2951 CLSS
2951 CLSS
As an Aircraft Battle Damage Repair (ABDR) Assessor I evaluated damages, planned, prioritized, and then assisted in perform repairs - worst damage was not fixed first - 'reverse triage' - fix'm fast! Some damages required major depot level work, which is what we do back home, so the tasks were not a challenge, only the lack of tools and equipment. We also repaired a Hill AFB F-16 from the 388th FW, buried an F-4G Wild Weasel, as well as fixed a few trucks and front-end loaders - Jacks of all trades! The 2951 CLSS also had F-111 and Supply and Transportation teams elsewhere in the Gulf region, although this website focuses on our A-10 mission since that's what I did. All our CLSS teams however, performed the same high quality professional work everywhere deployed, just as we do/did at our old home of the now closed McClellan AFB, CA. -- Patrick J. McGee, USAF (Ret)
The 'Warthog' was the most heavily damaged aircraft of Desert Storm, but the 2951 ABDR teams repaired them, sometimes more than once, sometimes using Depot Level repairs, and sometimes with repairs not thought possible.
Sadly, there were 6 A-10's lost during the 1991 Persian Gulf War Operation Desert Storm, some were shot down, while others crashed on landing as the pilots attempted to return to base. 76-0543, 77-0197, 78-0722, 79-0130, 79-0181, 80-0248.
A database of all A-10's deployed during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, their units, tail flashes, and other aircraft data.
A listing of all A-10 Unit and the 2951 CLSS ABDR Teams that deployed during the Persian Gulf War in 1991
Home sweet homes away from home. It definitely could have been worse. The 2951 CLSS had tent cities setup at KFIA, KKMC, and Al Jouf . Our AAFES Tactical PX tent and shower tents were very popular with our visiting Army personnel LOL.
The 2951 CLSS had several ABDR teams deployed to serval areas of South East Asia, thus we had several maintenance operations setup to include A-10, F-111, and Supply & Transportation.
SSgt John Blessinger
Capt Douglas Bradt
SMSgt Paul Buege
Capt Thomas Caldwell
SSgt John Campisi
Capt Michael Chinburg
Sgt Barry Clark
Capt Dale Cormier
Capt Paul Eichenlaub II
Capt Arthur Galvan
Capt William Grimm
SSgt Timothy Harrison
1Lt Eric Hedeen
Sgt Leroy Hein Jr
Maj Barry Henderson
TSgt Robert Hodges
LtCol Donnie Holland
Maj Peter Hook
SSgt Damon Kanuha
Maj Thomas Koritz
MSgt James May II
A1C Rocky Nelson
SSgt John Oelschlager
Capt Jeffry Olson
1Lt Patrick Olson [A-10 Pilot]
Capt Stephen Phillis [A-10 Pilot]
SrA Ramono Poole
Capt James Poulet
Capt Fredrick Reid
SSgt Mark Schmauss
LtCol Stephen Schramm
Capt Dixon WaIters Jr
Maj Paul Weaver
Col Bob Efferson, Commander 926 TFG brings battle damaged A-10 77-0268 riddled with 378 holes back to JSOC's Base at Al Jouf Airport on 31 Jan 1991. Two weeks later it was brought back to MOB KFIA and used as a CANN bird.
This is the actual video of Col Bob Efferson, Commander 926 TFG bringing battle damaged A-10 77-0268 back to JSOC's Base at Al Jouf Airport on 31 Jan 1991, but shot without the TV twist to it.
A-10s in combat tearing up Iraqi armor in Direct air support for the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Div on 27 Feb 1991. Sergeant Dale Bartlett, USMC, films and narrates. Listen for the brrrrrrbbbbbb of the 30MM Cannon a second or 2 after the white smoke exits the aircraft during the strafing runs.
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthog" is the only aircraft in United States Air Force (USAF) history designed specifically for the close air support mission. It was designed to survive in an intense anti-aircraft environment including anti-aircraft guns, radar-guided and infrared missiles and absorb battle damage and keep flying. In fact, the A-10 is probably the most difficult plane ever built to shoot down due to its extreme maneuverability, self-sealing fuel tanks, wide separated jet engines on top of the fuselage, twin vertical tails, multiple independent hydraulic systems, manual backup flight control system and redundant wing spars.
