HAWG - Exploits of an A-10 Fighter Squadron in Afghanistan

[Graybeard]

https://youtu.be/a6Yh1HjG2rI?t=28

[Argent 88]

https://youtu.be/a6Yh1HjG2rI?t=28

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This! A must watch!!!!

[Graybeard]

I posted several of this type today including a couple about tank battles in Iraq and Israel.

[northwoodneil]

We've got a squad by me and I love seeing them in the air. They've been trying to scrap them for years but she survives, and many grunts on the ground will a-test to why she should survive. They do practice runs on a lake I fish in the winter and can come in so low and slow you don't know their there till the pilot waves and you can read the writing on it's under carriage. Some say it's an ugly air aircraft, yup, mean and ugly. Best close support air frame ever built from what I hear.

[ironglows]

The A-10 is a great asset for fighting troops, and served many of their lives..

  Meet one of those A-10 pilots.  Martha McSally served as commander of the 354th fighter wing, and served in Afghanistan.

  https://www.foxnews.com/politics/key-az-senate-race-polling-shifts-in-martha-mcsallys-favor

 

[Lloyd Smale]

if i could dream a perfect job and be able to to it it would be being a fighter pilot. My weapon of choice wouldnt be the fastest sleekest thing the military has. It would be that ugly warthog. That machine is flying death and instead of looking at a screen and killing something 20 miles away it gets up close and personal and its main job is protecting the ground troops. What more rewarding day at the office could there be then saving 20 soldiers in a pickle. That thing is just plain bad ass!

[DennisB]

I was with the 355th TFW at Davis-Monthan AFB (Tucson) in the mid-'70s when it transitioned from the A-7D to A-10s.  One of the early on issues with the A-10 was that when that GAU-8 cannon was fired, the gas was sucked into those engines causing stalls.  Not sure what the final solution was, but one effort was placement of a diverter near the muzzles to disperse the gas.

[ironglows]

I was with the 355th TFW at Davis-Monthan AFB (Tucson) in the mid-'70s when it transitioned from the A-7D to A-10s.  One of the early on issues with the A-10 was that when that GAU-8 cannon was fired, the gas was sucked into those engines causing stalls.  Not sure what the final solution was, but one effort was placement of a diverter near the muzzles to disperse the gas.

  Thanks for your service Dennis, it must have been an interesting gig !  Whatever the fix was, it apparently has worked quite well.  When my grandson worked at Lake City Ammo, before he went over to work for NATO, he worked on all the guns from 5.56 to 40mm, to include the Gatlings.  Those Gatings in 5.56 are putting out something like 8 to 10 thousand rounds per minute, aren't they?  I can't imagine being in a terrorist group, and hearing an A-10 approaching... last thing he hears is a sound like ripping cloth !
.

[DennisB]

The gun is 30mm, set to run at 3,900 rounds per minute.  Of course, in practice (or war) it's fired in short bursts since the "magazine" is loaded with around 1,200 rounds.  I've read that the gun mounts are buffered to reduce the recoil affect during flight. 

[ironglows]

Just this morning, I was having my usual morning coffee at the local trucking co., where a bunch of the "good old boys" of the neighborhood, gather to 'solve the world's problems'.

  I was talking with the owner's grandson Brandon, who had stopped by from his own truck repair shop.
  Brandon is an Afghanistan war veteran, having served there with the 82nd airborne .  He sure appreciated both the A-10 and the Apache.  Probably due to Afghanistan being "the rock pile", he liked the Apache best, because of it's special capabilities.

  He liked the way the Apache could hide behind a cliff or mountain, pop up and blow something to pieces, then quickly drop right behind the cliff or mountain again, avoiding any RPGs or other direct fire weapons.

  Brandon gave me some other great insights, concerning the details of what has now become our "longest war" *.. !

   *  Today it is so common to say the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, is America's "longest war".  Being a student of history, I had real doubts as to the accuracy of that claim, so I looked it up..  Uh-huh..they were a bit hasty in claiming that !

  How about a century and a half ?

 https://medium.com/history-of-yesterday/the-seldom-taught-history-of-the-american-indian-wars-9f14a33a2557#:~:text=Results%20and%20Aftermath&text=Robert%20Bell%2C%201886)-,It%20is%20said%20that%20history%20is%20written%20by%20the%20victors,most%20of%20the%2019th%20century.