Flying the A-10 Warthog | Steve Ladd (Part 2 In-Person)
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- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- In part 2, former A-10 Warthog pilot, Steve Ladd, shares what it was like to transition from the Phantom to the Hog, becoming a single seat pilot, first flight and training, firing the GAU-8 Avenger cannon, his new book which you buy below and much more!
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A1 Skyraider forever...
I have a friend that is in a Corvette club of mine, an ex SR-71 pilot.
I asked him once, "what do you do after you fly a blackbird?" He said, "easy, I spend all day thinking about flying the SR- 71."
Godspeed to all of our AVIATORS and PILOTS who flew for this nation.
" I've got the ball "
Colonel Ladd was my Wing Operations Officer from ‘89-‘92 at RAF Bentwaters in the UK when I was in my first tour in the A-10. He and his wife Elaine where loved and respected by all of us. I’m glad to see him looking well and so eloquently describing what it was like to be a Cold War fighter pilot. I continued for many more years in the A-10 but nothing compared to those early years. Thank you Colonel Ladd for your service and your leadership.
Thanks, Brady
Great to hear from you!
@@warthog01 Steve, hope you and Elaine are both doing well. If my last name looks familiar i'm Maverick/Irish's youngest son. You're one of the few people still around that knew him with his original callsign before he changed it when he took over the 511th. Cheers man.
Small world man. My father was the squadron commander for the 511th at RAF Alconbury from 89-91 and had known Steve for years since their F-4 days. Previous assignment for my old man before Alconbury was HQ 2ATAF at Rheindahlen with Steve.
@@HalfUnder Thanks for getting in touch! I remember your Dad very well-some great times at Bentwaters in those days. Cheers
@Steve Ladd Anytime Steve, lord knows I've heard lots of stories over the years. The old folks may be in touch soon. They're talking about taking a trip across the pond to go see the museum over there and I know they want to see the two of you and catch up. Cheers.
I could listen to this guy talk all day.
If you enjoy this kind of recital, check out some of the interviews that C.W. Lemoine (Mover) has done. Very cool stuff from one fighter pilot to another (Mover, not me).
@@JF-lt5zc I came here to say the same
It's not just the army that loves the A-10. It's our absolute favorite in the Marine Corps infantry too. There is nothing, and I mean literally nothing, more awesome or motivating for a grunt than to watch an A-10 gun run. Its psychological effect on friendly troops is just as big as its physical effect on the enemy.
That's how my Marine big brother felt about B-52s based on his 1969 tour in Vietnam, during which he had a front row seat to what they can do. He came back a big fan of BUFFs and the USAF in general. I remember him describing not only seeing and hearing their effect, but many times feeling the "rolling thunder" of Arc Light raids in the distance. As you said, it was quite a morale builder knowing they were on the same side. Somewhat by coincidence but no doubt partially by design after hearing his stories, later in the '70s I ended up in the USAF on those same B-52Ds that carried the bulk of the workload in SEA. At one point I sent him a B-52 t-shirt which he wore until it was ragged. It was kind of funny to think of a Marine wearing a USAF shirt rather than a USMC version, but as a combat Marine, that's how he felt. In general, there was never any of the silly inter-service rivalries and put-downs between me and my brothers (two Marine and one Army). We always respected each other's service.
@@RMB42 my dad was navy and I've got lots of uncles and cousins and friends who were in various branches and we absolutely rag and tease each other with the interservice rivalry stuff. I've even been given a cupcake with a crayon stuck in it for my birthday before. Nobody gets asshurt about it though, it's all understood to just be in good fun.
Same for a Skyraider or knowing a B52 was up there 50 + yrs ago.
These videos with Colonel Ladd are two of the best ones I have ever seen on CZcams. I salute him and all the Patriots like him who valiantly served this great nation. God bless all of them.
If i had half the resume that this guy does, my head wouldnt fit through a standard size doorway.
Very impressive man, i could listen to him all day
Another fantastic interview with Mr Ladd. What a career!
