Flying Razorbacks bid farewell to A-10 aircraft

by Maj. Heath Allen
188th Wing

7/31/2014 - FORT SMITH, Ark. -- It was a somber sendoff for the newly re-designated 188th Wing here that exchanged a fond farewell with its last two remaining Air Force A-10C Thunderbolt II aircraft during a ceremonial final salutation June 7 at Ebbing Air National Guard Base here.

The departure capped the wing's Conversion Day event and marks the first time in more than 60 years the 188th will have no assigned aircraft.

The ceremony featured myriad changes to the wing's structure as a result of the conversion to remotely piloted aircraft and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

Col. Mark Anderson, 188th Wing commander, and Maj. Doug Davis, 188th Detachment 1 commander, flew the final two A-10s "Warthogs" from Ebbing ANG Base. The two aviators transported the Warthogs to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, for modifications before returning back to the 188th commercially. The two A-10s were later delivered to their new owners ... the 23rd Wing at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.

"It was a solemn moment taking off and seeing the crowd of supporters below," Anderson said. "The A-10 is an exceptional close-air support aircraft and we're going to miss it tremendously. While we're undoubtedly going to miss flying over the best military community in the world, the future looks extremely bright for our wing and its Airmen."

The wing's on-going mission conversion was prompted by the 2013 Defense National Appropriation Act. The 188th was one of five ANG wings that flew the A-10, an inveterate close-air support aircraft for the Air Force for more than 30 years. But as part of the NDAA, the 188th was the only outfit of those five ANG wings slated to lose its A-10s.

The first two A-10s left Sept. 10, 2013, as part of the conversion divestiture. Approximately two Warthogs departed per month until the finale in June.

The 188th flew the A-10 for just seven years but achieved new heights in combat action since it received the aircraft April 7, 2007. The 188th quickly upgraded its A-10As to A-10Cs and later deployed nearly 300 Airmen and 10 Warthogs to Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan, in 2010. Two years later, the 188th ventured to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, for its largest deployment in unit history with 12 A-10s and nearly 400 Airmen trekking to the area of responsibility in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The 188th's combat production soared to an all-time high with more than 7,600 combat hours flown on 1,850-plus combat sorties while in Bagram. The wing logged deployment records with more than 250 bombs dropped, 250-plus rockets employed and more than 65,000 30mm rounds fired. These actions helped save countless coalition lives in nearly 500 troops-in-contact missions while maintaining a 100 percent air tasking order completion rate.

"We saved a lot of lives in the A-10 and we accomplished amazing feats in some pretty austere conditions," Davis said. "We sent a lot of ground troops back home safely to their families. A lot of that was a result of the outstanding training we received here at the 188th. Flying the last sortie out of Fort Smith was an emotional moment. It really set in as we're flying over the base and I realized that this is it. This is the last time we're going to fly A-10s off this installation."