Homebound ANG "Rainbow Team" A-10Cs caught at Lajes ~ Warthog News

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Homebound ANG "Rainbow Team" A-10Cs caught at Lajes

By Joachim Jacob, Warthog News Editor

Updated October 29th, 2012

At Lajes Field, Azores, Warthog News contributor André Inácio from Portugal had the opportunity to catch some A-10Cs of the homebound ANG "Rainbow Team" during stopover late this week.

On October 25th, 2012, a flight of 5 A-10Cs from the Arkansas ANG arrived with callsigns CUBE51 to 55, supported by BLUE04 which was tanker KC-10 79-1947.

By serial number order:
A-10C 78-0614, 184th FS, 188th FW (Arkansas ANG)
A-10C 78-0616, 184th FS, 188th FW (Arkansas ANG)
A-10C 78-0621, 184th FS, 188th FW (Arkansas ANG)
A-10C 78-0630, 184th FS, 188th FW (Arkansas ANG)
A-10C 78-0639, 184th FS, 188th FW (Arkansas ANG)

By arrival order: 78-0621, 78-0614, 78-0639, 78-0630, 78-0616

In the morning of October 26th, 2012, three of these aircraft, together with an A-10C from the Maryland ANG, departed Lajes Field for Continental United States (CONUS)

By serial number order:
A-10C 78-0614, 184th FS, 188th FW (Arkansas ANG)
A-10C 78-0616, 184th FS, 188th FW (Arkansas ANG)
A-10C 78-0639, 184th FS, 188th FW (Arkansas ANG)
A-10C 78-0682, 104th FS, 175th Wg (Maryland ANG)

By departure order: 78-0682, 78-0614, 78-0639, 78-0616

Please note: I'm really surprised by this late stopover. Related to some of the previous info, I thought all of the 18 ANG "Hogs", recently deployed to Afghanistan, already returned back home. Many thanks to André for sharing these very important photo proofs on Warthog News! Additional background info will be uploaded later this evening.

Update October 29, 2010:
Yesterday, André told me via email: On October 14th, 2012, only 13 of the 18 combat-deployed A-10Cs arrived at Lajes on their way back home. Unfortunately, he was very busy with work on that day and he doesn't had the opportunity to take any pictures. On October 16th only 12 A-10Cs departed for Continental United States (CONUS). Left behind on the ground was A-10C 78-0682 from the Maryland ANG. On October 26th only 4 A-10Cs departed Lajes (as pictured), and left behind on the ground were A-10Cs 78-0621 and 78-0630, both of them from the Arkansas ANG. They need another tanker asset to return to CONUS.