Airmen at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base have completed the final A-10 Thunderbolt II engine build at the Arizona installation, closing out a maintenance mission that has supported the close air support aircraft there for half a century.
The milestone was marked on 21 May 2026, when Airmen of the 355th Component Maintenance Squadron gathered with wing leadership to recognise the last engine to come together in the base’s engine shop. The work is carried out by aerospace propulsion specialists who inspect, repair, rebuild and test the General Electric TF34 engines that power the jet, with a standard build running about 30 days through a multi-stage process governed by technical data at each step.
Master Sgt. Eugene Rich III, the propulsion flight chief assigned to the 355th CMS, tied the engines to the aircraft’s record over the years. “Some, if not all these engines have saved lives on the ground through close air support missions, and some have carried pilots home while the other engine was damaged,” he said. Rich also noted that the final engine drew in the whole shop rather than a single crew. “All members of the shop put eyes and hands on this engine throughout the build, testing, diagnostic runs and final inspection,” he said. “Typically, only one crew of five would work on any one engine, but this engine has been touched by everyone.”
For Staff Sgt. Bill Bautista, an aerospace propulsion craftsman who has worked on the engines for three years, the occasion carried mixed feeling. “I think the legacy of the A-10 is going to be remembered for generations,” he said. “The A-10 will be missed here in Arizona.”
The connection runs deep at Davis-Monthan, which received its first A-10 in 1976 and has supported the type through deployments, training and daily flying ever since. The aircraft built its reputation around the close air support role, protecting troops on the ground, a purpose the maintainers describe as central to how they view their work.
The end of engine builds at Davis-Monthan fits within the wider drawdown of the A-10 across the US Air Force. The final class of new A-10 pilots graduated at Davis-Monthan on 3 April 2026, and the service’s specialised A-10 depot maintenance at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, closed in February.
The retirement has not been a straightforward run-down, the U.S. Congress used the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 to require the U.S. Air Force to keep a minimum of 103 A-10s through 30 September 2026, and the type has continued to fly operationally, with more than a dozen sent to the Middle East for missions tied to Operation Epic Fury, the US strikes on Iran.
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A sad day for all the “grunts”, who relied of the Warthog to cover their backs. I never saw it operate in Anger or Combat, but in the 80’s and 90’s, I saw it on the ranges and exercise, and realised what a potent force it was. It is a sad day for all those who will in the future be stuck in a hellhole, and will no longer hear the burp of the gun taking out those who wish us harm.
Mark,
Amen. Everyone claims the A-10 is simply not survivable on the current battlefield, yet invariably, someone in the chain of command always submits a request for a squadron for the CAS mission. Neglected, unappreciated and unrecognized, these folks perform the mission w/out fanfare. Some of the true warriors in my estimation.
It was not survivable already in Cold War but since never fought a peer they have been quite useful. We see that Su-25 is almost not noticed in Ukraine conflict.
In WW2 Il-2 , HS-129 could operate with aerial superiority, but not without.
Iconic aircraft, designed to rip apart GSFG as they advanced into NATO territory.
I read it’s called the “Flying bathtub” ?
Davis Monthan is an impressive place as well. Our equivalent is a handful of hangers on the western side of RAF Shawbury! 🙄😬
There are at least 5 US citizens for every UK citizen so you’d expect their forces to be at least 5 times the size… add on their larger per capita spend and so on maybe 7 or 8… Google says up to 9 times the size. So those few Hangars on the west of Shawbury might not be completely out of proportion? They also spend 12 times what we do on defence per capita. But no NHS, a poor school system and no my social welfare. Bits of the Gulf Coast are so poor they are considered part of the Third World by some. Not an easy comparison.
Hi Wyn.
Of course, one cannot compare with a superpower in seriousness, I was being playful.
Those thousands of aircraft in the desert are quite a sight.
😀 Of course… but I’d love to know what’s actually in those hangars at Shawbury, all the same…. maybe my old Cadet MkIII that I did my first solos on in 1971… kept just in case they come in useful! WE flew them knowing there was vertical crack in all the main wing spars! As the cracks were vertical it was OK, apprently!
Best wishes
It seems easy enough, Wes. A friend of mine is a train spotter and has got into the serial numbers of aircraft. He’s shown me his little spotters book! All the serials are in there, including aircraft not yet delivered. I was fascinated at the extra serials allocated to the RAF for P8s we don’t have….gave me hope once!
Anyway, each aircraft has notes as in which Sqn allicated to, of if pooled which station. Also inckudes allocations to reserve “stored Shawbury” and those in depth maintenance, even instructional airframes at Cosford.
So one could work it out fairly well,though of course info becomes dated quickly.
There are several CHE hangers, totals I don’t know off of my head.
Thanks Wyn.
Cadet MkIII. I just looked that up.
Glider!