is not 100% technically accurate but, I feel public perception is what we're talking about here (at least I am) and I believe that perception is LGBs and the A-10C go together.

Even if the A-10A could employ LGBs all these years (and I do believe your comments) it's capabilities were every limited, it never did so in combat until the A-10C (or one of the precursors talked about above), and even in training they were rarely used. Yes we are using LGBs for tactical reasons in our current operations but, by using them so extensively at the same time the A-10C came into the inventory has tied (at least in my opinion) the A-10C to LGB usage.


Again thanks for your comments and information, I always learn something from you.

Dice, I understand your comments and agree with them. But you and I aren't part of the \"general public\". The A-10A started flying with the targeting pod in 2002 (AIM modified jets), and with that came the ability to self-employ LGBs. The first operational A-10C deployment was 2007 or 2008? For five years, those were all A-10As dropping all those LGBs. All of the A-10s in WWOIF were A-models, all of the A-10s in OEF were A-models up until late 2007. An A+ is an A-model, too. Heck, a C-model is an A-model with a couple of wires added.

Coach

Ha ha I know what you're saying Coach and I also agree with you but, it can be argued that the AIMs box, the A-10+, and all the other modified jets were given their capabilities as a direct result of the PE program thus they are/were ancestors of the A-10C. They can also be viewed as A-10A/A-10C hybrids or just A-10C lights.

I also understand what you're saying about the A-10C still being an A-10A with a couple of added wires. Maybe the A-10A isn't receiving the credit it deserves but, my point is no "Vanilla" A-10A practiced with or employed LGBs on a regular basis. Only after they received some part of, or technology based on, the PE program (read A-10C) did they use LGBs as a primary weapon.

I believe what I've written about this door holds true depending on how you look at the history of the A-10A V the A-10C. The line between these two aircraft models is blurred to say the least. Yes no A-10C which had been through the modification line and stamped as an A-10C was deployed pry 2007 but, parts of the mod was deployed in servile different configurations.