The Man with a Smile that lit up the Cold War: Yuri Gagarin

Coinciding with the massive arms buildup that became symbolic of the Cold War, was an increasing international interest in space exploration. Whether the motives behind the interest in space were to progress weapons technology, develop ways to gather intelligence on opponents without their immediate knowledge or to increase national prestige will never be precisely known however, the Cold War era drastically paralleled the often tumultuous series of events known as the Space Race. Both the United States and the Soviet Union launched a series of missions some manned or unmanned, some successful and some meeting with tragedy in hopes of outdoing the other to increase the national image of their nation. With the launch of the first artificial satellite known as Sputnik I on 4 October 1957 by the Soviet Union, there was no turning back. The stage was now set for the exploration of space, a realm which would come to be deemed 'the final frontier'. With a satellite in orbit, the Soviets soon turned their attention towards putting the first human in orbit around the Earth. The man that would be selected for the mission would be a young Russian by the name of Yuri Gagarin.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino near the town of Gzhatsk, Russia in the Soviet Union on 9 March 1934. His parents worked on a collective farm in socialist fashion endorsed by the Soviet government. His father Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin was a carpenter and bricklayer by trade, and his mother Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina was a milkmaid. Yuri was the third of four children born to the Gagarins. The family suffered greatly when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa. Gagarin's hometown of Klushino would fall to Nazi occupation in November of 1941 as the German Wehrmacht advanced towards Moscow. During the occupation, a German officer took over the Gagarin's residence and forced the family into a mut hut on the land behind the family home. The family would spend nearly a year and a half living in the tiny mud hut before advancing Soviet forces liberated the village but not before Yuri's older brother Valentin and older sister Zoya were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labor in 1943. With the end of the Great Patriotic War in 1945, and the Soviet victory over fascism, Yuri's older siblings returned home and in 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk where Yuri would advance his secondary education.

In 1950 at the age of 16, Yuri was enrolled into an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the  Lyubertsy Steel Mill near Moscow. Along with his apprenticeship, Gagarin took evening classes for young workers to advance his education. He graduated vocational school in 1951 with honors in the trades of moldmaking and foundry work where he was then enrolled into the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors and other farming machinery. It was here where Gagarin's future would ultimately begin to take shape when he volunteered for weekend training as an air cadet in a local Soviet aeronautics club. It was from here that he developed an interest in aeronautics and flight. While earning extra money as a dock laborer on the Volga River, he paid for flight lessons first flying biplanes before progressing to the Yakovlev Yak-18 Max two seat training airplane.

When he graduated from the Saratov Industrial Technical School, Yuri Gagarin was drafted into the Soviet Army in 1955, where upon recommendation he was sent to the First Chkalov Air Force Pilot's School located in Orenburg, in southern Russia close to the border with the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. It was here that in 1957 he learned to fly the Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15 Fagot jet fighter. He would graduate from Orenburg on 7 November 1957. After graduation, Gagarin and his new bride Valentina Ivanovna Goryacheva a graduate of the Orenburg Medical School were assigned to the Luostari airbase in the Murmansk Oblast located not far from the Soviet border with Norway. Harsh weather conditions at the Luostari airbase made flight operations difficult and dangerous but nonetheless Gagarin was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force on 5 November 1957 and on 6 November 1957 he was promoted to the rank of Senior Lieutenant.

Following the successful launch of the Sputnik I satellite a month earlier in October, the Soviets began focusing on the next step of preparing to put a man in orbit around the Earth. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev began planning for the 40th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution that had brought communism to power in the Soviet and wanted a spacecraft to be launched on 7 November 1957. A more advanced satellite was under development however it would not be ready in time to meet Khrushchev's deadline so instead a new craft would be built to partake on a mission that would again bring the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the forefront of the world as they would repeat the championing of the Sputnik I launch. This would lead to the launch of Sputnik II. As little was known about the impact of spaceflight on living organisms at the time, and methods for reentry had not been developed at the time, a stray dog named Laika was chosen to partake in the mission. Laika became the first animal to orbit the Earth, however she would die within hours of the launch from overheating.

