In 1982 I was flying a helicopter just west of the Fulda Gap using nap of the earth (treetop, around trees, underneath power lines) when there rang out over the 123.45 freq “PIGS IN SPA-A-A-A-CE!!!!” and a pair of A-10s appeared like yards away to my nine o’clock and I swear they could hover. The pilots waved & I saw their grins. Awesome.
A-10 haters tend to be bureaucrats with little to no combat time.
The biggest band of A-10 haters has always been the AF fighter mafia who don’t consider the A-10 and its piolots to be “real” fighter pilots because the plane is too slow and ugly. They’ve been pushing for years to have an F-16 variant take over the job.