A-10 damaged by misfired cannon is back flying again after 3 years

A-10C, #80-0264, is back flying again after spending three years at Hill Air Force Base for restoration by the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group.

A-10 Thunderbolt II, tail number 80-0264, is towed to the flight line at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, Oct. 22, 2021. The A-10 spent more than three years at Hill being restored by the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group after a sustaining damage from a gun misfire over Michigan’s Grayling Air Gunnery Range that forced the pilot to land without landing gear. (U.S. Air Force photo by R. Nial Bradshaw)

The attack jet had to make a belly landing after a misfire in the aircraft’s 30 mm cannon caused the canopy and several panels to blow off. The incident also caused the landing gear to malfunction.

Capt. Brett DeVries (right) and his wingman Maj. Shannon Vickers, both A-10 Thunderbolt II pilots of the 107th Fighter Squadron from Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich. Vickers helped DeVries safely make an emergency landing July 20 at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center after the A-10 DeVries was flying experienced a malfunction.

Experts from the 571st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron had to make parts themselves in order to rebuild the front of the aircraft.

“A lot of the parts are unavailable so we have to run them through our local manufacturing process and make them ourselves,” said Scott Oster 571st AMXS lead A-10 planner. “With any of the other weapons systems, if they have a bad part, they order it through supply and replace it. On the A-10’s, we’re kind of in a different world.”

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