Air Force Captain Dale Storr, was shot down over Kuwait on February 2 only when he was released on March 6, after the war, did we learn he had survived. Six Warthogs were lost and two of their pilots killed. In Desert Storm, 39 fixed-wing aircraft and five helicopters were shot down by Iraqi air defenses. That the A-10 remains in service 29 years later is a testament to the platform’s reliability and effectiveness. By the time it ended, the Warthog would be credited with destroying more than 900 tanks, 2,000 military vehicles, and 1,200 artillery pieces. Operation Desert Storm was the first time the “Warthog” had flown in combat. It was difficult to pick out targets by sight, but we pressed in lower and closer, confident that our aircraft-the Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II-could take a hit and still get us home. Smoke from oil-well fires lit by Iraqi forces and smoldering tanks filled the air with haze.
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