An A-10 Thunderbolt II (“Warthog”) flies over Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, in July 2026. Davis-Monthan AFB recently shuttered its A-10 program. (US Air Force/Airman 1st Class Samantha Melecio)

Arizona Base Retires Its Final A-10 Warthogs from Service

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Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, one of the largest operators of the A-10, retired its final airframe last month—but around 160 of the aircraft remain in service elsewhere.

Just over 50 years since the first A-10 Thunderbolt II was delivered for operational testing and pilot training at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base (AFB), Arizona, the Fairchild Republic close air support (CAS) aircraft conducted its final flight from the base. No longer will residents of the Tucson area—or wildlife on the ground—hear the familiar growl of the famed tactical attack aircraft.

It was on March 2, 1976, that the first A-10 arrived at the base, assigned to the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing. It made its final flight over the southern Arizona desert on July 19, bringing an end to the storied aircraft from Davis-Monthan AFB.

“It’s not a place. It’s not people. It’s a mindset,” said Chief Master Sgt. Dave Anderson Jr., 355th Operations Group senior enlisted leader. “Hopefully that attack mindset will continue to live on, and it will make every single Airman it touches, every single airframe it touches, every single organization it touches better.”

According to the United States Air Force, the farewell flight served as “both a celebration and a farewell,” as it honored an aircraft that was entirely synonymous with the 355th Wing “and its close air support mission.”

The service added that the A-10 hasn’t been just another Air Force weapons system, but it was a unique mindset, as Anderson suggested. No modern aircraft could do what the A-10—lovingly known as the “Warthog” by its........

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