A-10 79-0181 was assigned to the 76th Tactical Fighter Squadron (TFS), 23rd Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW), England AFB, LA. The pilot Capt. Rich Biley made a wheels-up, hard stick crash landing after being hit by a SAM. Everyone said this maneuver couldn't be done, including the Flight Manual's and Tech Orders, but Capt. Biley proved them wrong on 22 Feb 1991! He brought 79-0181 in at King Khalid Military City (KKMC), Forward Operating Location (FOL) 1 where our 2951 CLSS team stripped it of parts, sending some to King Fahd International Airport (KFIA), Main Operating Base (MOB) for use by myself and our CLSS team there on other birds, and then buried 0181 in the desert. Capt Biley was unhurt during the crash. Capt. Biley and I later worked together in 1995 at Osan AB, Korea where he was assigned to the 25th FS and I was the Superintendent of the 51st FW Maintenance Operations Center.