Steve Ladd got it spot on about the selling of his book here in the UK, our Brotherhood amongst the Armed Forces comes hand in hand those who served in NATO, no matter what nation you served, we all fought together, Navy Army or Airforce and anything in between too, I will get this book at some point, I love the F4, and Steve Ladds awesome attitude towards his selling point, from a UK former soldier who worked with US troops in Iraq 🤙🇬🇧🇺🇲🤜🤛
Have just watched this, part 1 and part 2. Steve is such a great character and I'm really looking forward to reading his book.
What a great interview and what a great guy!
What a great conversation! This guy is a natural story teller. Book being purchased right now....
Cheers!
Another great interview of Col. Steve Ladd by the interviewer, my heartfelt congrats👏 Col. Ladd is the epitome of what I wanted to do in life, both professionally and personally, but regretfully, couldn't. It is so very important that one should have a good wife who is your best friend, greatest cheerleader and supporter. Col. Ladd is a blessed man every which way 👍
Thanks very much.
First aircraft to scare my 2 sons when they were a small was the A10. We used to take breaks at a static holiday park in woods in Worcestershire in the early 90s and the A10s used to do low passes over the caravans which looked like they were using the caravans as a substitute for hidden armour or something. The kids screamed for about 5 minutes then as all kids do waved at them whenever they came over.
Hi Nige
Thanks for your comment. I'm glad we could be of service-I never got credit for entertaining the kids before 🥳😉😁
Absolutely the best news source bar none.
From Phantom to Warthog. Uglier to even uglier? Like the F-4, the A-10 has an aggressive look all of its own! Great interview!
Ugly is an ugly word, lol. I think they both have their own brand of 'sexy'
Mean and meaner look and very well justified .
Funny he mentioned coming from the F-4 and thinking the A-10 was ugly. One of the more common nicknames for the F-4 in the '60s and '70s USAF was "Double Ugly". The Phantom looks like each part of the aircraft was designed by separate committees that never communicated with each other. Some things drooped, some things stuck up, some angled down, with seemingly incongruent bulges, curves, and angles in between. It doesn't look like it should work as well as it does. As another common joke in the USAF said "The F-4 proves that given enough thrust, even a brick can fly supersonic".
Like the A-10, however, the F-4 manages to be "ugly" and aggressively beautiful at the same time.
This gentleman is a real treat.
This is a great guy!
loved Steve's casual and fun style, bought his book :-)
Thanks, Mike. Hope you enjoy it!
The Book is a Great Read! Thank You for writing !!
Great interview. Brings back a lot of memories. I worked the WCS on the F4 in Thailand and I was at RAF Bentwaters in 78 when they transitioned from the Phantom to the Warthog.
Thanks Larry.
What a great guy. The book is a good read too!
Reminds me of my time in the GAF in the 80ies. A fantastic guy!
Nothing made me feel better then having an A-10 over my shoulder in Iraqi and Afghanistan. If the Air Force doesn’t want them I’m sure the Army will take them.
Wish the USAF brass would get their heads out of their asses, and continue keeping the A-10 over the shoulders of your brothers. I can only imagine the hellish situations that you faced. The brass appears not to even try to imagine it or to give a shit about it...
Reading this statement means a lot to me. It was our privilege in the A10 community to provide you with reliable CAS. I believed...I earned the right to go home once you did. Glad you made it home safely.
None of you realize A-10 wouldn’t survive a war with actual SAMs and MANPADS. The Iraqis during Gulf War 1 had no problems downing several A-10s with Strelas. The A-10s is only good against guys with AKs.
@@zeitgeistx5239You're making the argument the F35 proponents like to use. They point to...the A10 wouldn't survive in an airspace where modern ground to air systems exist. Doubtful the hog would be sent into such a high threat environment until it is cleared to do so. Anyway, until something better comes along we are going to continue to roll with her.
'Bout time she's getting her due!
