The End is Near for the A-10 Warthog or Thunderbolt II - For nearly five decades, the Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II has operated out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona, but its aging fleet of ground attack aircraft has begun to make their final flights. The first A-10 arrived at the base in March 1976, and the entire force of Thunderbolt IIs is on track to be retired by the end of the decade.

The 355th Wing began divesting its fleet of A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft with aircraft 82-648, which was retired from service at Davis-Monthan and transited from the 354th Fighter Squadron to the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group for final maintenance procedures and display preparation.

However, the aircraft won't have far to go – as Davis-Monthan, located outside of Tucson, is also home to the 309th AMARG's "Boneyard," where it takes care of nearly 4,000 retired warbirds from all services of the United States military. The arid climate of the region makes the 309th AMARG an ideal location for storing aircraft, as there is very little humidity in the air that could corrode metal, while the ground is so hard that the aircraft stored at the facility don't sink.

A-10 Warthog Wings Are Being Clipped

The United States Air Force has announced plans to divest the entire fleet of A-10 aircraft in the coming years. Pilots and maintainers at Davis-Monthan will move onto the F-35 aircraft due to the divestment.

It marks the end of the line for the highly-touted close air support (CAS) aircraft – even as lawmakers had fought with the air service to keep the A-10 flying.

"The A-10 has been the symbol of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for many years, and it will continue to be a symbol for the Airmen of DM, a symbol of their commitment, excellence and service," said U.S. Air Force Col. Scott Mills, 355th Wing commander and A-10 pilot. "For now, we're divesting a single squadron during the summer-fall timeframe of 2024."

Originally designed for CAS by Fairchild Republic, the first A-10 model could carry bombs and rockets on 11 pylons and featured a 30mm GAU-8/A rotary cannon protruding from the nose of the aircraft.

"The plane is unique in its diverse ability to support our ground team not only with precision munitions from a distance, like we're doing as we speak in the Middle East, but also with scalpel-like accuracy using the GAU-8 gun under the most difficult environments imaginable," said U.S. Air Force Col. Razvan Radoescu, 355th Operations Group commander. "The plane, coupled with our high-level training standards, are the reasons so many of our joint and coalition forces returned home to fight another day – because they had A-10s overhead covering their six, or employing weapons to save their lives when nobody else could."

The first A-10A arrived at Davis-Monthan on March 2, 1976, and it was assigned to the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, replacing the Vought A-7D Corsair flown by the 355th TFW. The 355th TFW was later reclassified as the 355th Tactical Fighter Training Wing, prompting the 354th, 357th, and 358th Fighter squadrons to train U.S. Air Force Pilots on the A-10A aircraft.

Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].

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