In March of 1976 the first A-10's arrived at Davis-Monthan AFB. The first few aircraft were 75-258, 75-259, 75-260, 75-261, and 75-262. Aircraft 75-261 is now in AMARC being used as a battle damage training aircraft. On March 15, 1985 the A-10 Demonstration Team was ready for 12th Air Force approval.
On December 5, 1986, Headquaters TAC annouced approval for using the A-10 in the forward air control mission. The 355th TTW and the 602nd Tactical Air Control Wing were ordered to jointly develop a concept of operations for the "OA-10".
The 355th TTW won the TAC Commander's Award for Top Aircraft Maintenance in the A-10 Category on May 31, 1989. On June 30th, the 355th TTW's entries were named "Best A-10 Team" during the Long Rifle V gunnery competition held at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina.
In May of 1990, the 355th TTW once again won the TAC Commander's Award for Top Aircraft Maintenance in the A-10 Category. The 333rd TFTS was named "Best A-10 Team" during the Long Rifle VI competition held at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona in June of 1990. The 333rd TFTS placed third overall.
Members of the Wing supported Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
On October 1, 1991 the 355th Tactical Training Wing was redesignated the 355th Fighter Wing. This designation was again changed on May 1, 1992 to the 355th Wing.
A Little Bit of 355th TFW History
The above photograph shows a 30mm casing (left) out of the GAU-8 30mm cannon internally mounted on the A-10 Warthog and a 20mm casing and projectile (right) out of the M61 20mm cannon internally mounted on the A-7D Corsair II. Please note that both casings are made out of aluminum. The change from brass to aluminum for the 20mm rounds was made sometime in 1975 and I believe the 30mm rounds were made of aluminum from the beginning of its development for weight savings. Just for your information, the 20mm round on the right is NOT a "live" round. It is a spent casing with a projectile placed on it. If you look just below the brass ring you will see the casing is not crimped to the projectile.
In case you haven't noticed, I served with the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing assigned to the 355th Munitions Maintenance Squadron, Gun Services Section. In other words, I worked out of the Gun Shop. I was there from March 1973 to May 1976. During the time that I was there, the wing flew the A-7D Corsair II aircraft. In March 1976, we started getting the first brand new A-10's off the production line. I'm not sure when the A-10's first started flying sorties with munitions but one of the guys who lived in our apartment complex worked in loading and he brought home this 30mm casing for me just before I got out of the service in May 1976. So, believe it or not, this casing was among the first 30mm rounds fired by an "active duty" A-10.
When the A-10's arrived, they choose a number of people from each shop to train specifically for the A-10. These people were frozen to the base for 2 years. Since I was "short", I didn't get the chance to actually work on the A-10 and didn't have the "opportunity" to obtain more 30mm casings.
Here's an update on the 30mm casing shown above. It was produced by the Aerojet Ordnance Manufacturing Company as indicated by the "AOMC". The "AJD" indicates that it was made in their Downey Ca plant. The "2-4" is the lot number and of course the "DATE 11-75" is the date of manufacture which is November 1975. Aerojet began producing GAU-8/A 30mm ammunition in 1973 and received its first multi-year contract in 1980. So far, Aerojet has produced 75 million rounds of 30mm ammunition.
If you have any historical information, photo's, or personal stories that are related to the A/OA-10's of the 355th that you would like to share with me, e-mail me at [email protected]
As a result of a 1966 tour of the war zone in Southeast Asia, Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. McConnell stated the need for an aircraft that would fill the true close air support role. STOL capability from rough airfields as well as the best characteristics of both the venerable A-1 Skyraider and the A-7 Corsair II. Although Requests For Proposals were sent out in March 1967, it wasn' until May 1970 that RFP's were sent out to 12 companies for competitive prototype development. Six companies submitted designs with Northrop (A-9) and Fairchild (A-10) being selected to build aircraft for evaluation. In January 1973, the Air Force announced that the A-10 was the winner.
A comparative fly-off with the A-7D was conducted at Fort Riley, Kansas. The 2 A-7D's involved with the fly-off were 73-993 and 73-994 from the 355th TFW. These aircraft were painted gunship grey.
The 333rd TFTS was selected to receive the first A-10A's. 75-258, 75-259, 75-260, and 75-261 were the first A-10's delivered to the 333rd TFTS in March of 1976. The 354th TFW was selected to become the first operational Air Combat Wing equipped with the A-10.
 | F-105 Thunderchief Era |
| EB-66 Destroyer Era |
| A-7D Corsair II Era |
| 355th TFW Links Page |
| 355th TFW MIA/KIA Honor Roll |
| 355th TFW History |
| My Photo Gallery |
| Air Force Photo's |
| Photo's from the Troops |
| Someone is looking for you |
| 355th TFW Reunion Page |
| 355th TFW 1998 Reunion Page |
| 355th TFW Reunion Roster |
| 355th TFW Patch Page |
Links to A-10 Related Sites
A-10 WARTHOG TERRITORY
WARTHOG PEN
� 1998 [email protected]
This page was last updated on October 14, 2003
You are visitor #
Since April 2, 1998
Get your own Free Home Page