Excellent interview, I learned so much. Steve is cool.
Wow!!!! Just Wow!!!!!!!
See them at Mildenhall air show a few years ago now.... a great aircraft
Pointy Shiny Aircraft, Love his Graphic detail..........Gods Speed. Colonel Ladd.
What a well spoken man.
Worked F-4 D-E models at Mac Dill 77-80 loved it
A real American. Thank you for your service and the great stories.
Excellent guest and awesome book. Somehow I find his narrating style really captivating.
Thanks, Vikko--If you've got the time, I'd appreciate an Amazon review!
Great interview. Huge thanks to Mike. Steve is an absolute legend.
Excelent interview. Regards from Brazil.
Are there any 'OUT-TAKES' from these interviews that you'd be happy to share Mike? Truly great interviewing style.............and those aviators! Wow! Steve Ladd is a 'GOOD GUY'.
Great. Steve is the real deal. Thank you, Steve.
He is indeed.
I know what I'll be buying on payday.
Absolutely awesome interview!
Cheers!
Let’s face it: What’s more important than close air support of our guys down in it?
Excellent and always a fan of the A10
A B52 is also known as Ugly ( BUFF ), especially to the enemy .
I picked up a copy today on Audible and can't wait to start in, so I'll keep it short thank you Sir for you're service.
Nice one Chris.
A pilot called John Liberto was at the 81st in the 1980s. Good guy.
watching this again, it's still fascinating, Steve's explanations of things are excellent
Glad you’re enjoying it, John.
I think the A 10 looks cool 💚
Great interview, what a solid bloke!
Wonderful. Thank you.
Was this filmed at Old Sarum? A great interview with a great guy. I’ve read his book and its a fabulous read, I’d highly recommended it
Nope, filmed at Boscombe Downs. Glad you liked it!
Great interview and another book one must have!
Cheers mate, glad you enjoyed it.
I’ve loved the A-10 since they they put on a show for us in Fallon, NV when our A-7 squadron was there on deployment.
Great Man!
Been looking forward to this Thoroughly enjoyed the earlier part 😊👍
Cheers mate.
Mike you must have an amazing collection of signed books from these interviews, lucky so and so 😊.
If you ever have a clear out I’ll take them off your hands lol
I do have a fair few now :)
@@Aircrewinterview shared the video to one of the Phantom groups on Facebook see if we can’t get a few more subscribers 👍
Just read his book. A good read……..he’s a funny guy.
What a great man. 💪🇺🇸👍
Going from Double Ugly to Butt Ugly at the speed of turtle. Sierra Hotel!
Great interview!
Cheers.
The finest looking dedicated aircraft ever made. Politicians that wanted to phase this out do nothing but suck. Ask any grunt that served in Iraq or Afghanistan and needed it's service.
15:13 you know he has pressed that trigger many times in an A-10, he sounds like an A-10 firing.
I echo the admiration of other commentators. Stand up guy, straight ahead take on life.
Before they get rid of the a 10 I think they need a new ground attack aircraft maybe something that’s a little faster keep the gun and it’s gotta be able to take a beating and fly fine
Note : AF Genrrals have rarely wanted to help the soldiers and marines over their history.
Unique engine sound. 81st TFW at twin bases Bentwaters and Woodbridge. Bentwaters named after a house that was demolished for the runway. Airshows there put on a demo of JAAT, 2 A-10s and AH1Hs.
wonderful history
Marshall, I usually look at your audio gear in awe but I am also asking about the embedded reporters in the military and I will never forget the RPG's bouncing off the tanks. Those tanks were impregnable imo. Love all your stuff. Colm
Col. Ladd thank you sir A.I. another good interview. lol how could he not like the cover the best looking pilots on there ( aren't pilots in love with themselves heeheeheee )
Occupational trait, Doug😉😂
@@warthog01 good occupation . I am retired also just sitting around on SS watching great pilot stories . i find military pilots attitudes and stories are a good way to spend the day . O i love the cattle prod thing lol my wife owns a few also OucH
@@dougstitt1652 Another occupational trait--for wives!🙄😂
@@warthog01 now i know why dad always has stayed in shape 84 and can still out run mom
@@warthog01 some said you guys about got bird strikes from behind in the A - 10 . . . ?
