T2K Air Support

[Raellus]

This kind of blew my mind.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/there-was-no-way-a-p-51-could-replace-the-a-10-a65e39df1085

But in a T2K U.S.A. Perhaps...

[Damocles]

What Congress should have been pushing...

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=zG9LlHcX8lg

[raketenjagdpanzer]

What Congress should have been pushing...

https://www.youtube.com/watchv=zG9LlHcX8lg

Holy crap, Dammy did you really just link a Mike Sparks vid. x-(

[RN7]

This kind of blew my mind.

https://medium.com/war-is-boring/there-was-no-way-a-p-51-could-replace-the-a-10-a65e39df1085

But in a T2K U.S.A. Perhaps...

I'd love the see the Mustang brought back. I don't think it would be hard to redesign its airframe and allow it to carry the GPU-5gun pod and tons of ordnance on its wings. A more powerful engine would be needed, but stretching the airframe and reinforcing its protection to the level of the A-10 would not be that hard. It would be cheap too, how many upgraded mustangs could you get for the price of an F-35

[raketenjagdpanzer]

A GPU-5A would shake that plane apart.

Anyway, if we're talking about T2k prop-driven late war air support it would be OV-10Ds plus whatever A1 Skyraiders they could pull out of Davis-Monthan.

[Matt Wiser]

All the A-1s flyable in the U.S. were in warbird collectors' hands. No known A-1s in AMARC since the late '70s.

[Apache6]

14 airworthy A-1 Skyraiders and F4U in US

According to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Douglas_A-1_Skyraiders

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Vought_F4U_Corsairs

There are 14 airworthy A-1 skyraiders and 26 F4U Corsairs in tbe US. Since the Naval Aviation community is tight knit, and retired pilots remain closely tied to the active force, I'd suggest that a squadron of Skyraiders and a Squadron or two of Corsairs could be available to US Navy and USMC in T2K to support counterattacks.

Here is how it could have gone down. When the Mexican forces crossed the border, the Commander of 2nd Fleet, the Aviator Admiral Hank Jones reached out to his friend and former mentor, retired Navy Captain Tom Gracion and asked him what the Naval Avaition Association could provide. The Assocaition, consisting of Navy and Marine Corps pilots had access to a extensive collections of aircraft but no weapons. The call went out and the Association was able to scrounge together from numerous sources 10 A-1 skyraiders and 20 Corsairs. Over a period of a year, these aircraft were flown into Naval Air Station Pensacola where they were rearmed mostly with .50 cal machine guns and modernized bomb racks.

The Graybeards of the Naval Aviation Association served as trainers to help convert active pilots to the older aircraft and sometimes flew them operationally. Eventually, after many delays and a huge amount of improvisation the Navy was able to field a squadron of 10 Skyraiders (assigned to reconstituted Navy Attack Squadron (VA -2) the Beasts) and 20 Corsairs. 10 Corsairs were assigned to VA-6 (Fist of the Fleet) and 10 Assigned to Marine Attack Squadron VMA242 (the famous Black Sheep).

Though operations were extremely limited by fuel supplies the aircraft though obsolete were relatively easy to maintain and provided effective close air support.

Similarly a wide range of commercial aircraft operated (and often owned by) members of the Naval Aviaition Association were used for recon, scouting, light cargo and liaison duties.

VA

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Throw in some skilled techs, and you could see Corsairs (and Sandys) dropping LGBs and firing Hellfire missiles.

Also the cargo hauling abilities of the Skyraider aren't to be ignored. I think there was one variant that could carry up to five troops in a pinch.

[Olefin]

I have the following in Kenya supporting the forces there in the East African Sourcebook

2nd Battalion/228th Aviation Regiment
(fixed wing)

o Manpower: 260 men
o Aviation: three OV-10 Broncos,
ten Skyraiders (four AD-4, two
AD-4N, four AD-6), two O-2A,
three FTB337G Milirole

The Skyraiders in Kenya came both from private sources here in the US or that were sitting in Mombasa that had been obtained in Chad that were supposed to go to private collectors and instead were used in Kenya.

