It was built with unparalleled emphasis on simplicity and survivability. The design of the A-10 is unlike any other aircraft. This made it a priority to build a ground attack aircraft dedicated to close air support. Its key attributes have been its high rates of fire and muzzle velocity.ĭuring the Vietnam War, we lost large numbers of aircraft, many as a result of getting down low and in the range of lethal fire. The 20 mm gun has been the weapon of choice for most US fighters over the past 50 years. In both World War II and the Korean War, 12.7 mm guns were the real workhorses. In the Pacific, it was used frequently on treetop-level missions against Japanese airfields and shipping, with great impact. The physical damage was not great, but the disruption of the horse train worked.Īmong World War II strafing aircraft, few if any were more effective than the American B-25 Mitchell bomber. Horses and wagons scattered everywhere, the great pilot later recounted.
Eddie Rickenbacker once strafed eight German artillery pieces, each drawn by a team of six horses. It is derived from the German word “strafen,” meaning, “to punish.” In World War I, a popular German Army catch phrase was “Gott strafe England” (“God punish England”). The Pentagon defines strafing simply as “the delivery of automatic weapons fire by aircraft on ground targets.” The term itself has an interesting pedigree. When you get down that low, bad things can happen. However, for many aircraft, the limitations of the gun require the pilot to fly lower, below 1,000 feet, if he or she hopes to consistently hit the target.
In “No Man’s Land”-that is, below 5,000 feet-the chances of being hit go up astronomically. Once the fighter enters the low-altitude environment, the pilot is subject to multiple threats he faces not only surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery but also handheld heat-seeking missiles and automatic gunfire. We have all seen aircraft in the movies, diving at the ground, guns blazing, while people on the ground are running to take cover. It was the only aircraft built to endure the hazards of strafing against Warsaw Pact forces. The only aircraft required to strafe in the Cold War was the A-10, and for good reason. There is a big difference between flying at 25,000 feet where you have plenty of room to maneuver and you can barely see a target, and at 200 feet, where the ground is rushing right below you and you can read the billboards screaming by. We were not very good at it, but it was extremely challenging. We had to maintain combat status in air-to-air, air-to-ground, and nuclear strike operations. In the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, I was combat-ready in the 512th Fighter Squadron, an F-16 unit at Ramstein AB, Germany.
My first thought was, “Why was an F-16 doing that mission?” But I already knew the answer. Gilbert, died strafing the enemy in Iraq, trying to protect coalition forces taking fire on the ground. Modern fighter pilots risk their lives every day performing the act of strafing, which to some may seem like a tactic from a bygone era.
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