U.S. Air Force A-10 Warthog Gets Rare “Non-Standard Markings” To Commemorate The 100th Anniversary Of The 107th Fighter Squadron

A really rare sight: an A-10 Thunderbolt II in full special livery.

Although throughout its career it has sported some different camouflage schemes (including the spotted one, worn by the aircraft of the 57th Tactical Training Wing for ex. JAWS in 1978 or the test camo one of the 349th Wing AFRES in 1995), the U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II has rarely been painted with celebrative liveries: indeed, shark, snake or warthog’s mouths aside, the “Hawg” has been limited in terms of special liveries.

Some examples of “non-standard markings” are the D-Day Invasion stripes, applied to an A-10A of the 45th FS in 1994 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the D-Day or the special scheme applied in 2003 to the A-10A “Black Lightning” of the 118th FS/103rd FW of the Connecticut Air National Guard (a paint job applied on the standard two-tone grey camouflage that commemorated the 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron P-51 Mustang in WWII).

However, on Aug. 3, 2013 a full special color was finally unveiled at Air National Guard Paint Facility in Sioux City, Iowa, in the form of an A-10C Thunderbolt II assigned to the 127th Wing, Michigan Air National Guard, from Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

The aircraft is painted with a special livery in order to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Red Devils of the 107th Fighter Squadron. The paint job is inspired to the P-51 (F-6A) of the 107th TRS, that flew the Mustang over Normandy during WWII.

Cool, isn’t it?

BTW if you remember other A-10s in full special colors please leave a comment or send us an email!

A U.S. Air Force A-10C Thunderbolt II assigned to the 127th Wing, Michigan Air National Guard outside the Air National Guard Paint Facility in Sioux City, Iowa on August 3, 2017. The aircraft is painted with non-standard markings in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Red Devils of the 107th Fighter Squadron.
U.S. Air National Guard Photo by: Master Sgt. Vincent De Groot 185th ARW PA/Released

 

 

About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

5 Comments

  1. I like it, but it looks so naked without the dragon face. Now, if they were to put the dragon face back on and keep the rest of the paint…

    • Only one squadron of many have the teeth, and they are tiger teeth (as in flying tigers).

  2. These are my hometown guys less than 10 miles away from me.

    We received these guys in place of our F16’s. Most came from the A10’s that were at Battle Creek, MI which switched to a drone wing at the same time.

    This is just in time for Selfridge ANG Base 100th anniversary air show Aug 19-20 2017.

    The KC135 wing at Selfridge had some colorful liveries as well introduced about a year ago. Nothing like this but cool none the less for a refuel/cargo bird.

    If you beleive what has been said recently about the selection process Selfridge is likely to be named a F35 base in the next round this fall. These would replace the A10’s around 2020.

    Kris

  3. Hey, ProSup! Keep this one out of the gun lines our else your pretty new paint will be covered in black gun grease and smoke marks.

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