My Short Air Force Career

Saturday, September 18th, there was an airshow at the Coshocton County Airport.  There were four excellent aerobatic acts with normal stunt planes, however the final act was a flight demonstration of a U.S. Air Force Thunderbolt II.  The Thunderbolt II is more commonly known as the A-10 Warthog.

Two Warthogs came, one for the demonstration and a backup plane.

When it was time for the A-10s to head to their next show, it was discovered that one of them had a leaking hydraulic line in the left main landing gear system.  The plane was put in MMS Aviation's hangar "C" which had been cleared to house the other show planes.  The crew repaired the plane there.

Monday morning we all had to take a look.

The A-10s are based in Tucson, Arizona and two mechanics from their squadron are on hand at the demonstrations.  They were responsible for the repair, but they called in hydraulic specialists from an Air Force base in Springfield, Ohio to help.  The Springfield base is about 135 miles west of Coshocton and are an F-16 fighter training operation.

The blue jumpsuited guys are from Tucson, the others are from Springfield.

Tuesday afternoon, the hydraulic repair was complete and the system was checked.  The airplane was raised on jacks so the landing gear could be retractred and the hydraulic system could be purged of any air that remained due to the line repair.  All the equipment (jacks, power supplies, tow bar, etc.) was trucked from Springfield.

All the wheels are off the ground.

Once all was ready for the gear retraction test, aka "gear swing", one of the Tucson crew told me, "Sir, I need you in the cockpit.  Empty all your pockets first."  He didn't have to repeat himself.  (Empty pockets mean there will be nothing to fall into the cockpit to get lost and jam controls at some inopportune time.)

Honorary crewman on the job.

Briefing by the real crew.

Landing gear retracted normally and no leaks--that's what we want!

I better keep my day job.  They don't think I served long enough to qualify for a pension, even if I am old enough.

My appreciation for and admiration of the professional military men and women who serve our Country was reinforced this week.  Getting acquainted with Mark, Dino, Jeff, Tim, was a true privilege.  (There were three other fellows from Springfield here, but I don't remember their names.) 

There you have it!  My whole military career consists of raising and lowering the landing gear on an A-10 Warthog two times.