The success of the Sputnik II mission proved to Soviet officials that a living passenger could survive being launched into space and endure weightlessness. The journey to human spaceflight was now underway.

In 1960, Yuri Gagarin along with 19 other candidates were selected for the Soviet space program. From here he along with five others would graduate to become members of the elite Sochi Six which would go on to become the first cosmonauts of the Vostok program. After submitting to rigorous tests examining their physical and psychological endurance the selection came down to two candidates Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov as to whom would be the first man into space. With his physical prowess as an avid player of ice hockey, and basketball as well as his small stature, Yuri Gagarin was chosen to be the Soviet Union's first cosmonaut to orbit the Earth.

The launch into Earth's orbit would be conducted on 12 April 1961, when aboard the Vostok I space craft, Yuri Gagarin would be propelled into history becoming the first human to enter outer space as well as orbit the Earth while Vostok I conducted the first orbital flight of a manned vehicle. Vostok I was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. When he returned to the Soviet Union from outer space, Gagarin was hailed as a national hero to the Soviet Union. For his accomplishments in the advancement of the Soviet space program, Gagarin was made a Hero of the Soviet Union on 14 April 1961.

His fame skyrocketed worldwide as he toured the world visiting both Germanies, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Egypt and Finland to promote the Soviet feat. He also would visit the United Kingdom touring both London and Manchester. It was a great propaganda victory over the West for the Soviet Union. With his sudden fame, Gagarin suffered a series of setbacks which took its toll on the young pilot including bouts of alcoholism and on atleast one occasion he was caught having an affair with a nurse by his wife. The encounter and subsequent flight of Gagarin resulted in a permanent scar above his left eyebrow after he hit his face on a kerbstone while fleeing the room.

On 12 June 1962, Yuri Gagarin was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Soviet Air Force and on 6 November 1963 he would be promoted to the rank of Colonel. He would be restricted from any further flight activities as it was feared the national hero of the Soviet Union would be lost. He would be a backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov, when he would be launched into space aboard the Soyuz I space craft. The launch was contested by Gagarin who argued that the appropriate safety measures had not been taken and ultimately the launch ended terribly when upon reentry the Soyuz I space capsule crashed to Earth following a parachute failure. Komarov would become the first human to be killed during a spaceflight. The death of Komarov took its toll on Gagarin, and Soviet authorities permanently barred Gagarin from any further space flights. With no further spaceflights in his future, Gagarin began focusing on requalifying as a fighter pilot.

On 27 March 1968, the Soviet Union's worst fears were realized when Yuri Gagarin was killed during a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base near the town of Shchyolkovo in the Moscow Oblast. Yuri Gagarin and his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin had been flying a Mikoyan Gurevich MiG-15UTI, the two seat trainer variant of the MiG-15 jet fighter. It was reported that a Sukhoi Su-15 Flagon fighter, a much larger aircraft than the MiG-15 was flying a test in the vicinity of Gagarin's flight plan although it was to fly at an altitude well above the course Gagarin and Seryogin were to fly. The weather on the day of the crash was poor with heavy rain and a low cloud formation which severly limited visibility. At the time of the crash, Alexei Leonov who was a friend of Gagarin's was scheduled to perform parachute jump training when he heard two large booms. The first boom was determined to be the sound of an aircraft breaking the sound barrier and the second to be the sound of an aircraft colliding with the ground. The booms were within seconds of each other followed by an abrupt silence.

When the crash site was located investigators first found Seryogin's body but Gagarin's was nowhere to be found. It wouldn't be recovered until the following day thus dashing Soviet hopes that he had atleast ejected and survived the crash. Leonov identifed Gagarin's body by a mole on Gagarin's neck. Witnesses to the crash told an investigation board that they had seen the Su-15 streaking from the cloud formation with its tail section ablaze and smoking however it was flying much lower than the mission profile had authorized. According to witnesses it was flying closer to 2,000 feet not the 33,000 feet filed in the test report. A larger aircraft like the Su-15 has the power to roll a smaller aircraft like a MiG-15 over if they come too close to each other. The timing between the two booms indicated that the aircraft were about 30 feet apart at the time of the accident. The momentum of the Flagon flying at nearly supersonic speeds shook Gagarin's MiG from the sky, forcing it into a spiral dive and the aircraft impacted the ground at a speed of some 470 miles per hour killing Gagarin and Seryogin instantly. There was only 55 seconds between the pilot's last communication and the impact with the ground.

