{"id":351678,"date":"2026-04-14T09:39:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=351678"},"modified":"2026-04-14T09:39:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:39:45","slug":"final-a10-class-davis-monthan-training-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/final-a10-class-davis-monthan-training-ends\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Class: A-10 Training Pipeline Closes Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\"A-10C\n
A U.S. Air Force Reserve Fairchild A-10C Thunderbolt II of the 303rd Fighter Squadron during operations near Zaragoza, Spain, May 9, 2023. The Warthog continues to fly operationally even as the trainer pipeline closes. Photo: U.S. Air Force<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n

Where the Warthog Still Flies<\/h2>\n\n

The A-10 isn’t gone. Not yet. Michigan’s Air National Guard A-10s just deployed to the Middle East. The 354th Fighter Squadron and 355th Fighter Squadron continue operations from Davis-Monthan. Squadrons in Kunsan, South Korea, and across the service still fly the jet. Close air support missions over Iraq and Syria still have A-10s in the rotation.<\/p>\n\n

But each squadron is now operating on borrowed time. No new pilots are being trained. Maintenance personnel are dwindling. The Air Force is managing the A-10’s final chapter\u2014not as a retirement, but as a slow fade.<\/p>\n\n

The 357th’s closure doesn’t kill the aircraft. It just means there’s no future. Every A-10 in the sky right now represents experience accumulated over years. No recruit can follow in that tradition. The Warthog is becoming a closed book, written only by those who learned in the years before April 3, 2026.<\/p>\n\n

The Silence Over the Schoolhouse<\/h2>\n\n

Fifty years of training A-10 pilots ends not with a bang, but with the last class marching off the tarmac. The 357th Fighter Squadron’s formal training mission is history. Future A-10 pilots won’t exist. Operational squadrons will make do with what they have\u2014experienced pilots managing the divestment, teaching what they can to replacements who’ll never sit in a training cockpit built for the Warthog.<\/p>\n\n

The Air Force got what it wanted. The schoolhouse is closed. Whether the fleet follows remains a question only Congress can answer.<\/p>\n\n

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Sources:<\/strong> The Aviationist (theaviationist.com), DVIDS Hub, U.S. Air Force official statements, FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act.<\/p>\n\n\n

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