Afghanistan A-10C Loadouts c. 2014?

[ESzczesniak]

43 minutes ago, A-10 LOADER said:

The plane's Crew Chief would pull the landing gear pins and the ejection seat pin. Those he would put in a bag of some sort and that would remain at the aircraft's spot from which it taxied from.

The jet would then taxi to EOR ( End of Runway ) where other crew chiefs and the weapons crew would be waiting. Once the jet was marshaled into it's spot and the wheels chocked, the one crew chief would hook up a comm cord to the jet to talk to the pilot, the other two guys would give the jet a "once over", looking for any issues before take-off. Once they were finished they would go to the next jet.

Now the Weapons #1 man would hook up his comm cord to talk to the pilot, he would ask the pilot " switches off, safe, normal, hands clear ?", the pilot would acknowledge with a yes and show his hands keeping them in sight. The one man would give his other two load crew members a thumbs up letting them know it's safe to start arming up the jet, the two man would pull pins on stations # 1 to 6, the three man would pull pins for stations # 7 - 11.  The one man would pull the gun pin and let the pilot know that the gun pin is out and, the gun's "hot". All these pins would be placed in the W-79 panel ( the rounded door that's hinged in the second pic,where the jets get fueled at ) so when the jet came back the de-arm crew could put certain pins back in before the jet went back to the ramp. The one man would then go out to station # 1 and work his way all the way over to station # 11, checking everything weapons related to make sure all the pins were out and the jet was ready to go flying. He would let the pilot know that everything is good to go and have a safe flight, disconnect his come cord, close the small door and walk back out to the edge of the jet. The pilot would then be told to hold brakes (with hand gestures ) while the three man pulls the chocks from the nose gear. Once everyone was clear the one man would let the pilot know that the chocks had been removed with more hand gestures, come to attention and, give the pilot a salute, then move onto the next jet and do this all over again.

In the third pic, that RBF streamer is for the battery. The gun pin would look similar, part of the streamer would be hanging from the door when closed to let you know that the gun was pinned.

So, the bomb rack for the 131, SUU-25, 38's and 54's and, the AGM all get a MAU-40/50 pin with RBF streamer installed. Looking at the jet from the front, the pins go into the RH side of the bomb rack only, installing them from the other side causes damage to the sensing switch inside the bomb rack. There will also be an electrical safing pin with streamer, on the backside of the 131 rocket pod and, the SUU-25. The LITENING pod as well as the DRA are non-jettisonable ( can't be punched off ) so, those bomb racks get a pin ( no streamer ) and the safety pin gets safety wired from the pin to the pylon.

Hope this helps and, sorry for the lengthy explanation.

Steve

 

 

Thank you, I love the lengthy explanation! And the Hog, so love learning the details.  Would this circled streamer be for the gun?  It sounds like what you described about the streamer hanging out of the door.  I know you said this picture had the battery streamer, but unfortunately I picked a pic with 3 streamers all nearby.

 

Now I have to figure out of I can remove the streamers on the LAU-131 and AGM-65.  Put those on already since I was pretty sure of those...on the LEFT hand side of the pylon.

Edited January 31, 2025 by ESzczesniak

[A-10 LOADER]

The circled pin above is for the aircraft's battery. The one up inside the nose gear door, I forget what that one is for ( not weapons related however ). The streamer attached to the yellow line is the grounding cable for the jet.

 Just to clarify again, when standing at the nose of the aircraft looking at the jet, all the bomb rack pins with streamers, will be installed in on the RH side of the rack.

I'm trying to find a pic of the gun door with the pin hanging out of it for you but, it's harder than I thought.

Steve

Edited January 31, 2025 by A-10 LOADER

[habu2]

This forum is not for baiting people with downloading your ad-laden app....

[ESzczesniak]

I really appreciate the help from everyone!  I think I'm calling her done.  I feel I could go on forever with small weathering details, but am in a good place.  The final thread...

 

 

[mthomson]

I'm following this thread with interest as I'm building an A-10C from the 163rd FS and want to depict it as it was during their 2018 deployment to Kandahar.

One thing I'm struggling to find is a 1:48 SUU-25...can anyone tell me which 1:48 kit may include one? I have the GWH and Academy kits but they don't have SUU-25s.

 

Also, if there are any photos of 163rd FS A-10s from that deployment that show a loadout that doesn't include a SUU-25, I'd be very grateful! 

 

Edited November 1, 2025 by mthomson

[ESzczesniak]

1 hour ago, mthomson said:

I'm following this thread with interest as I'm building an A-10C from the 163rd FS and want to depict it as it was during their 2018 deployment to Kandahar.

One thing I'm struggling to find is a 1:48 SUU-25...can anyone tell me which 1:48 kit may include one? I have the GWH and Academy kits but they don't have SUU-25s.

 

Also, if there are any photos of 163rd FS A-10s from that deployment that show a loadout that doesn't include a SUU-25, I'd be very grateful! 

 

It could could be easy enough to model in CAD and 3D print. 
 

If anyone has enough information on dimensions and some reference photos I could probably make one fairly easy at a decent level. It wouldn’t be any Eduard Brassin, but ok enough for many uses probably. 

[bdt13]

SUU-25 in 1:48 scale: I did find one quickly from Eduard: 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/eduard-648561-suu-25-flare-dispenser--1303587

 

As these are based on Zuni 5" rocket launchers it might not be too hard to scratch one.

[ESzczesniak]

2 minutes ago, bdt13 said:

SUU-25 in 1:48 scale: I did find one quickly from Eduard: 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/eduard-648561-suu-25-flare-dispenser--1303587

 

As these are based on Zuni 5" rocket launchers it might not be too hard to scratch one.

Unfortunately that one has been out-of-production. It was hard to find when I was building mine and that’s already something around a year ago. 

[Dave Roof]

2 minutes ago, ESzczesniak said:

Unfortunately that one has been out-of-production. It was hard to find when I was building mine and that’s already something around a year ago. 

One of my designers is just about finished with one. As soon as he's done, I'll get them in production and up on the site.