The identity of the other pilot was never identified and official reports covered up the incident blaming the crash on a bird strike, or alcoholism amongst other theories. Regardless at the age of 34, the man who was said to possess a smile 'that lit up the Cold War' was dead. 

Wernher von Braun: The Father of the Ballistic Missile

One of the mainstays of the Cold War was the employment on both sides of the Iron Curtain of massive numbers of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles more commonly called ICBMs for short. Upon notification at the push of a button, a weapon can be launched utilizing rocket technology to propel a potentially destructive warhead on a one way trip anywhere on the globe to deliver a destructive message upon the enemy. The threat of nuclear destruction from the heavens was the stuff of nightmares but yet an ever present danger in throughout the years of the Cold War. Each side was always trying to best the other. Rocketry has become a weapon of war on a scale never seen before capable of not only breaching the outer perimeters of our atmosphere but also in propelling weaponry at speeds inconceivable years before at such great distances that detection or interception is difficult. The development of the ICBM is derived of technology envisioned decades earlier as the brainchild of one man. His name was Wernher von Braun.

Born Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun in Wirsitz, in the province of Posen at the time part of the German Empire on 23 March 1912, Wernher was the second of three sons born to a Magnus Freiherr von Braun and Emmy von Quistorp. He was born into an aristocratic family thus inheriting the title of Freiherr or 'Baron' and he could trace his family heritage to medieval European royalty as a descendant of Phillip III of France, Valdemar I of Denmark, Robert III of Scotland, Edward III of England, Mieszko I of Poland and ultimately Charlemagne. In his early years von Braun developed a passion for astronomy. Following the signing of the armistice and the end of the First World War, Wirsitz was transferred from Germany to Poland and the von Braun family moved to Germany settling in Berlin. It was here that he had his initial encounters with rocketry when he at the age of 12 was inspired by the speed records set by Max Valier and Fritz von Opel in rocket propelled cars. After blowing up a weapon to which he had attached fireworks he was arrested only to be released shortly thereafter.

An avid amateur musician, he learned to play both Beethoven and Bach from memory. By 1925, he was enrolled in a boarding school at Ettersburg Castle near Weimar. With his passion for space travel and rocketry fuelling his young mind, he acquired an influential work on the subject the book Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen or By Rocket into Interplanetary Space written by Hermann Oberth a leading rocket pioneer. After being transferred to Hermann-Lietz-Internat, another boarding school located on the island of Spiekeroog; von Braun applying himself to the studies of physics and mathematics determined to pursue his interest in rocket engineering.

By 1930, he was attending the Technische Hochschule Berlin or 'Berlin Institute of Technology' where he became a member of the Verein für Raumschiffahrt 'Spaceflight Society'. He obtained a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Institute in 1932. From his early exposure to rocket sciences he developed the conclusion that rocket science was not advanced enough to support space exploration and would require more aspects of science than were currently applied to the field. He enrolled in the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Berlin for post graduate studies in the fields of physics, chemistry and astronomy where he would receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Physics in 1934. He received encouragement for his studies from the high altitude balloon pioneer Auguste Piccard.

Coinciding with his developing interests in rocket science, the situation in Germany has been shaped in years of turmoil and political upheaval. After the end of the First World War and the abdication of the German monarchy, the Weimar Republic had been instated with a liberal democracy. President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg, a former Prussian General Field Marshal during the First World War initiated dictatorial emergency powers and reinstated the position of Chancellor of Germany by 1930. Germany would see several Chancellors in Heinrich Brüning, Franz von Papen and Kurt von Schleicher before finally Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor with the ascent of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or National Socialist German Workers Party commonly abbreviated as NSDAP or Nazi Party in 1933. With his focus on his doctoral studies, von Braun seemed for the most part unaware of the changes sweeping across Germany at the time. As a German born to an aristocratic family, he was patriotic towards his country but rocketry was his main focus. On 12 November 1937 he applied for membership in the Nazi Party and was assigned the membership number 5,738,692.

