US Air Force (USAF) SENIOR MASTER Sergeant (SMSGT) Max Hesselbein, Weapons Element Supervisor, 175th Fighter Wing (FW), Maryland Air National Guard (MDANG), holds the first place trophy presented at Loadeo 2004 in Boise, Idaho (ID). He's standing with the winning team, from left to right, USAF SENIOR AIRMAN (SRA) Shawn Anderson, USAF MASTER Sergeant (MSGT) Ronald Creed, USAF Technical Sergeant (TSGT) Bruce Strong, and USAF SRA John Sayles. Loadeo is a competition for munition loaders in the Air National Guard A-10 community
Summary
The original finding aid described this photograph as:
Base: Boise
State: Idaho (ID)
Country: United States Of America (USA)
Scene Camera Operator: A1C Heather Furrow, USAF
Release Status: Released to Public
Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files
The A-10 Thunderbolt has excellent maneuverability at low airspeeds and altitude and is a highly accurate and survivable weapons-delivery platform. Called the “Warthog” for its aggressive look and often painted with teeth on the nose cone, the A-10 Thunderbolt II is the U.S. Air Force’s primary low-altitude close air support aircraft best known for its GAU-8 Avenger 30mm Gatling gun designed to fire armor-piercing depleted uranium and high explosive incendiary rounds. In the 1970s the threat of Soviet armored forces and all-weather attack operations had become more serious. Six companies submitted aircraft proposals, with Northrop and Fairchild-Republic selected to build prototypes: the YA-9A and YA-10A, respectively. General Electric and Philco-Ford were selected to build and test GAU-8 cannon prototypes. First A-10 was delivered to the U.S. Air Force on 30 March 1976. By 1984, 715 airplanes had been built.
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