Complete Inventory of all A-10's built
A total of 165 of these most recognizable and feared aircraft from 5 different units participated in Operation Desert Storm. All units were formalized under the 354th Provisional Wing with 144 aircraft at a time. The remaining aircraft above those 144 were replacements standing by at an off-site location to replace aircraft damaged beyond continued combat status or aircraft destroyed. The A-10 'Warthog' was the most heavily damaged aircraft of the campaign due to it's low and slow flying mission.
Inventory of A-10's serving in the Gulf War
The A-10 would circle areas making them extremely vulnerable to ground fire and surface to air missiles. Due to the severe damage, a couple of aircraft listed below didn't come home with us. We stripped them of parts and buried them in the Saudi desert. The rest were repaired, some more than once, and sent back to action.
Some of the repairs were major Depot Level Repairs the kind our 2951st performs back home at McClellan AFB, CA, such as Center Wing splits and Outer Wing replacements. previously not thought possible in the field during conflict. The 2951st CLSS proved they were possible numerous times... and successful!
Together, these A-10 and OA-10 aircraft conducted 8,775 sorties maintaining a 95.7% mission capable rate, 5% above A-10 peace-time rates, had the highest sortie rate of any USAF aircraft at 16.5% of all sorties in the Gulf.
Gulf War A-10 Stats and what they Destroyed
Pilots often flew up to three missions per day with A-10's accounted for destroying 1/4 of Iraq's entire arsenal. Often exposed to withering anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missile threats the slow, highly maneuverable A-10's incurred extensive combat battle damage during Desert Storm. A total of six A-10's were lost: five in combat action, another destroyed attempting to land at KKMC Forward Operating Location #1 after being badly battle damaged during combat. Nearly twenty more sustained significant battle damage and many others incurred minor damage. The A-10 had lower losses-to-missions rate than the F16, F-15E, or Tornado.
Roughly half the total Gulf War A-10 force, about 70, suffered some type of battle damage.
Air superiority allowed innovative employment of A-10s in a variety of roles. Primary role was killing tanks in an interdiction role. The A-10 proved its versatility as a daytime SCUD hunter In Western Iraq suppressing enemy air defenses, attacking early warning radars, and even recorded 2 helicopter kills with its gun - the only gun kills of the war.
CLSS ABDR had a direct positive impact on the success of the war. Here are some interesting statistics about the A-10s in the Gulf War:
Interviews with captured Iraqi military personnel underscored the overall effectiveness of the A-10, a seemingly ubiquitous threat, that delivered its weapons with deadly accuracy.
According to an Iraqi captain captured by American forces on 24 February 1991, the single most recognizable and feared aircraft at low level was the A-10. Not only did the actual bombing run of the A-10 evoke terror, but also the plane's ability to loiter around a target area prior to its attack caused additional anxiety, since Iraqi soldiers were unsure of the chosen target.
Many Damages: Approx 70 A-10 aircraft suffered some type of battle damage during Desert Storm. Many of the damages were undocumented cases of relatively minor problems. Some were even caused by their own aircraft such as a bomb lanyard slapping a wing flap, or a bomb fragment flying up and embedding into it's engine cowling. But most was caused by small arm fire and surface to air missiles.
We had put together "Quick Fix" teams to deal with all these damages. At first we would go out to the revetment the aircraft parked in after returning from a mission, and give it a quick once over inspection for any damage. However, with the large number of minor damages we were finding, this process soon turned into tertiary inspections performed out at EOR itself, which gave us time to radio ahead for a Quick Fix team to be waiting for the aircraft to park.
I remember too many nights out at EOR, waiting in the EOR tent, warming up MRE's on the light-all engine, and hoping we didn't find too much big damage. It was an excellent spot to be in to watch Scud missiles as they flew over... hopefully over that is.
by DR. CRAIG W. H. LUTHER
Office of History, Sacramento Air Logistics Center
McClellan AFB, CA
1 Oct 1991
An Interview with our 2951 CLSS team members for inputs of our ABDR operations. This USAF Oral History #8 Data Card is located at URL: http://airforcehistoryindex.org/data/001/129/574.xml
Repair battle damaged A-10's, get'm flying fast. As an ABDR Assessor I evaluated damages, planned and prioritized repairs, all in reverse triage - worst is not first. Fix'm fast! Some battle damages required major depot level work, which we do. Also repaired an F-16 and buried an F-4 as well as fixed a few trucks and front-end loaders - Jacks of all trades! The 2951st had F-111 and Supply and Transportation teams elsewhere in the Gulf. This site focuses on our A-10 mission, but all our teams performed the same high quality professional work everywhere.
