Flying in the Face of Fear

Chapter 4PREPARE, PRACTICE, PLAN FOR CONTINGENCIES

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

—Seneca

Figure 4.1 I found my passion and my purpose in flying the A‐10 Warthog and supporting our troops on the ground. Photo credit: Airman First Class Kristine Legate

THE A‐10 WARTHOG

In 1970, when the request for a close air support platform came about, US policy was shifting away from a nuclear deterrence option as the sole means of stopping a Warsaw Pact invasion of Central Europe. As a result, the military was looking for conventional ways to destroy hordes of Soviet tanks massed in positions throughout Eastern Europe. Based on plans for tank‐on‐tank battles, the aircraft design team decided to build an airplane around a 19‐foot‐long 30 mm Gatling gun that could kill enemy tanks. Head of the team, Dr. Robert Sanitor, said, “We literally sat down and designed a plane around the gun we had to have.”¹ The book Warthog describes the preliminary specifications for an ideal close air support platform:

1. The plane has to be able to operate out of short, primitive airfields.
2. It should be reliable and easy to maintain in the field under wartime conditions.
3. It must be able to carry a large amount of ordnance and specifically must be able to kill tanks and armor.
4. It must have sufficient range to loiter “on call” near the battlefield, and when needed for CAS [close ...