Spotted an A-10

[Thog10]

So,

 

I was studing a road map as my wife and I were driving on I-40 towards Wimington, NC. She says to me, "Look there is an airplane." I look up expecting to see some civil single engine prop, and instead I am greated by the unmistakable shape of an A-10 flying low and slow parallel to the road.

 

Any idea where an A-10 flying 75 miles northwest of Wilmington may have come from? I did not get a good look at its markings. I do think that it has a false canopy painted on its underside.

[tank03]

So,

 

I was studing a road map as my wife and I were driving on I-40 towards Wimington, NC. She says to me, "Look there is an airplane." I look up expecting to see some civil single engine prop, and instead I am greated by the unmistakable shape of an A-10 flying low and slow parallel to the road.

 

Any idea where an A-10 flying 75 miles northwest of Wilmington may have come from? I did not get a good look at its markings. I do think that it has a false canopy painted on its underside.

 

A couple of years ago I was in the White Mountains of NH, a really remote area, and my buddy and I watched an A-10 wheeling around for about 40 minutes. He was letting off flares every now and then and rolling and turning to beat the band. It was pretty cool since he was realtively low. To this day I still don't know why he was there, we don't have a base sporting A-10's anywhere nearby.

[Vampyre]

Pope Air Force Base has A-10's from the 23rd Wing, 75th Fighter squadron, The Flying Tigers(yes the same as from WWII). Did the bird have a Sharks mouth painted on its nose and FT for tailcodes? If so, that is where it was from. I believe Pope is neat Fayettville NC.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Vampyre

[hotrodss]

A couple of years ago I was in the White Mountains of NH, a really remote area, and my buddy and I watched an A-10 wheeling around for about 40 minutes. He was letting off flares every now and then and rolling and turning to beat the band. It was pretty cool since he was realtively low. To this day I still don't know why he was there, we don't have a base sporting A-10's anywhere nearby.

 

Hey Tank 03,

 

That A-10 you and your buddy saw might have been from either the 104th FW MASS ANG or the 103rd FW CT ANG (my unit), but to go that far north without an in-flight refuel or drop tanks (which we don't use on local flights) wouldn't work. I also thought he might have come out of FT Drum in upstate NY ( we go there for target practice), but he would still need extra fuel. The only thing I can think of is he landed at a local A/P, refueled and had some fun before heading home.

It's great you and your buddy were able to witness that, A-10's look pretty cool when they're put thru it's paces. When I was active duty Air Force in the late 80's stationed at Eglin AFB, Fla., myself (as a young airmen) and a sergent were transporting slabs of steel to one of the gun ranges when we were buzzed by an A-10. He made a head on pass at us, he was so low I saw the pilot BEHIND THE HUD. We never heard him until he was on top of us. THAT WAS COOL!!!!!!!

[DirtyBirdFA]

That must have been some sight spotting an A10 flying low. I've seen a couple of fighter planes fly overhead while in college in Georgia (including what appeared to be an F22), but because of their speed, I've only caught glimpses. It must have been cool to have seen a slower moving plane such as the A10 fly overhead. You also can't beat a flight of blackhawk helicopters flying tree-top level over you!

[+Dave]

Yesterday over Tinker 2 AH-1W's flew over. And I didn't have my camera. :(

[+Gr.Viper]

I have some of these Ka-25 buggers flying nearly past my window. Civilian search-and-rescue variant of course - not the sub hunter as in the picture.

Google map of their helipad

 

Do they have Harriers in the South of Great Britain? I was there once on a bus trip and could swear I saw one of those flying quite low and far away.

[shadowhawk39]

If it was Wilmington as stated it probably from Pope AFB as vampyre said for what its worth they some times hang out at Seymour Johnson in Goldsboro since its part of the 4th fighter Wing. Now I know that per the recent BRAC realignment the A-10's are leaving Pope but not sure of the time frame.

[triplethr3at]

I work out of republic so we get a bunch of neet stuff coming in. One day we had an f-16 land and stay at our hangar for a while. Something went wrong with its thrust conrtol mechanism so that the pilot couldnt controll the thrust. He landed at republic as a lsat resort. (they dont like landing here taxyway is to bumpy for them) The pilot was taken out be a c-130 and the crew was dropped off for a bout a week. So i gotto see it upclose. They said they came from ohio.

I also got to see a harier crash maybe a month later. I was watching him land. His weels didnt touch down untill more than half way down the runway. Then he slamed into the vfr building and blew up. It wasnt anything big but scared the s**t out of me. They cleened it up and kept it hush hush. Poor pilot probably lost hsi wings. Prety buisy for a civil airport.

[+ST0RM]

Yesterday over Tinker 2 AH-1W's flew over. And I didn't have my camera. :(

 

Slacker!! That is no excuse. A good photog always has his gear. ;)

 

Caught this coming in yesterday and departing under some nasty weather this morning.

VFA-32 Swordsman F/A-18F (166665 AC204)

 

Storm

[+suhsjake]

My school ocassionally gets buzzed by T-38 talons from Beale AFB. They go to fast and I can't get a picture. I have only seen a RQ-4 Gobal hawk once as well as the U-2.