RVers are at Home on the Range and so is the A-10 Thunderbolt

Many RVers are familiar with the Barry M. Goldwater bombing range because it is on one million seven hundred thousand acres of land that you have to drive through if you’re going to Rocky Point, Mexico. The range begins near Gila Bend, Arizona and if you are pulling your rig down to Mexico or the abundant BLM land for some boondocking don’t be surprised if you see an A-10 Thunderbolt strafing nearby. When the A-10 fires it’s powerful 30 mm GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling gun you hear two distinct sounds, you hear the guns going off, but even before that you hear the bullets breaking the sound barrier. It sounds like when you drive your RV over a cattle guard. During practice the pilots fire at parachutes suspended between two poles while sensors in the ground tell the ranger controllers the accuracy. These weapons are designed for close air support for our ground troops and can kill tanks, convoys, armored personnel carriers, gun emplacements and everything else the enemy deploys on the battlefield. The gatling gun fires large depleted uranium armor-piercing shells at a rate of 3900 rounds per minute. They don’t carry this many rounds because even a two second burst will put 100 hits on a tank and it only takes six hits to do the job. The pilot of an A-10 can put around 80% of his bullets in a twenty foot circle from a mile out hence the name “Tank Killer.” It also carries the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missile and standard unguided bombs. A-10s have the ALQ-131 ECM pod under one wing and two AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles under the other for self-defense. This baby is powered by two General Electric TF34-GE-100 turbofan engines mounted high above the wings. As an Air Force aviator myself we used to joke that these planes didn’t really fly because they were so ugly they just scared the ground away. Believe me, if you are the enemy and you see one of these coming you have every reason to be scared. The Barry Goldwater range exists so we can train the finest pilots in the world to fight and win on the battlefield. RVers who are down this way between October and April can go on this tour open to the public at no cost. Space is limited and there may be a waiting list so if you are interested call the Range Management Office at 623-856-8516 to book a tour.

God bless our Troops - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing