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Looks like the Hog is still going to be snarling for the foreseeable future.
Quote:
The Air Force also confirmed Tuesday that it plans to maintain the majority of its A-10 Warthogs in coming years despite past considerations of divesting the entire fleet.
An Air Force official said the A-10 fleet was being kept indefinitely, but in the future, some A-10 aircraft could be retired as other aircraft become operational.
So I guess with Fairchild being divested and sold and whatever...they can't just build a few more of them in the meantime?
The last A-10, 82-665, was delivered to the 74th TFS (my old squadron) in March 1984. The production line has been long since shut down, restarting it is impossible. Boeing now has the contract and re-winged the Hogs a few years back when they upgraded from A to C models. (I flew 665 as a 2nd lieutenant when it had less than 100 hours... that new airplane smell.)
So I guess with Fairchild being divested and sold and whatever...they can't just build a few more of them in the meantime?
The last A-10 was delivered in 1984. A third of a century ago. The lines are gone. All the specific equipment designed and manufactured just to make A-10s is gone. the infrastructure itself would have to be built from the ground up. The unit cost for 'a few more' would be astronomical.
I guess this makes sense, since the Hog works well against the kinds of enemies we fight now, and none of these enemies have any sort of air defense or air power of their own. It smashes up truck convoys pretty well, and they don't have much capability to hit back.
Actually, most of the people we are actually fighting are pretty primitive, and a Sopwith Camel would probably be a perfectly usable ground attack airplane against them.
I guess this makes sense, since the Hog works well against the kinds of enemies we fight now, and none of these enemies have any sort of air defense or air power of their own. It smashes up truck convoys pretty well, and they don't have much capability to hit back.
Actually, most of the people we are actually fighting are pretty primitive, and a Sopwith Camel would probably be a perfectly usable ground attack airplane against them.
A Camel may be slightly too vulnerable :-) But AC-130s make very good ground attack planes
The A 10 is certainly one of the best ground support planes ever to leave the runway. Like the old AD1 Spads (they called them Sandys in Viet Nam) carrying more than it's own weight in ordnance and being able to put that ordnance in the enemy's lap. My Dad was on a carrier in Korea that operated AD1s. There are some great pictures in his cruise books of them. There's even old pics of that same carrier operating F8F Bearcats. That old AD1...what a workhorse.
The A 10 carries on the tradition of that old bird well. Bout nothing better in our stable for an attack aircraft of that type. Oh yes, the AC 130s are certainly quite effective as well. Against enemies like we've been up against everything we have has had to adapt to ground support missions. The Navy still has to keep birds up in fighter/interceptor trim being as the Russians threat to our sea power is mostly airborne. And the AF wings in Alaska still have some action in that role with the Russians playing games probing our air defense in the Bering strait. Still we're seeing F 16s and F 15s in attack roles a lot. The F 18 was designed with a dual role in mind and the Marines all fly the F/A 18. What are they into now on the F 18 D and E variants?
I really can't see the Air Force scrapping the A 10 any time soon. It's just flat to useful.
Aren't there still DC-3s flying somewhere in the world?
I've seen converted ones down in Antarctica when I worked there, they were Basler BT-67. Kenn Borek Air out of Canada is the contractor the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) uses during the summer season, supposedly they have 9 in their fleet, not sure how many they fly down from Calgary each year. Never got to fly in one, just a measly C-17 from Christchurch to the Ice, but I had coworkers that got to fly in Baslers and they call them the Indiana Jones plane!
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