His activities with the Verein für Raumschiffahrt caught the attention of the Reichswehr, Germany's armed forces in 1932. While attending one of the launches of von Braun's rockets, Army officers took notice of the young engineer and the promise that he garnered towards the development of German rocket science. Walter Dornberger, an Artillery officer in the German Army Ordnance Corps presented von Braun with the opportunity to further develop his rockets through researching military applications for rockets. Presented with the opportunity of having his rocket research paid for at the behest of the German Army, von Braun couldn't refuse and accepted Dornberger's offer. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles following the end of the First World War, Germany had been prohibited the development of military aviation applications, rocketry had not been barred from research and thus development in rocketry was rapidly advancing.

In 1934, Wernher von Braun completed a work on the subject of rocketry in which he titled 'Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket'. Its contents were determined to be so vital to the national security of Germany that the document was given a classified status and transferred to the control of the German Army. Germany showed great interest in the works of American scientist Robert H. Goddard's works and regularly contacted him in the years leading up to the Second World War with technical questions and concerns. It was Goddard's works that von Braun incorporated into the development of his Aggregat or A series of rockets. The word Aggregat is a German word meaning 'The use of multiple appliances or machines to fulfill a certain technological function'. With von Braun now working with the German Army, the Verein für Raumschiffahrt which had rejected proposals from the German Army had a hard time finding funding for its own continued research and was dissolved in 1933.

With the dissolution of the Verein für Raumschiffahrt group, civilian rocket launches were banned by the new Nazi government with only rocket tests conducted for military purposes being authorized. The home for the advancement of these rocket tests and the location von Braun would come to call home was a large facility built near the village of Peenemünde in northern Germany located on the Baltic Sea. The Artillery Captain who had initially brought Wernher von Braun into military rocket science, Walter Dornberger became commander of the Peenemünde facility with Wernher von Braun as technical director. It would be here at Peenemünde in association with the German Luftwaffe that von Braun would contribute to the development of the A-4 ballistic missile and a supersonic guided anti aircraft missile designated 'Wasserfall'. Large amounts of research were dedicated to the development of liquid fuel rocket engines to power not only missiles but also aircraft engines and jet assisted takeoff devices.

On 22 December 1942, Adolf Hitler issued an order to initiate the A-4 rocket into the  Vergeltungswaffe or 'Revenge Weapon' program with aims of targeting London. Following the presentation of a film documenting a demonstration of the A-4, Hitler was so enthused by its promise that he made von Braun a professor of science. Following a bombing raid on the Peenemünde facility which killed several of von Braun's scientists by RAF Bomber Command, the first A-4 now designated V-2 for propaganda purposes was fired at England on 7 September 1944. Von Braun's rocket development in Peenemünde was in later years criticized for the use of slave labor from the Mittelbau-Dora and Buchenwald concentration camps.Under the influence of SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, Wernher von Braun had been commissioned as an Untersturmführer 'Second Lieutenant' in the Allgemeine SS. Having expressed regret that he was not progressing his research towards his achievement of space exploration but that his scientific exploits were squandered on weapons for waging war, one that was not going well, Von Braun was arrested by Gestapo under charges trumped up by Himmler stating that he was a communist sympathizer with plans to sabotage the German rocket program before fleeing to England. He was only released from prison through the exploits of Walter Dornberger  and Albert Speer, the Reichsminister for Munitions and War Production.

With the Soviet Army near Peenemünde in 1945, von Braun assembled his staff and decided that enough was enough they had to surrender and bring an end to their war atleast. But to whom would they surrender to? It was decided that surrendering to the advancing Soviet Army was out of the question. The Soviets were well known for their brutal treatment of prisoners of war especially those who were documented members of the Nazi Party. It was decided that they would flee the Peenemünde facility and surrender to American forces. Under orders from SS General Hans Kammler, the team was to be relocated from Peenemünde to central Germany to progress their work. In the final days before the relocation, a contradicting report from Kammler ordered the scientists to join the Army and fight against the advancing Soviets. He and his team of nearly 500 associates fabricated documents and were transferred to Mittelwerk but not before ordering that many of his documents and blueprints be hidden away in an abandoned mine shaft in the Harz Mountains to avoid their destruction by the SS.

