A couple of observations:
First, I was in the Army some thirty-five years ago, when the A-10 Warthog came on line; and it was without a doubt, my favorite aircraft. I was stationed at Ramstein Air Base, (the A-10s were not) I believe at the time, the A-10s were based out of either Sembach Air Base, Spangalam, or possibly even Hahn Air Base, (which by the way, is now a civilian airport, and referred to as "Frankfurt-Hahn"....Sembach is now an U.S. Army/German Army Kasern.)
The A-10s were literally designed to be "Tank Killers" against the potential of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, along the proverbial, "Tank Trail"; but another story, for another day.
At the time, and still even today, I have never seen an aircraft that is so maneuverable, which brings me to my story:
I had been recently promoted to the rank of Buck Sergeant (E-5) and was assigned, with another Buck Sargeant to go and scout out an area for our communications for Headquarters Battery of the air defense unit of Ramstein, to set up field operations. We were right outside of Landstul, and there was a ravine/valley, where two A-10s were practicing strafing runs. Being right at the tree line on one side of the ravine, this other little Buck Sergeant. walked out and flipped a bird toward these two A-10s. These planes are moving at their mid-level speed, I'd guess 250 mph, (I think the top speed of an A-10 is about 500 mph) and the aircraft were at least 300 to 400 meters away from us! Neverheless, the pilots saw my colleague flip the finger, and immediately started "Dive Running/Strafing" at us! We literally hit the ground, it felt as though those planes were diving on us within 10- feet of our heads! (I know that it wasn't that close, but it sure felt like it!) We laid there on the side of the hill, and watched one of the most amazing flight demonstrations of the A-10 Thunderbolt-Warthogs, that I had ever seen! For the next fifteen or twenty minutes,these pilots literally attacked where our positions would have been! (If we were the enemy, we'd have been dead!)
At any rate, I know that the Air Force has pulled the A-10s from active duty, and for some reason, they always bring them back.....There is nothing to date that can or will replace these magnificent planes!
Thanks for sharing this video Travis! It's worth a watch, for those of you who are interested in military hardware!
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