The race 10 titanium alloy bathtub cockpit underside is hard to match or beat. Its fun to watch A 10 pilots practicing over semis and motorhomes on I 10 outside of Davis Month an AFB in Tucson. The drivers are totally unaware.
Race? Dang auto correct.
Years ago I did some work at an airport that had two A-10’s; must have been a small reserve group or something. But every morning they would head out.
Mid-morning I had my client come out to me and tell me not to be near that end of the runway where I had been. The A-10’s use it to sight-in their gun, and accidents can happen.
One afternoon I was standing on the roof of my van parked in the grass taking some photos of the ground. The two of them came in for a landing side-by-side. Well - the one landed, and the other came right over me by 20 feet or so! I laughed and said “Well, I’m dead!” He circled around and landed.
Back when A-10s were still at Barksdale, we had several “Country neighbors” who were A-10 drivers. Many a time we would get buzzed by these bad boys up close.
If you were a bad guy the last you would want to see would be a Warthog coming in close.
Not always! ;)
Many years ago in upstate NY near Fort Drum, my uncle and I had an A10 ‘target’ us in a log truck. We were on a semi stretch of open road and saw it line up/coming.
It flew over us maybe 200 feet up at most. It’s erie how quiet it was...UNTIL it’s right on top of you. Then not so much.
My uncle, an old F105 crew chief looked over, smiled and said ‘Yea, they do that...”