{"id":18852204,"date":"2026-09-01T12:49:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T10:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/?p=18852204"},"modified":"2026-09-04T08:42:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:42:54","slug":"kim-campbell-killer-chick-a-10-baghdad-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/kim-campbell-killer-chick-a-10-baghdad-2003\/","title":{"rendered":"150 Holes and One Hell of a Landing"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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She put her <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/a-10-warthog\/\">A-10<\/a> Thunderbolt where it was needed, took the shot, and started to pull off target. Then a surface-to-air missile found her.<\/p>\r\n<p>In an instant the cockpit lit up with warnings, the controls went dead, and the jet rolled hard toward the streets below. What she did over the next hour turned a near-certain ejection into one of the most celebrated saves in modern air-combat history.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 24px;margin:24px 0;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#1a1a1a\">Quick Facts<\/p><table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px\"><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Pilot<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Then-Capt. Kim \"Killer Chick\" Campbell, USAF<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Date<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">7 April 2003, over Baghdad<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Aircraft<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Damage<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Hit by a surface-to-air missile; 150-plus holes, both hydraulic systems severed<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">The save<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Flew home in manual reversion \u2014 cables and cranks, no hydraulics<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Distance<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Roughly 300 miles \/ about an hour back to base<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Landing<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Landed safely rather than eject over Baghdad<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:6px 12px 6px 0;font-weight:600;color:#333;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\">Award<\/td><td style=\"padding:6px 0;color:#444\">Distinguished Flying Cross<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">One second, everything changed<\/h2>\r\n<p>The missile tore into the A-10\u2019s right side. Shrapnel punched more than 150 holes through the fuselage and tail, opened a football-sized gap in the right stabiliser, and severed both of the jet\u2019s hydraulic systems &mdash; the systems that move the flight controls. A hydraulically-flown aircraft with no hydraulics is, in most jets, a parachute waiting to happen.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;I lost all hydraulics instantaneously, and the jet rolled left and pointed toward the ground, which was an uncomfortable feeling over Baghdad.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Kim Campbell<\/strong> &mdash; USAF A-10 pilot<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/kim-campbell-a-10-pilot.jpg\" alt=\"USAF pilot Kim Campbell inspects her damaged A-10\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Kim Campbell with the A-10 she flew home. Ground crews counted past 150 holes. Photo: U.S. Air Force.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>She had a choice to make, fast, and the ground beneath her was the last place any pilot wants to land by parachute.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7VzXN4Ohwro\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Cables and cranks<\/h2>\r\n<p>The A-10 has something most fast jets do not: a manual reversion system, a backup web of cables, pulleys and cranks that lets a pilot fly the aircraft by muscle when the hydraulics are gone. Pilots describe flying it as wrestling a truck with no power steering &mdash; at hundreds of knots. Campbell flipped to manual reversion and, astonishingly, the crippled Warthog answered.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;It was my last chance to try and recover the aircraft, or I would be riding a parachute down into central Baghdad.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Kim Campbell<\/strong> &mdash; on the decision not to eject<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/a-10-thunderbolt-warthog-flight.jpg\" alt=\"An A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog in flight\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The A-10 was built to absorb punishment and keep flying \u2014 a design philosophy that saved Campbell\u2019s life. Photo: U.S. Air Force.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>With her flight lead talking her through it, she coaxed the shattered jet more than 300 miles back to base, roughly an hour of flying by hand, feeling for every input. Then, rather than eject over friendly territory, she chose to try the landing &mdash; and set it down cleanly.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5_PzXvzNeEI\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why the Warthog, and the pilot, are legends<\/h2>\r\n<p>Campbell earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for that hour. The story is also a tribute to the aircraft itself: the A-10 was designed from the outset to be shot and survive, with redundant systems, a titanium &lsquo;bathtub&rsquo; around the pilot, and that manual-reversion lifeline. It is exactly why crews and soldiers love the ugly, indestructible Warthog &mdash; and why its long-delayed retirement is mourned.<\/p>\r\n<p>Kim Campbell went on to command, to teach, and to write about that day. But the image that endures is a young captain standing beside a jet riddled with holes, both of them somehow still in one piece.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G9eVskoUItY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: U.S. Air Force; The Aviation Geek Club; Task &amp; Purpose; The War Zone; Kim Campbell, Flying in the Face of Fear.<\/em><\/p>\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/warthogs-last-war-a-10s-deploy-before-retirement\/\">Warthog\u2019s Last War: A-10s Deploy Before Retirement<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/davis-monthan-a-10-retire-492nd-special-operations-wing-2026\/\">The Last Warthogs Leave Tucson<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Who is Kim Campbell?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Kim Campbell, callsign \"Killer Chick\", is a US Air Force pilot who flew the A-10 Thunderbolt II. On 7 April 2003 she nursed a battle-damaged A-10 back to base over roughly 300 miles after it was hit by a surface-to-air missile over Baghdad.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What damage did her A-10 take?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A surface-to-air missile tore into the aircraft\u2019s right side. Shrapnel punched more than 150 holes through the fuselage and tail, opened a football-sized gap in the right stabiliser, and severed both of the jet\u2019s hydraulic systems, leaving the flight controls dead.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What is manual reversion on the A-10?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Manual reversion is a backup system of cables, pulleys and cranks that lets an A-10 pilot fly the aircraft by muscle power when the hydraulics are gone. Pilots describe it as wrestling a truck with no power steering, at hundreds of knots.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why didn\u2019t she eject?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Because she was over central Baghdad. Ejecting would have meant descending by parachute into hostile territory. Campbell judged that recovering the aircraft was the better option, flew it back on manual reversion, and then chose to attempt a landing rather than eject over friendly ground.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What award did Kim Campbell receive?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">She was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the US Air Force\u2019s highest decorations, for that flight. She later went on to command units, to teach, and to write about the experience.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why is the A-10 so hard to shoot down?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The A-10 was designed from the outset to absorb damage and keep flying. It has redundant systems, a titanium \"bathtub\" protecting the pilot, and the manual-reversion backup that saved Campbell, which is why crews and ground troops hold the aircraft in such high regard.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who is Kim Campbell?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Kim Campbell, callsign \\\"Killer Chick\\\", is a US Air Force pilot who flew the A-10 Thunderbolt II. On 7 April 2003 she nursed a battle-damaged A-10 back to base over roughly 300 miles after it was hit by a surface-to-air missile over Baghdad.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What damage did her A-10 take?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"A surface-to-air missile tore into the aircraft\u2019s right side. 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Kim &#8220;Killer Chick&#8221; Campbell flew her hydraulics-dead A-10 home on cables and cranks \u2014 and landed it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18851852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18852204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Kim Campbell: The A-10 Pilot Who Flew Home on Cables<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hit by a missile over Baghdad in 2003, Capt. 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