Air Power Profile picture
Feb 5, 2022 8 tweets 11 min read Read on X
Aardvarks and the dawn of tank-plinking, a thread. 1/8
#avgeeks #aviation #USAF #DesertStorm #History
On the night of Feb 5, 1991, Col. Tom Lennon, commander of #USAF's 48th FW, led a pair of F-111s on an experimental mission against dug-in units of the #Iraqi Republican Guard in the deserts north of Kuwait. 2/8 #avgeeks #aviation #DesertStorm #History
For the experiment, each F-111 was armed with a Pave Track pod and four GBU-12 500 lb LGBs. The crews were to see if LGBs could be guided accurately enough to hit targets as small as an AFV. 3/8 #avgeeks #aviation #USAF #DesertStorm #History
Cruising at 14,000ft, safely outside the reach of #Iraqi AAA, the two F-111 crews delivered a series of deliberate attacks against dug-in tanks and AFVs. 4/8 #avgeeks #aviationdaily #USAF #DesertStorm #History
The mission was a resounding success: four tanks and one artillery piece were knocked out for an expenditure of eight GBU-12s. 5/8 #avgeeks #aviation #USAF #GulfWar #History
Gen.Chuck Horner, Coalition Air Commander in #DesertStorm, immediately ordered all F-111Fs to shift from the strategic bombing campaign to attacking Iraqi AFVs in KTO. For the 48th TFW, tank-plinking (a term which irritated Schwarzkopf) became the order of the day. 6/8 #avgeeks
By February 28th, 1991, the 66 F-111Fs of the 48th TFW destroyed an estimated 920 tanks/APCs, 252 artillery pieces, and 12 bridges, and emerged as #USAF’s leading strike Wing of the war. 7/8 #avgeeks #aviationdaily #DesertStorm #History
#FunFact: When it was discovered that the F-111Fs had destroyed 10x more tanks than the F-16s, the F-16s were directed to cease attacks by mid-afternoon each day to allow the dust to settle before the F-111s went to work at night! 8/8 #avgeeks #aviationdaily #USAF #DesertStorm

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Air Power

Air Power Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @RealAirPower1

Mar 14, 2022
A 10 tweet thread on the indomitable Fairchild Republic A-10 Warthog, the "flying tank". Enjoy! 1/10 #avgeeks #aviation #aviationdaily #USAF #Warthog
A Warthog pilot sits in a "bathtub" of titanium armour, at places up to 38 mm thick and weighing 544 kg. This is proof against direct hits from 23-mm cannon. 2/10 #avgeeks #aviation #USAF #Warthog
The GAU-8/A's barrel is some 80 calibres long, resulting in a length of nearly 2.5 meters. It's one of the largest weapons of its type in the world. 3/10 #avgeeks #aviation #USAF #Warthog
Read 10 tweets
Mar 7, 2022
Tomcat musing: a short thread on the "dowdy" parts of one of the most glamours interceptors of the world. 1/6 #avgeeks #aviation #aviationdaily #Tomcat #TopGun #USNavy
Did you know that when the F-14 stretches its wings fully forward, the fuselage slots into which the wings retracted are sealed with inflatable airbags? The airbags use bleed air from the TF30s to inflation! 2/6
#avgeeks #aviation #TopGun #Tomcat
The F-14's variable-geometry outer wings carry full-span leading-edge slats and almost full-span trailing-edge flaps. In addition, four-section spoilers augment the differential movement of the tailrons in roll control. 3/6
#avgeeks #aviation #Tomcat #USNavy
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(