@ USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, CO
September 2006
An A-10 pole-sitting at the USAF Academy’s Thunderbird Airmanship Overlook. This particular Warthog “Chopper Popper” was flown by Captain Robert R. Swain on February 6, 1991 when he scored the first recorded air-to-air kill in an A-10 when he shot down an Iraqi Bo-105 helicopter during combat operations over Iraq. His A-10, S/N 77-0205, was retired and placed on display here at the Academy on 1 November 1993 wearing USAF Reserve colors. First flown in 1972, more than 700 were produced for the USAF and close to 300 are on active duty today. Panasonic FZ30 photo.
