Monday, September 27, 2010

First ten 81st EFS A-10Cs returned home to Spang after Afghanistan deployment

As mentioned on the German FlugzeugForum some hours ago, the first ten A-10Cs from the 81st Fighter Squadron "Panthers", 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem AB, Germany, returned home today from their recent combat deployment as 81st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron (81st EFS) to the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing at Kandahar Airfield in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

Visual logged by a spotter (user name Black Widow) were the following aircraft:

First wave:
A-10Cs 81-0991, 82-0656, 80-0275, 81-0980 and 81-0976.
Supporting tanker was KC-135R 62-3507 from Mc Dill.

Second wave:
A-10Cs 81-0963, 81-0945, 82-0654, 81-0985 and 82-0649.
Supporting tanker was KC-135T 59-1468 from the Pennsylvania ANG.

Special thanks to this individual spotter for sharing his info. Unfortunately, because of bad weather (it rains in Germany since Saturday evening) he took zero pictures of this arrival.

Aircraft sorted by serial numbers:

80-0275
81-0945 (deployed with the original fighter package)
81-0963
81-0976
81-0980 (deployed with the original fighter package)
81-0985
81-0991
82-0649 (deployed with the original fighter package)
82-0654 (deployed with the original fighter package)
82-0656

Please note:
Originally, the 81st EFS was deployed with 12 aircraft (as usualy). Later, the 81st EFS was reinforced in place by six more 81st FS Hogs and by two ANG Hogs.

Please also note:
Just after Black Widow's serial number post on FlugzeugForum, there were also posted two A-10C arrival shots, taken by another FF user. Unfortunately, these pictures were not more online this evening.

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