Following a car accident in which he suffered a compound fracture of the left arm and shoulder, he had his arm placed in a cast although a month later his arm would have to be rebroken and realigned due to negligent care of his wound. He was then transferred to the town of Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps.

Von Braun's brother Magnus also a rocket engineer approached an American Private from the 44th Infantry Division and announced his intentions to surrender to the United States on 2 May 1945. On 19 June 1945, two days before the area was to be turned over to Soviet authorities US Major Robert B Staver, Chief of the Jet Propulsion Section of the Research and Intelligence Branch of the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps in London and Lieutenant Colonel R.L. Williams transferred von Braun and his team to Garmisch near Munich where they were then flown to Nordhausen and Witzenhausen in the American sector of Germany to avoid their fall into Soviet custody. After being debriefed by American and British intelligence officials he was recruited under Operation Paperclip where he was relocated to the United States.

Upon arrival in the United States, von Braun along with his team were granted funding to continue rocket research under the United States government and in exchange their association to the Nazi Party would be expunged from their records. Once their records had been cleared, the government granted the scientists security clearances for work at some of the nation's most sensitive facilities. The first stop for many of von Braun's associates were to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland to organize the documents brought to the United States from Peenemünde. Von Braun and his remaining Peenemünde team were sent first to Fort Bliss, Texas and White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico where they trained military personnel on the intricacies of rockets and guided missiles before helping refurbish, assemble and launch a number of captured V-2 rockets transported to the United States from Germany.

By 1950 and the outbreak of the war in Korea, Wernher von Braun and his team were transferred from Fort Bliss, Texas to Huntsville, Alabama where he would lead a U.S. Army rocket development team at Redstone Arsenal. The results of the research conducted by the team was the PGM-11 Redstone Rocket on 8 April 1952. The development of the Redstone rocket led to the first live nuclear ballistic missile tests conducted in the United States. A subsequent development in the development of the Redstone rocket was the first high precision inertial guidance system mounted on a rocket. Soon he would be appointed as Director of the Development Operations Division of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, where von Braun and his team would led the development of the Jupiter C series rocket which was essentially a modified Redstone rocket. The Jupiter C rocket would go on to perform three suborbital spaceflights throughout the 1950s before launching the West's first satellite known as Explorer I on 31 January 1958.

Von Braun remained determined to utilize his research in the subject of space exploration he began advocating space flight. With the Soviet Union launching Sputnik I on 4 October 1957, the way had been paved for von Braun to accomplish his dreams as the United States became determined to outdo the Soviets in the realm of space exploration. On 29 July 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration better known as NASA was established and in 1960, the Marshal Space Flight Center was opened at Redstone Arsenal. The Army Ballistic Missile Agency was transferred to NASA control under the provision that von Braun and his team be allowed to continue their research on a much larger rocket than the PGM-11 or Jupiter C series rockets which would be designated as the Saturn series rocket. Von Braun was designated as the Marshal Space Flight Center's first director presiding over the facility from July 1960 to February 1970.

From the successes of the Saturn program, the Apollo program for manned moon flights was developed and his dream for putting a man on the moon was realized when on 16 July 1969, one of his Saturn V rockets propelled the crew of Apollo 11 beyond the atmosphere of planet Earth to the lunar surface. Throughout the duration of the Saturn program, von Braun's rockets would put six teams of astronauts on the moon. He would be influential in the establishment of the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. He also envisioned the idea of U.S. Space Camp for training children in the fields of science and technology. After relocating from Alabama to Washington DC to take a senior level position in NASA, von Braun retired from NASA on 26 May 1972 with the realization that his goals for space exploration and those of NASA's were not one in the same. In his latter years he would serve as Vice President for Engineering and Development for the Fairchild Industries company and performing services as a public speaker at colleges and universities across the country.

