Was watching the History Channels show on the warthog. Good show. The footage of Gulf War A-10s that made it back with huge amounts of damage were quite impressive.
The thing that really surprised me was that there were only 721 of them made, and only 367 in active service. I had no idea.
I live 12 miles from the 'impact area' range that serves all A-10s from the eastern seaboard. I see pairs of them practically every day. They fly over in combat spread on the way in, and close formation on the way out. The 30mm vulcan cannon impacts can be heard from over 20 miles away depending on the terrain.
When I was a mortar gunner years ago, I used to get a front row seat on the attack runs. Basicly the live fire ranges were shut down for about 90 mins when the A-10s were scheduled. Often they would start their dives partially inverted for a good view of the target. Even at the edge of the impact area it is very hard to hear the actual report of the gun because the impacts are 10 times as loud. It sounds like a hyperactive jake brake. Even with the 12 miles and 800 ft mountain between the impact area and my house I can hear when they are at "the Gap" (Ft Indiantown Gap) if the tv isnt turned up too loud.
Anyway, now that I know how few of them there really are, the next time they fly over, I can appriciate how lucky I am to see them in action.
