US Air Force (USAF) SENIOR AIRMAN (SRA) Jay Labrum (left), 124th Maintenance Squadron (MXS), Idaho Air National Guard (IANG), performs an operational function check on an in-flight refueling receptacle on the nose of an A-10 Thunderbolt II in the Arabian Gulf Region during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. USAF AIRMAN First Class (A1C) Kyle Austin (right), 43rd MXS, Pope Air Force Base (AFB), North Carolina (NC), monitors from the cockpit
Summary
The original finding aid described this photograph as:
Subject Operation/Series: IRAQI FREEDOM
Country: Unknown
Scene Camera Operator: MSGT Stefan Alford, USAF
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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