He helped to establish the National Space Institute in 1975 and became its first chairman as well as become a consultant to the CEO of Orbital Transport und Raketen AG, or 'Orbital Transport and Rockets, Inc' a West German company based in Stuttgart. His health gradually declined following the onset of kidney cancer which forced him to retired from Fairchild Industries on 31 December 1976. He was later hospitalized from complications due to cancer and was unable to attend a ceremony in which he  was presented the National Medal of Science. Wernher von Braun would die on 16 June 1977 of pancreatic cancer in Alexandria, Virginia at the age of 65. He was buried at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria, Virginia. 

A New Red Baron in the Age of Detente: Mathias Rust's Journey to Red Square

The 1980s was a turbulent era of both hostility and reform for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. On its southern border, the Soviet Army was engaged in a war against an Islamic insurgency in Afghanistan, in 1983 the Soviet Air Force mistakenly shot down a South Korean airliner near Moneron Island resulting in the death of all 269 passengers and crew on board and the world had barely averted an outbreak of nuclear war in Europe following a mistake during Exercise Able Archer in West Germany. In the period from 1980 through 1987, the Soviet Union saw a change of leadership three times with Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev dying in 1982 and being replaced by Yuri Andropov in 1982. Andropov would pass away in 1984 and be replaced by Konstantin Chernenko. Chernenko would pass away in 1985 and control of the Soviet Union was passed on to Mikhail Gorbachev.

The era was marked by intense belligerence and distrust between the nations of the West and the Soviet Union and her allies. American President Ronald Reagan had ramped up tensions with increased military procurement and anti-Soviet sentiment which thus put many people in Germany on edge. The threat of war loomed over Europe like never before. There was however a glimmer of hope for Europe, with the ascension of Mikhail Gorbachev to the office of Premier of the Soviet Union. With his policies of Glasnost, Perestroika and economic reforms across the Soviet Union things were beginning to head in a different, generally new direction from that taken by former Soviet leaders. The world held its breath in hopes of an agreement towards the reduction of arms between the United States and Soviet Union held at Reykjavik, Iceland in October 1986. The summit ended without progress thus laying the framework for one of the most daring events of the Cold War.

A 19 year old West German named Mathias Rust, decided to take matters into his own hands and in turn change the course of world history. Rust who had grown up in Wedel near Hamburg, West Germany was an amateur pilot who like many Europeans felt despair in the failed attempt at Cold War rapprochement. Working as a data processor for a mail order trinket company, Rust invested much of his earnings into flying lessons. Aviation had long been a subject of interest for Rust since his childhood. After the US-Soviet summit in 1986 proved fruitless, Rust came up with the daring idea of creating an 'imaginary bridge' by flying directly to the Soviet capital of Moscow. He became obsessed with the idea of flying to Moscow and passing through the Iron Curtain without being intercepted to prove to the world that Gorbachev was serious about taking a new stance and establishing relations with the nations of the West. Once in Moscow, Rust planned to deliver a twenty page document he had prepared to Mikhail Gorbachev in an effort to advocate world peace.

 The risks Mathias Rust would take were great, on 1 September 1983, a Soviet Air Force Sukhoi Su-15 Flagon interceptor had shotdown Korean Air Lines Flight 007 a Boeing 747-230B carrying 269 people over the Sea of Japan. All 269 passengers and crew had been killed including an American Congressman. The Soviet response of denial and later change of stance claiming that the airliner was on a spy mission had ramped up Cold War tensions and escalated anti-Soviet sentiment. Would Rust suffer the same fate? He was willing to chance it, convincing himself that he was doing the right thing ultimately.

He began formulating details of his plan when with only roughly fifty flight hours to his credit, he departed Uetersen near his home of Wedel in a Cessna F172P he had rented from a local flying club for a period of three weeks. The airplane had been modified for extended range by replacing additional seating with auxiliary fuel tanks. The addition of these tanks boosted the tiny airplanes range by 175 nautical miles giving the airplane a range of 750 nautical miles. In preparation for his journey, Rust packed a small suitcase, a satchel with flight planning supplies, maps and aeronautical charts as well as a sleeping bag, fifteen quarts of engine oil, a life vest and a motorcycle crash helmet which he planned to use as extra protection in the event of a crash due to Soviet intervention.

