Pete I apologize if you felt I was comparing aircraft. As you correctly stated, each has it's special purpose. I wasn't attempting to compare it to anything else. Out of ALL jet aircraft, past and present, I have been in love with the A-10 since the late 70's when I was a teen. My brother and I were driving up the highway through a pine forest on a two lane road when above us at tree top level a flight of three flew over the highway. I thought it was totally cool looking! We never heard them approaching and only heard the engines after they had passed over. The were from one of the squadrons stationed in Myrtle Beach. Many years later while stationed in Savannah, Ga (I spent 15 years in Coast Guard aviation), a bird from the same squadron had an engine failure while shooting touch and go's at the field I was at. Our CO gave them full support, towing the disabled plane and even moving one of our helicopters out of the hangar to give them room to bring the Hog inside. It sat on the hangar deck directly outside our shop door while having the engine replaced and the airframe patched (it had sucked in a bird and suffered a stage one turbine failure. When the turbine failed it exploded, puncturing the nacelle and fuselage with debris!). The mechs that came down gave me a guided tour of the plane, opening every panel for me and letting me sit in the cockpit. I was thrilled!!! I was also amazed at how "old" the cockpit technology was! Finally, one of the coolest sights I've ever seen was while riding a bus from Salt Lake City down to the Army's Dugway facility. There was a live range within visual distance from the highway. One of the guys on the bus said, "hey look, there's an A-10". When I looked over they had just begun a gun run and you could clearly see the smoke from the GAU-8 as he opened up. As we rode along I got to watch two more strafing runs before we couldn't see him anymore.
When it comes to cost/need, I'd have to disagree. There haven't been any true aerial conflicts in quit awhile. Still they've replaced aircraft, or tried to. Current examples of that are the C-5 and then the C-7, as well as the B-1, B-2, the F-16 and F-22. The A-10's attempted replacement is the F-35, though it hasn't happened yet. They still seek "better" models in order to keep up with advances in technology, or at least try!
To elaborate on my comments about a rare plane that hasn't been able to replaced by something better, I cite examples such as the C-130 and B-52 (in addition to the A-10). While each has a unique role, they have all lived long past their intended service lives due to nothing being found that was equal to or better in order to replace them. The USAF had mothballed a number of A-10's to Davis-Monthan prior to the 1st Gulf war, in addition to closing down/consolidating a number of A-10 squadrons. IIRC correctly, they anticipated using the F-16 in both a fighter role and ground attack plane to replace the A-10. It didn't work! Out of mothballs came many of those A-10's and back into service they went. When I stated they were/are the most lethal weapon on the battlefield, I was referring to the ground, not aerial battlefield. No matter how many toes I step on by saying it, the A-10 rules (sorry red legs and tankers!), though A-10's even scored two aerial victories by shooting down several Soviet made helos! Not every kill was made by the fighter jocks!
Sorry to ramble, but I love them Hogs almost as much as I love my Mustangs!
p.s. The A-10 squadron that we helped out with their broken bird was so impressed with the hospitality they received, they took patches off of them uniforms and gave them to folks. After returning from their deployment during the 1st Gulf was, they also sent a framed and matted picture of several A-10's flying in formation. That image was in the center and around the perimeter were little cameo shots of every A-10 in the squadron showing their nose art.It was proudly displayed at the main entrance hallway to our admin building, and I'd love to have that thing today. What I did end up with was a Christmas card. As a tradition in USCG aviation, each shop would have Christmas cards made up and then sent to our "sister" shops at every other CG air station. After their repairs were done they rolled the A-10 out of the hangar for it's initial ground runs. While sitting on the ramp in front of our hangar, all of our shop personnel stood in front of the plane and had our photo taken. The image showed us in a line with the A-10 behind us and the hangar in the background with our air station name and the CG racing stripe at the top of the building above the hangar doors. We had the image made into phot Christmas cards and that's what we sent out that year. It looked totally cool! :thu