During my short 3 years as an armor officer, in the
Late ‘70’s, the warthog was to be our savior if we fought the Russians. Our number one target if we deployed to Europe was to kill the ZSU quad gun that was a major threat to our warthogs. Kill those and the warthog would kill their armor. Great interview, thanks Colonel!
Cheers Harold.
True. Apaches would have likely killed their share of armor in that scenario, too.
How did they transfer the A10s from the USA to the UK ?
Air to Air Refuelling?
Gotta know for sure.
We flew them from Myrtle Beach South Carolina to RAF Bentwaters UK. Numerous Air refuelings and an overnight stay in the Azores. There's a whole chapter in the book about the trip. 😉
@@warthog01 Thanks. I love that plane, the way it soared over my head, amazing, l guess the big straight wings, low altitude, amazing the way it floated.
@@warthog01 How do I go about getting a signed copy of your book, Sir? I was a flight line crew chief at the Beach from 83-86. 353rd. I sure do miss the old bird and could "pre or thru-flight" her to this day. My Dad worked with the RF-4C while he was in. I got some great Super 8 movies of "rolls" over the runway, and "after" 100 missions getting tossed in the bunny pool. Good times. Have a great day.
Steve, I keep trying to remember where we crossed paths. Did you command the A-10 division of the Fighter Weapons School at one time?
Yes, I did, Wade from '83 to, '85.If I remember correctly, you were in the 'Incredible shrinking class' . It's all in the book😉😂
@@warthog01 I just stumbled across this interview. I'll definitely be buying the book. That was an incredible bunch of guys you had working for you. You and they certainly changed my life. Great interview and nice to see you doing well my friend!
Thanks, Wade. If you've got time, I'd be grateful for an Amazon review when you finish it. Hope you enjoy the read.
Unfortunately the USAF always had that snobbery towards air-to-ground. It is amazing that the A-10 even got to enter service. They spent the entire Afghanistan war trying to prove they didn't needed the A-10, coming to the ridiculous act of using strategic bombers to do CAS against a irregular army of people walking in sandals.
Now they are getting the results. Their entire fleet of 4º gen supersonic jets (B-1 included) are worn out, the shinny F-35 is a disaster, all to fight a war that could be handled by the A-10 alone. And even if that would had worn those out, they are much simpler to refurbish than the supersonic jets.
I have seen an interesting article somewhere, can’t remember where, about in the future possibly using new designs of prop aircraft to do the cas role against insurgents.
The idea being they would be more manoeuvrable than jets with similar performance speed wise in the cas role and be able to carry a heavy load of munitions.
Personally I can’t see this happening as the industrial sector wouldn’t make as much money from it as a jet with high tech electronics and people tend to want their airforce to have the latest fastest coolest looking futuristic jet and a prop wouldn’t be that.
@@nigeh5326 I thought Steve or the interviewer would mention the A-1 Skyraider. From a mission perspective, I saw it doing similar work as the A-10 in Vietnam. Doing so quite honorably as well. I suppose you could say the A-10 replaced the A-1, but the A-1 didn't have the GUN.
Did you record the two part interview at Duxford? My favorite aviation museum! Great videos.
No, the interview took place at Boscombe Downs Aviation Collection--not Duxford but highly recommended
Was once practice ‘strafed’ by one of these on a train between York and Scarborough in the early 1980s. I wonder whether it could’ve been Steve...?
You never know 😉👍
I always thought the US Marines should have used the A 10 from there land bases 💯
I've said it before but I feel the need to say it again; this channel is criminally under-subscribed and under-viewed. These interviews should be getting hundreds of thousands of views. Drag queens talking about modifying wigs get more views. WTF is this?