(The idea for the Skyraiders in Africa and the ones obtained from Chad came from Raellus and his discussions with Frank Frey in posts elsewhere on the forum.)

[raketenjagdpanzer]

I have the following in Kenya supporting the forces there in the East African Sourcebook

2nd Battalion/228th Aviation Regiment
(fixed wing)

o Manpower: 260 men
o Aviation: three OV-10 Broncos,
ten Skyraiders (four AD-4, two
AD-4N, four AD-6), two O-2A,
three FTB337G Milirole

The Skyraiders in Kenya came both from private sources here in the US or that were sitting in Mombasa that had been obtained in Chad that were supposed to go to private collectors and instead were used in Kenya.

(The idea for the Skyraiders in Africa and the ones obtained from Chad came from Raellus and his discussions with Frank Frey in posts elsewhere on the forum.)

I thought you had a couple of Warthogs in Kenya too, Olefin.

[Olefin]

No was thinking about having A-10's there but they needed tank killers a lot in Europe and Korea and the Middle East - whereas in Africa they needed ground support more against infantry assaults once the Tanzanian armor was taken care of plus a small silver bullet force of F-16's to be able to take on any jets and also provide ground suppport

I added instead the 169th Tactical Air Squadron - This squadron was created in early 1998 using retired pilots familiar with the A-37B. Nine aircraft, due to be transferred to the Colombian Air Force but delayed by the start of the war,
were assigned to the squadron.

169th Tactical Air Support Squadron (IL
ANG)
o Manpower: 80 men
o Aircraft: six OA-37B
Dragonfly,

[raketenjagdpanzer]

No was thinking about having A-10's there but they needed tank killers a lot in Europe and Korea and the Middle East - whereas in Africa they needed ground support more against infantry assaults once the Tanzanian armor was taken care of plus a small silver bullet force of F-16's to be able to take on any jets and also provide ground suppport

I added instead the 169th Tactical Air Squadron - This squadron was created in early 1998 using retired pilots familiar with the A-37B. Nine aircraft, due to be transferred to the Colombian Air Force but delayed by the start of the war,
were assigned to the squadron.

169th Tactical Air Support Squadron (IL
ANG)
o Manpower: 80 men
o Aircraft: six OA-37B
Dragonfly,

Yeah; the Dragonfly can still haul a lot of modern ordinance (LGBs, Laser Hellfires, Laser Mavericks) as well as dumb iron and hits the slow-and-low sweet spot. Good call.

[Sanjuro]

When the Afghan campaign was at its height, the available fixed wing ground attack aircraft were all basically overkill, because they were designed to survive an environment with enemy aircraft and a lot of SAMs. At the same time, they didn't have that great a weapon load.
One suggestion was to take either the Tucano or the Pilatus PC9 and use them as "cheap and cheerful" ground attack platforms. Neither are fast by modern standards (although both will outperform the P51), but they could be modified to carry large weapon loads and have long loiter capability. Just don't try and use them in an area with either air defence aircraft, or modern SAMs...

[copeab]

The Enforcer probably wouldn't have been a bad choice as a COIN aircraft in Third World countries.

[Canadian Army]

Other airworthy craft in the US

I found these other airworthy craft in the US on Wikipedia:

North American F-86 Sabre: 20

Douglas A-26 Invaders: 33

North American B-25 Mitchells: 41

Douglas A-4 Skyhawks: 20

Vought F4U Corsairs: 17

Consolidated PBY Catalinas: 28

Curtiss P-40 Warhawk: 27

North American P-51 Mustangs: 137

Saab 35 Drakens: 15

Grumman TBF Avenger: 32

The Saab 35 Drakens was the real weird one, eight active with another six stored or under restoration. I can't figure out why so many Swedish fighter aircraft in the US