Participating in EXERCISE DESERT RESCUE IX, AIRMAN First Class Adam McNallen a crew chief for the 75th Fighter Squadron at Pope AFB, North Carolina, checks the oil on an A-10 Warthog after a close air support mission. AIRMAN McNallen is originally from East Brady, Pennsylvania. Desert Rescue IX is the premiere search and rescue (SAR) training exercise involving Navy, Army, Air Force, and Marine personnel. It is conducted at the ranges of Fallon Naval Air Station, Nevada
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The original finding aid described this photograph as:
Subject Operation/Series: DESERT RESCUE IX
Base: Naval Air Station, Fallon
State: Nevada (NV)
Country: United States Of America (USA)
Scene Major Command Shown: AMC
Scene Camera Operator: SRA Rick Bloom
Release Status: Released to Public
Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files
The A-10 Thunderbolt has excellent maneuverability at low airspeeds and altitude and is a highly accurate and survivable weapons-delivery platform. Called the “Warthog” for its aggressive look and often painted with teeth on the nose cone, the A-10 Thunderbolt II is the U.S. Air Force’s primary low-altitude close air support aircraft best known for its GAU-8 Avenger 30mm Gatling gun designed to fire armor-piercing depleted uranium and high explosive incendiary rounds. In the 1970s the threat of Soviet armored forces and all-weather attack operations had become more serious. Six companies submitted aircraft proposals, with Northrop and Fairchild-Republic selected to build prototypes: the YA-9A and YA-10A, respectively. General Electric and Philco-Ford were selected to build and test GAU-8 cannon prototypes. First A-10 was delivered to the U.S. Air Force on 30 March 1976. By 1984, 715 airplanes had been built.
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