Thank you for the kind words. Hopefully we will get to 100k subs one day.
@@Aircrewinterview Hopefully a million :)
Have you ever talked with an A1 Skyraidrr pilot ?
I haven’t
Was intersting and fun to listen to!
The closest i came to something like the GAU-7 in action is firing an Oerlikon GDF-005. It already has 1100 rpm and firing it is something else... So imagine 4 times that...
The only question i would have is: in the AA gun we selected a timewindow for how long it would fire if you pressed and held the trigger when setting the gun up. Because of the high rate of fire it was around 0.5 seconds for training, and in combat it would be a bit over 1 sec. Is there anything like that in the A10? Or is it really running as long as you hold the trigger?
A-10 Brilliant but how good would it have been against decent AA not dissing the aircraft but i just wondered?Crazy to think the A-10 almost the child of the stuka
Hey Steve, you look a little bit like Ernest Borgnine to me. Anyone ever mentioned that ?? Thank you 👍🇺🇸🇺🇸
No, never heard that one. If have preferred Brad Pitt, though🤔😉😁
Fraternity, Brotherhood, Culture
What was his call sign?
Smokey 😉😁
Have the book
#phantomtowarthog
the A10 could loose a wing and still fly
and shoot too
Not really. Several A-10s were downed by Iraqi Strela MANPADS when got their wing blown off. You 12 year olds love your internet memes.
How about the super tucano ? Is it any where near as capable as an A10?
Nope. Comparative lightweight😊😉
@@warthog01 wow l am honoured that you replied to me sir!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
I am Canadian l believe we owe EVERYTHING to the 🇺🇸
How many different kinds of rounds did the gun utilize?
Hi Cara
Three rounds--TP (Target practice), HEI (High explosive incendiary) and API (Armor piercing incendiary
Problem with the A10 is that it is not suitable in a modern theatre, with modern air defence systems, like there was in the second gulf war. 50 year old airframe and there are modern types that can defend themselves, and support ground forces. This is why it was deployed mostly in Afghanistan, and not so much in Iraq.
I'm amazed the army didn't have these, and relied on the airforce.
still waiting on a bear
Ugly no more.
I love how all the 12 year olds on the internet aren’t intelligent enough to even research the aircraft and realize how vulnerable the A-10 is against anything more than light AAA. The Iraqi’s literally downed several A-10s with MANPADS. No the A-10 wasn’t immune to ground fire and no it couldn’t fly with only 1 wing. The A-10a downed by MANPADS lost a wing. Against an enemy with more than AK-47s and a Toyota Hilux, the A-10 wouldn’t stand much of a chance. The Iraqis during Gulf War 1 had 0 problems downing A-10s and Harriers.
Keyboard warrior,jog on,
Ok wisguy. We get your point. Now go and play om your keyboard
Excellent thank u
Great interview, thank you Sir for both your interviews F4 & A10. I grew up near a base in Ohio & loved Planes! 👍 I worked with a nurse who's husband flew the F104 & a childhood friend flew Marine harrier. Love planes thank you Sir for your effort in training & combat. 🇺🇸
Great to hear you enjoyed it.
@@Aircrewinterview definitely, the talk you had with the Fb111 was very interesting! I didn't know how spooked by that Aircraft Surprised me about the Russians insisting that Aircraft be on t he e peace talks!!; I liked it very much camouflage paint skeam was looked like it could put a hurting in some place even Nukes too!
Camouflage paint skeam & the speed low & fast was incredible! They should keep a squadron around in several places that may see trouble in the near future. Thank you.
Thank YOU, Gerald!
@@warthog01 Your welcome & thanks for all the training to become a fighter pilot.
A 10 forever! The Army even argued to keep it, because soldiers lived .🇺🇸
My cousin was a grunt in the Marines in Vietnam. He told me that when they called for air support the Navy & Marines would rollin' low & fast almost burning the tree tops. The A.F. bombs would just start falling from the sky!