1/72 A-10 - Black Warthog  

 by Justin Davenport

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Silly Week 2006

 

Dateline: December 2014 - Salt Lake Deseret-Tribune - Utah's Newspaper

BLACK AIRCRAFT FLYING AROUND THE WORLD: REASONS AND PURPOSE UNKNOWN

In the past seven months unmarked aircraft have reportedly been sighted flying in circular patterns over major cities in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Japan, Russia, Brazil, Australia, the Middle East and elsewhere. At least six verified sightings have been made over the Salt Lake City and Provo areas, and sightings have been reported elsewhere in the Intermountain West, including Boise, Idaho Falls, Laramie, and Cedar City. No attempts have been made to intercept them. What are these planes? Our investigative reporter has come up with the shocking truth.

These aircraft have been spotted at altitudes ranging from 5,000 to 25,000 feet, roughly calculated by our reporter and other observers worldwide. They fly at all hours, and apparently are most active at night, and they always fly in a circle-eight pattern over their areas of interest. Last month, our reporter managed to photograph one of the aircraft as it was flying overhead just after dawn. After extensive processing through Paint Shop Pro, the aircraft has been identified as a Fairchild Republic A-10, painted in a black finish with no external markings. Since last month, this newspaper has received other photos from around the world that also show unmarked black A-10’s flying around. The A-10 was the U.S. Air Force’s leading attack aircraft and “tank-killer” during the two Persian Gulf wars, the conflict in Kosovo, and the recent conflicts in south China and North Korea. After the south China conflict, the A-10 was retired permanently from the USAF inventory and a large number were stored in the “bone yard” at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, until recently. In the past year, our sources have reported that most of the A-10’s have gradually disappeared from the rows of stored aircraft. The A-10’s production line, which has been inactive for years, has been restarted within the last six months, after the contractor announced a new model suited to “fire-tanker“ duties, and the U.S. Forest Service has taken delivery of a dozen new A-10’s since the program restarted. However, production rates for the A-10 appear to be unusually high for the number of civilian orders taken, according to several aviation trade sources, and some deliveries have been mysteriously delayed. As for where these aircraft are based, we have been unable to get any solid information on this. We have at least two verified recordings of the aircraft’s engine sounds and we have not had any reports of any similar sounds being heard near Hill Air Force Base or Salt Lake International Airport during takeoff or landing operations.

The A-10 can be equipped with LANTIRN sensors (infrared sensors) but it is unknown what type of equipment is on board these aircraft. Their “low and slow” flying ability is suited to surveillance over areas where air threats are not present, but the aircraft‘s initial purpose was to attack targets such as tanks. There have been no reports of any weapons fired near or by these aircraft so far. These aircraft look to be unarmed except for the GAU-8A Avenger Gatling gun in their nose; it is unknown whether these guns are active, or what rules of engagement may apply to their pilots.

The Pentagon and the White House have answered “no comment” to numerous inquiries. The United Nations and the European Union have responded with the same answer to questions from the BBC and other international news outlets. Other governments including India and China have also issued stern “no comment” remarks to reporters, and one reporter in China was arrested after publishing an article about the black aircraft. We know now what the black aircraft are but not where they are flying from, their ultimate purpose, nor who their controlling authority ultimately is.

THE MODEL

The model is an R-M Snaptite “Thunder Squadron” A-10 that I have had in my stash for a while. I built this on the spur of the moment when I saw that Steve needed more silly week articles. I used Polly Night Black for the airframe and Grimy Black for the tires and canopy/cockpit details. I used gunmetal for the engine parts. A nice and simple build.

Justin

Photos and text © by Justin Davenport