Does that mean well off civilians will be able to buy them at some distant point in the future? or never? or they go to other countries Air force first? or what typically happens next for ex-military jets?
The A-10 won't ever get sold off to well off civilians. The aircraft can't fly without the weight of the gun to keep the CG in the right place, and much like the F-5 the military doesn't want them turning up in the wrong places. Some will go to Davis Monthan AFB and be decommissioned and go to mothballs, some will hang around in the Guard for a while, some will go to museums and they will fade away. It's sad and the A-10 still is a very effective system, but if aircraft aren't continually updated as far as the other systems nowadays, they fall behind and then it gets very expensive to update them.
If I remember correctly, that airplane was designed around a weapon that weighed in the neighborhood of 7700 pounds. Also that produced so much muzzle gas that strakes had to be installed on the fuselage sides to keep the gases from shutting the engines down when full rate fire was on.
Yep put wings, cockpit and engines on the gun. If you look, the nosewheel is off centerline; off to the side... the barrel of the gun is centered with no room for the nosewheel on center.
RATS! All this time I thought that Jim Pernikoff designed that mis-located nose gear when he was working at Fairchild.
Wow I never saw that one. Thanks for posting Jim! When I was a kid my Dad was assigned to RAF Bentwaters/RAF Woodbridge. He's not a pilot though, he was the manager of the Officer's Club. Anyway, those bases were home to the A-10, so I kind of grew up with them buzzing around for a few years. We've got some shells from the gun laying around somewhere....
Awesome awesome plane... hate to see it go. About 7 years ago i was flying over Indiana..Chicago Center gave me a crossing restriction...after the read back they said if we hurried down we would see some traffic, "a flight of 3 A-10's!" We saw 'em and they looked cool! I think ATC said they were out of Michigan but i cant really remember.
[Continuing an earlier thread in light of worldly events] Although the House recently voted to prohibit the A-10's retirement, the A.F. is committed otherwise. Air Force stands by A-10 retirement | TheHill An "old school" war with ISIS?
As committed as the AF is to get rid of them pilots are still getting them as first assignments. I've seen probably 5 or 6 of them handed out in the past 8 months, and that's just at one of the three AF pilot training bases. Maybe someone else could shed light on how AFPC figures out manning.
The A-10 isn't actually supposed to go away until '17 or '18 if memory serves. Up until that time they will continue pushing people through the training pipelines in order to keep the squadrons running. Just because a weapons system is going away in a few years doesn't mean you can freeze the people in place to ride it out until the last plane goes to the boneyard. People come into a squadron and work their way up through various jobs and then move around to various places. My guess is that A-10s will continue dropping for pilots right up they go to the boneyard and there will likely be folks who go through A-10 training only to get sent right to another airframe. Yeah, it probably wastes a lot of money but that never seemed to stop things before. A similar situation is going on in the C-130 world as regular Air Force divests itself of all H models and goes entirely J. There are guys who have gone through the H model schoolhouse whose last flight in the C-130 will be their check ride. The squadron they are going to is either switching to J or closing down and they will be going to other platforms. One guy in particular I remember was kinda bummed as his check ride in the C-130 would likely be the last time he touched the controls of a real plane. He was heading straight out the door to go into UAVs. One final note.... Fighter pilot manning is in what AFPC has described as a "death spiral". They simply do not have the bodies required to fill the cockpits and send people off to staff and all variety of other things. So I imagine the pipelines are being kept wide open as there is no option until the total number of cockpits seriously declines. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years as so many people are so primed and ready to jump ship for the airlines. The projected hiring by the airlines for the next few years is huge and I can't adequately express how many pilots have their resumes prepped, suits pressed, LinkedIn pimped in order to get in at the majors. A couple weeks ago the guys at work were discussing the gamesmanship of what color jacket and tie to wear for an interview with Delta whose corporate colors are blue jacket and red tie. One guy here who is a rising star squadron commander just turned down his school slot and dropped paperwork so he could go to American. Interesting times.....
Maybe they should quit all their stupid (recruiting) games then. There's no reason why I can't fly heavies with glasses or contact lenses.
Apples and oranges..... The last briefing on the subject that I paid any attention to had heavy manning at something like 120% and fighter manning at 50-60%. Frankly I think it's partly an artificial shortage as the fighter mafia has created a zillion billets to be filled throughout big AF that then can't be filled creating a near vacuum through which fighter guys can stay in the cockpits for as long as possible before blasting into super stardom. As staffs get slashed with budget cuts it will be interesting to see if the situation magically improves. In any case nobody is worried about heavy manning. Everybody I know that has applied to get paid to get out (VSP) has been approved which seems to alleviated the projected RIFs. Where things could interesting is when people continue to separate apart from the VSP/RIF to go to the airlines.
When I mentioned "old school" war I was talking about the high threat fly at 50 feet attacking the Russian T72s while the SA8s were being launched at you (just the opposite of present day conflicts).
When I mentioned "old school" war I was talking about the high threat fly at 50 feet attacking the Russian T72s while the SA8s were being launched at you (just the opposite of present day conflicts).
Well, defending against these this is pretty close to it: T-72, T-55, ZU-23-2 Anti-Aircraft Gun, FIM-92 Stinger MANPAD As ISIS Routs The Iraqi Army, Here's A Look At What The Jihadists Have In Their Arsenal Also, Janes: ISIS Killing ?Indestructable? M1A Abrams Tanks | Veterans Today
I had figured it would take some time to get rid of the A-10, and would still need to push people through but didn't realize they would need so many. I guess that's good because a lot of guys still want to fly that plane, and ending up in an F-35 in a few years couldn't be all that bad. As for fighter pilot manning, I've heard theres a big backup getting people through IFF and FTU. I've never seen so many happy people around here the day they announced who got VSP. A dozen IPs in the squadron got it. I do not know how many people AF-wide were selected, but I would imagine it is comparable. It seems as if everyone's trying to get out and go airlines while finishing out their retirement in the guard/reserve. Not having been in the AF before (my only knowledge is based on being a student in AETC, and all the stories of how much better it will be when back home in AFRC), its my understanding that it sucks by comparison to guard/reserve. Combine that with the fact that they will get paid probably $75k to leave AND the airlines pay more I don't blame them for wanting to get out. I just feel bad for all the guys that are gonna get FAIP'ed to fill some of those slots.
Perhaps I missed it, but didn't see any mention of "storm chasing" duty mentioned in this thread. Seems a VERY interesting use! The A-10 Warthog Will Soon Be Chasing Tornados And Attacking Storms
Indiana ?Blacksnakes? and their A-10s taking the fight to Middle East - National Military Community | Examiner.com Not so fast....come on back here, we need you....
I agree. For the kind of fighting we are/will be doing against this kind of enemy, I can't think of a better platform than the A-10.
