Looking into the jaws of an A-10 "Warthog" of the 23rd Fighter Group, with its "Flying Tigers" paint job. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Looking into the jaws of an A-10 "Warthog" of the 23rd Fighter Group, with its "Flying Tigers" paint job. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Capt. Joe Scholtz, an A-10 "Warthog" pilot with the 23rd Fighter Group. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
A-10 "Warthog" pilots and ground crews at Bagram Air Base prepare for another sortie over Afghanistan. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Lt. Col. Tim Strasburger, an A-10 pilot with the 23rd Fighter Group from Pope Air Force Base, N.C., flies his aircraft about every other day. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — When American soldiers encounter the enemy in this country of seemingly endless mountains and rocky valleys, they can count on one thing their enemies can’t: air power.
Much of that power is supplied by a small group of pilots who fly A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, somewhat affectionately known as “Warthogs.”
They admittedly are not as elegant — or as fast — as their fighter counterparts, such as the F-15 or F-16. But the pilots taking the planes up daily into the skies over Afghanistan say they wouldn’t want to be flying anything else.
“I think this aircraft is perfect for what we’re doing here right now,” said Col. Warren Henderson, commander of the 23rd Fighter Group at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., and 455th Expeditionary Operations Group commander at Bagram.
And just what is that?
“The basic thing we do here is support the guys on the ground with whatever they need,” said Capt. Joe Scholtz, who had just finished a six-hour mission Saturday.
Sometimes, the mere presence of an A-10 overhead can discourage attacks, the Air Force pilots say.
Other times, soldiers on the ground who have called in help from the friends in the skies see their opposition quit fighting and take off.
“When [enemy forces] see the A-10 overhead, they know it’s time to disengage and run away,” Henderson said.
The planes are touted by some for their ability to destroy enemy tanks, but there are not a lot of armored vehicles for the A-10s to fire on in Afghanistan.
Instead, with the help of a new targeting system that allows pilots to see better at night, the aircraft are carrying out reconnaissance missions, as well as supporting convoys and visits by dignitaries to special events.
And those reconnaissance missions don’t always involve potential enemies. On Friday night, A-10s helped locate local residents threatened by floodwaters in western Afghanistan. The pilots then gave the coordinates to Army helicopters that swooped in and rescued hundreds of stranded citizens.
Pilots like Scholtz, Capt. Ron Oliver and Lt. Col. Tim Strasburger are in the air about every other day. But their squadron of planes is in the skies around the clock.
The planes that Scholtz and Strasburger flew Saturday would be ready for another mission in about an hour, they said.
The planes don’t complain, Oliver said.
“The more you fly them, the better they fly,” he said.
The pilots say they could have a busy spring, with anticoalition forces expected to mount more attacks on forces on the ground.
“I’d rather support a guy on the ground than get an air-to-air kill any day,” Strasburger said, acknowledging a difference between A-10 pilots and some of their fighter brethren.
“I guarantee you that at any Army post you go to, the A-10 guys drink for free.”
Of course, that doesn’t hold true in Afghanistan, where U.S. servicemembers are not permitted to drink alcohol.
But there might be a few rounds waiting in North Carolina when the pilots return to Pope and their Fort Bragg neighbors — in this case, members of the 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division — end their yearlong tour in Afghanistan.
Flying high since World War II
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — The Flying Tigers achieved fame by helping the Chinese take on the Japanese in World War II.
Originally an all-volunteer force, the group of pilots kept a supply route open from Burma to China starting in the 1930s.
Seven decades later, the 23rd Fighter Group flies daily near China, supporting ground troops in Afghanistan.
According to Col. Warren Henderson, the group commander, one of the planes’ ties to the past are the shark teeth they sport — a rare ornament for fighter aircraft in the Air Force.
But it is not the only one. “Basically, the Flying Tigers have been involved in every conflict we’ve had since World War II,” he said.
About a squadron’s worth of A-10s — between 12 and 18 planes — are serving a four-month stint in Afghanistan. They’ll be followed by the other half of the group for the following four months.
— Kent Harris
