Photos of the Week: One Final Act

After a 40-plus year run of nearly 1,800 air shows in 10 countries, the U.S. Air Force’s A-10 Demonstration Team conducted its final show in Stuart, Florida, on Nov. 10.

But the team had one last act up its sleeve… in Pittsburgh, of course.

A week after the Florida show, the A-10 demo visited PIT to conduct a pre-game flyover at Acrisure Stadium on Nov. 17, where the Pittsburgh Steelers faced division foe Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers won the game 18-16.

The A-10, nicknamed the “Warthog,” rarely has visited PIT. Since entering service with the Air Force in 1977, the A-10 has been the premier attack and close air support aircraft for the U.S. military.

Throughout its nearly five-decade service life, the A-10 has served in Operations Urgent Fury, Desert Storm, Deliberate Force and Allied Force. It has also served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and more recently, Syria.

The A-10 demo team’s final season comes as the U.S. winds down its A-10 fleet; it is expected to be fully retired by 2029. The A-10 will be replaced with newer-generation multi-role fighters such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-35 Lightning II.

Since 2023, the A-10 demo team has been led by Major Lindsay Johnson, a veteran instructor pilot with over 1,250 flight hours, including 431 combat flight hours.

Johnson lived in nearby Jeanette for several years in the 1990s as her family moved around the country while her father served in the Army. In June 2023, she flew the A-10 demonstration at the Westmoreland County Air Show in front of friends and family

The team’s primary demonstration jet, named “Memphis Belle III,” features a special heritage livery in honor of the original “Memphis Belle” Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress from World War II, and “Memphis Belle II,” an F-105 Thunderchief that flew in the Vietnam War. Both aircraft are on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

Painted in camouflage similar to Air Force aircraft used in Vietnam, Memphis Belle III also honors the Prisoners of War, Missing in Action and Veterans from the conflict. The starboard side of the A-10’s nose lists the names of all the unit’s members who lost their lives or were captured in Vietnam, accompanied by the National League of Families POW/MIA flag.

Following their weekend stay in Pittsburgh for the flyover, the A-10s flew back to their home station at Davis-Montham Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, with support from a KC-135 Stratotanker of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 171st Air Refueling Wing. The KC-135 provided in-flight refueling for the A-10 demonstration team to make it from PIT to Tucson nonstop.

Tech Sargent Andrew Stover of the 171st Air Refueling Wing had the best view anyone could get of the A-10s in flight, snapping photographs of Memphis Belle III in formation from onboard the KC-135.

Thank you, Andrew, for taking these amazing photographs!

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