U.S. Air Force Using Old A10 Warthog & U2 in Korea

I watched the late rebroadcast version of NBC news Monday night with host Lester Holt at an American air base in South Korea. Oldies are goodies as both the A10 Warthog and the cold war spy U2 plane are both used there and Holt gave us a close report of both. Great footage from inside the chase car that follows all the takeoffs of the U2 extreme high altitude jet. It has been flying since the 1950s and flies at an altitude of 100,000 feet over North Korea so that the midget dictator cannot shoot it down. That 100,000 feet is 19 miles high.

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The chase car runs at 100 MPH after the plane starts to roll just in case it must cancel the takeoff because there are no outboard wheels to prop up the wings when landing. It does this so the chase vehicle runs under the wings to let the wing rest on top of the vehicle, so that the very long wings won't touch the ground and be damaged as it slows down and comes to a stop. The chase car must get under the wing and support it, when it lands too. It is a very precise maneuver by the chase driver. At one time the chase cars used were the Z28 Camaro but last night’s show showed a white sedan, possibly the Chevy SS, which is the same car used by the police and called the Caprice, with a 6 liter 360 HP, V8 engine. Lester Holt was riding in the passenger seat with the camera man in the rear seat as the U2 did a takeoff with the chase car just a few feet behind at high speed, just in case. The other plane used in this news feature was the A10 known as the Warthog or just the Hog. It has a very long cannon, 21 feet long, that acts like a revolving Browning machine gun and shoots as many as 10,000 rounds per minute. The nose of the gun sticks out about 4 feet from the nose of the plane.

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The Warthog shoots in bursts of 5 to 10 seconds and its armor piercing bullets can go through a tank. That 5 second burst will fire 833 bullets. It has jet engines mounted above the wings, because these crazy pilots often fly so low that any dust or trees don't get sucked into the engines. The A10 has gone through more congressional hearings than just about any senator, surviving at least 5 different hearings to cancel the use of the Hog and replace it with a newer jet. It is such a great plane that nothing 30 years after it started flying, can do all the same jobs it does. The A10 is also being used in Iraq against ISIS fighters, gun placements and trucks as it can fly low and slow to get an accurate bead on it's targets. It can also flatten the wall of a building with a ten second gun burst. Like a tank with wings, only much faster. The ISIS fighters actually hide when the A10 is circling above because it is a very destructive force, that can absorb bullets and keep flying. The whole cockpit shell is bullet proof allowing the pilot to take small arms fire without any worries. Even larger bullets can hit the A10 without bringing it down. Amazing aircraft. The Canadians use two different refueling planes over Iraq to refuel the various American jets, as its commitment to fight ISIS. You must go to YouTube to see lots of videos of both of these great old planes in action, both from the past and recent action.

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A-10 Warthog in Action

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