Bad news for the A-10: a Thunderbolt belonging the 52nd Fighter Wing crashed over Germany on Friday.
Flying from Spangdahlem Air Base, the Thunderbolt was on a training mission when unspecified conditions brought it down. The plane's pilot "has been evacuated for medical treatment," according to a statement from the wing.
A German police spokesman told the AP that witnesses saw the pilot -- whom the wing did not name -- eject before the crash.
For the next few days, A-10 gunships will continue to fly over Libya, where they've conducted strikes against Gadhafi regime armor and artillery for the past week. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Thursday that after NATO takes full control of the strike operations, the A-10s will go on "standby," to be used in Libya only if non-U.S. aircraft fail to stop a new humanitarian emergency.
Todd Spitler, an Air Force spokesman at the Pentagon, said the A-10 that crashed on Friday was "not related to NATO operations" in Libya.
Photo: U.S. Air Force
See Also:- U.S. Gunships Will Be ‘on Standby’ in NATO’s Libya War
