Still online is the following news article:
Arctic camouflage makes Eielson's hogs unique
Commentary by Don Fenton
354th Fighter Wing Historian
Arctic Snow Hog - EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska--An A-10 with an arctic paint scheme sits next to an A-10 with a regular all gray or green paint scheme sit on the flightline March 1982. That year, an A-10 was repainted in an arctic camouflage scheme as an experiment for an upcoming exercise titled OPERATION Cool Snow Hog. (File photo) Hi-res
8/6/2007 - EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- Last week an article in the Arctic Sentry detailed the history of the A-10s here at Eielson--but there was an important piece of early A-10 history intentionally left out.
Any guesses to what was not mentioned or what the difference is between the two hogs ... and yes, the two are interrelated?
The only difference between the two 'hogs' is color. A snowhog is covered in arctic camouflage and a warthog is all gray or green. OK, maybe not so many know what in the world I'm talking about. Snowhogs and Warthogs are nicknames for our soon-to-be gone A-10s.
On December 18, 1981, two A-10 aircraft arrived at Eielson from the Fairchild-Republic factory in Hagerstown, Md. The aircraft tail numbers were 80-221 and 80-222 ... the first two A-10s assigned to Eielson.
However, not long after arriving, 80-221 was repainted in an arctic camouflage scheme. This was done as an experiment for an upcoming exercise titled Operation Cool Snow Hog.
The exercise was held from March 8 to 16, 1982, at a forward operating location in Kotzebue, Alaska.
Cool Snow Hog represented the Air Force's first test of forward basing A-10s in Alaska. Overall, the plan called for the Air Force to fly 16 close-air-support sorties in support of the 3rd Scout Battalion of the Alaska Army National Guard.
Over the following years, the forward operating location concept was tested through various operational readiness exercises and major joint forces exercises such as BRIM FROST, but they were never again referred to as Cool Snow Hog exercises.
It must be noted that this paint scheme was only an experiment. The Air Force never fully adopted the scheme, thus A-10s never flew operationally long-term in the arctic scheme.
There are a few sources that mention an upwards of three additional A-10s were painted this way however, official documentation has yet to be discovered to verify this information. Nevertheless, the Hogs sure looked good.
Robert "Combat Bob" Cologie contributed to this article.
Source
Most of related photos presented by DoD:
Two A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft from the 18th Tactical Fighter Squadron arrive to participate in exercise Cool Snow Hog '82-1. Photographer's Name: SSGT Bill Thompson. Location: KOTZEBUE AIR STATION. Date Shot: 3/8/1982. Date Posted: unknown. VIRIN DF-ST-83-00314
A ground crewman performs maintenance on an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft during exercise Cool Snow Hog '82-1. Photographer's Name: SSGT Bill Thompson. Location: KOTZEBUE AIR STATION. Date Shot: 3/8/1982. Date Posted: unknown. VIRIN: DF-ST-83-00316
Ground crewmen perform maintenance on the two A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft being used during exercise Cool Snow Hog '82-1. Photographer's Name: SSGT Bill Thompson. Location: KOTZEBUE AIR STATION. Date Shot: 3/8/1982. Date Posted: unknown. VIRIN: DF-ST-83-00318
Ground crewmen load a Mark 82 bomb aboard an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft during exercise Cool Snow Hog '82-1. Photographer's Name: SSGT Bill Thompson. Location: KOTZEBUE AIR STATION. Date Shot: 3/8/1982. Date Posted: unknown. VIRIN: DF-ST-83-00319
An air-to-air view of a camouflaged A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, participating in exercise Cool Snow Hog '82-1. Photographer's Name: SSGT Bill Thompson. Location: KOTZEBUE AIR STATION. Date Shot: 3/8/1982. Date Posted: unknown. VIRIN: DF-ST-83-00326
An air-to-air right side view of two A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, one with camouflage paint, participating in exercise Cool Snow Hog '82-1. Photographer's Name: SSGT Bill Thompson. Location: KOTZEBUE AIR STATION. Date Shot: 3/8/1982. Date Posted: unknown. VIRIN: DF-ST-83-00328
Left side view of two A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, one with camouflage paint scheme, in flight over frozen terrain during exercise Cool Snow Hog '82-1. Photographer's Name: SSGT Bill Thompson. Location: KOTZEBUE AIR STATION. Date Shot: 3/8/1982. Date Posted: unknown. VIRIN: DF-ST-83-00330
Overhead view of an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft, with camouflage paint scheme, parked on the apron beside a Beech C-12 aircraft. The A-10 is being used during exercise Cool Snow Hog '82-1. Photographer's Name: SSGT Bill Thompson. Location: KOTZEBUE AIR STATION. Date Shot: 3/8/1982. Date Posted: unknown. VIRIN: DF-ST-83-00333
Click here for all related photos.
The following six pictures are from the thread A-10 in Camo, posted on militaryphotos.net 08-27-2009:
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The following info comes from the article 1/48 Revell-Monogram A-10 "SnowHog", published on ARC by Scott Nagle:
1/48 scale model built by Scott Nagle.
4-view drawings by Dana Bell - probably the very best reference for painting
Scott wrote: After I asked about this online, Dana Bell responded saying that this was in fact one of two aircraft flown during winter exercises from Eilson AFB, Alaska, in 1982. These aircraft were painted in the conventional Euro I scheme with the lighter green overpainted with a temporary white latex as an experimental arctic scheme. Mr. Bell had been working at the USAF Central Still Photo Depository when the photos of "cool snow hog" came in and had drawn up 4-view drawings of the scheme, which he kindly emailed to me and which I have included here. In addition, he mentioned that some of the photos had depicted a weapons load consisting of a small number of 500 lb. practice bombs.
Scanned book page, not known to me.
Other info:
Scanned page 73 of Ken Neubeck's book "Walk Around A-10 Warthog", Squadron/Signal Publications, 1999. Description: This A-10, assigned to the 343rd Composite Wing, wore a special black and white winter scheme while taking part in exercises at Kotzebue Air Station in Alaska during 1982.
A-10A Exercise "Cool Snow Hog", Alaska, March 1982. (Drawing by Jens Popp / Don Color)Full size Source More A-10 paint schemes by this source
BTW: For some related painting info please check Warthog Territory Forums for the topic Operation Cool Snow Hog 1-82 ????. Mentioned is:
Okay, here goes, this is what I got from somebody on this website a while back that either worked on the project of knew somebody who did, take it or leave it...
It is NOT black and white. What they did, is take white, latex housepaint and paint over the lighter of the two greens with a house-painting brush. He said it looked like crap up close, with all sorts of drips and runs, and was sloppily applied. He also said it BONDED to the paint beneath it, and had to be sent to depot to have it sand-blasted off. lol
See also:
Topic Snow camo A-10A help! Cant find any pics! on ARC Forums
Please note: Because some photos of Exercise Cool Snow Hog 82-1 are now online again on DefenseImagery, I decided to post this archived stuff. I would be very grateful for any additional photos and other info!
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