The US Air Force flagships of the 52d Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, fly over Hohenzollern Castle (Burg Hohenzollern) in northern Germany. Spangdahlem Air Base consists of two F-16 squadrons, the 22nd and 23rd Fighter Squadrons, and the 81st Fighter Squadron, which flies the A-10 Thunderbolt II. Three F-16c Falcons lead the formation followed by the A-10
Summary
The original finding aid described this photograph as:
Country: Deutschland / Germany (DEU)
Scene Camera Operator: MSGT Blake R. Borsic, USAF
Release Status: Released to Public
Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files
The A-10 Thunderbolt has excellent maneuverability at low airspeeds and altitude and is a highly accurate and survivable weapons-delivery platform. Called the “Warthog” for its aggressive look and often painted with teeth on the nose cone, the A-10 Thunderbolt II is the U.S. Air Force’s primary low-altitude close air support aircraft best known for its GAU-8 Avenger 30mm Gatling gun designed to fire armor-piercing depleted uranium and high explosive incendiary rounds. In the 1970s the threat of Soviet armored forces and all-weather attack operations had become more serious. Six companies submitted aircraft proposals, with Northrop and Fairchild-Republic selected to build prototypes: the YA-9A and YA-10A, respectively. General Electric and Philco-Ford were selected to build and test GAU-8 cannon prototypes. First A-10 was delivered to the U.S. Air Force on 30 March 1976. By 1984, 715 airplanes had been built.
The state of the Teutonic Order existed on this land for three centuries (from the 13th to the beginning of the 16th century) and left about 40 knightly castles, built in stone. Most of the castles of the Order were usually built on the site of Prussian fortresses. Some of them, having lost their semantic purpose, were gradually destroyed or dismantled. Particularly damaging to the knightly legacy was World War II, especially the fighting in 1944-45 and the subsequent change of owners, or the lack of them. By the second millennium, only 20 castles of the Order had survived, at least in part, with their castle walls.
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