US Air Force (USAF) Technical Sergeant (TSGT) Bruce Strong, 175th Fighter Wing (FW), Maryland Air National Guard (MDANG), helps guide a 500-pound Mk-82 Bomb to it's station on a USAF A-10 Thunderbolt II close air support aircraft belonging to the 175th. TSGT Strong is part of the winning team at Loadeo 2004 in Boise, Idaho. Loadeo is a competition for munition loaders in the Air National Guard A-10 community. Already loaded on the A-10 is an AGM-65 Maverick missile
Summary
The original finding aid described this photograph as:
Base: Boise
State: Idaho (ID)
Country: United States Of America (USA)
Scene Camera Operator: A1C Heather Furrow, 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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