While still hard for many to believe — and accept — the A-10C Warthog ground-attack jet is coming to the end of its U.S. Air Force career. In the latest development, the A-10C Demonstration Team has called time on the aircraft’s public-facing role, announcing that this season will be its last.
“It is with heavy hearts that we announce that the 2024 A-10C Demonstration season will be the final one,” the team announced.
“We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported our team over the last 40+ years. It is truly the end of an era. If you have the opportunity to come to any of our shows this season, please do so, as it will be your last chance to see the A-10C Demonstration Team in action.”
Stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona — where the first A-10A versions began to arrive back in March 1976 — the A-10C Demonstration Team showcases the Warthog’s unique capabilities at airshows across the United States, including formation flights with warbirds as part of the Heritage Flight Foundation.
Capt. (now Maj.) Lindsay “Mad” Johnson, A-10 Thunderbolt II Demonstration Team commander and pilot, performs an aerial demonstration during the Shop n’ Save Westmoreland Air Show, Pennsylvania, June 17, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alex Stephens
Doing the honours for the final season in the A-10 cockpit is Maj. Lindsay M. “Mad” Johnson, heading up a 10-person team that includes maintenance and public affairs airmen. Prior to assuming the role, Maj. Johnson was an instructor pilot and flight commander with the 357th Fighter Squadron, also at Davis-Monthan.
The closure of the A-10C Demonstration Team is a very visible sign of the Warthog’s impending retirement but was not unexpected.
Already, the 355th Wing at Davis-Monthan has begun divesting its Warthog fleet as the Air Force prepares to retire the type completely over the next three to five years.
An A-10C of the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron – Jamie Hunter
Last month, the Air Force announced that a first Davis-Monthan A-10C — serial number 82-648 — had been retired to the ‘boneyard,’ heading to the adjacent 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) for storage on February 6. Warthogs from other Air Force units had already begun to arrive at AMARG beginning in April last year, as we reported at the time.
“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.”
With the A-10’s retirement, pilots and maintainers at Davis-Monthan will transition onto the F-35A stealth fighter, a highly controversial move and one that you can read about in more depth here.
While the F-35 is undoubtedly a highly capable successor, for proponents of the A-10, there will never be another aircraft quite like the Warthog.
U.S. Air Force photo by Airman William Finn
“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 Col. Razvan Radoescu, 355th Operations Group commander, in a media release. “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.”
“While the aircraft’s manoeuvrability and munitions, including the mighty GAU-8, make it overwhelmingly effective on the battlefield, it’s the pilot that makes it special,” Col. Mills added. “The pilot has been trained to care about and understand the young Army infantryman on the ground; they are the mission.”
While it will lose the A-10, Davis-Monthan will considerably expand its rescue capabilities, a mission that it currently executes with the HC-130J and the HH-60G/W helicopter, as well as the Warthog. It now expects to add examples of the MC-130J and the OA-1K light attack aircraft as it establishes the special operations-capable 492nd Power Projection Wing.
The A-10 Demo Team still has 18 shows scheduled across the country from March 23 to Oct. 5. The current pilot, Maj. Lindsay “Mad” Johnson, took command of the team in 2022 after serving around the world and deploying to Afghanistan.
“While everybody knows us for the gun and its capabilities, the thing that we take most pride in as an A-10 community is protecting the lives of the men and women that are on the ground,”
she told Business Insider in 2023.
“We encourage everyone with the opportunity to attend these remaining shows to see the A-10C Demonstration Team in action one final time,” wrote the 355th Wing.
Sources: Air & Space Forces Magazine; The War Zone