His journey began on 13 May 1987 when he left Uetersen and made the five hour journey across the Baltic and North Seas before reaching the Shetland Islands. The following day, he departed the Shetland Islands where he flew to Vagar on Denmark's Faröe Island. Two days into his journey on 15 May 1987, Rust made it to Reykjavik, Iceland where the ill fated US-Soviet summit had been held to no avail. He spent a week in Reykjavik visiting the Hofdi House where US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev had met for the 1986 Reykjavik Summit. Visiting the site reinforced Rust's resolve to make it to Moscow and accomplish his mission.

On 22 May 1987, departed Iceland for Finland stopping off in Hofn, Iceland, the Shetland Islands and Bergen, Norway landing at Helsinki-Malmi Airport in Helsinki, Finland. Since leaving Uetersen, Rust had nearly doubled his flight time by more than 100 flight hours and crossed a distance of almost 2,600 miles. With the reassurance that he had the skills necessary to accomplish his flight, he made the decision that he would carry on with his plan and make it to Moscow at all costs. After a restless night, Rust made his way to Helsinki-Malmi Airport on the morning of 28 May 1987 where he refueled the Cessna, checked the weather and filed his flight plan designating Stockholm, Sweden as his destination. Stockholm would be alternate route in the event that he decided to abort his journey to the Soviet Union.

At 1221pm he departed Helsinki, with air traffic controllers directing him west in the direction of Stockholm. He was instructed to fly low level to avoid incoming air traffic destined for Helsinki and although the Cessna had a transponder on board, the airport did not assign him a transponder code. Rust turned the transponder off and held is course for Stockholm for roughly twenty minutes before exiting Helsinki's control area. As he approached the first way point of his filed flight plan, near the town of Nummela, Finland he turned the aircraft left towards the direction of Moscow. Air traffic controllers began to track the nearly 180 degree deviation in Rust's course radioing his airplane to no response. At one point Rust even flew through restricted Finnish military airspace before disappearing from radar completely. The Finnish Coast Guard, the Rajavartiolaitos dispatched a helicopter which reported finding an oil slick near Rust's last known location at the time of his disappearance. A search and rescue party was dispatched to the area to search for the missing aircraft.

At a radar station in Skrunda in the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet military authorities began tracking Rust. As per protocol all foreign flights entering Soviet airspace were required to have a permit that authorized them to fly into the Soviet Union along specially assigned air corridors. When the aircraft was designated as not flying along official corridors, it was acknowledged that the aircraft was not authorized to enter Soviet airspace and was therefore not an approved flight. As Rust approached the Soviet coastline, three air defense missile units were put on high alert. When Rust crossed the coast of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, he climbed to an altitude of 2,500 feet above sea level a standard altitude for cross country flight. He adjusted the aircraft's trim and maintained a straight and level attitude. It was also at this point that he strapped on the motorcycle helmet. He would be assigned the combat number 8255 by Soviet military forces after he failed to respond to identification signals.

 Soviet Army units were put on a state of high alert as Rust's airplane continued further and further inland with two Soviet Air Force interceptors being scrambled from the nearby Tapa airbase. Observing the airplane from a hole in the clouds, one of the pilots reported that the airplane resembled as Yakovlev Yak-12 Creek utility airplane and requested permission to engage the aircraft. The pilot received no permission to engage the airplane and the decision was made that the airplane required no further investigation. Shortly after this, Rust descended to avoid a mass of low lying clouds and icing. It was during this period that he disappeared from Soviet radar screens. When the weather cleared, he climbed to an altitude of 2,500 feet where once again he appeared on Soviet radar screens.

Now in a new district of Soviet military authority, two more interceptors were scrambled to investigate the unidentified aircraft. Nearly two hours into his journey, two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 Flogger interceptors approached him at high rates of speed. The supersonic fighter turned and pulled up adjacent to Rust's Cessna having to be placed into full landing configuration in order for it to fly slow enough to fly alongside the tiny Cessna. The pilot now on the edge of stall speed, attempted to contact Rust with no response. It was later determined that the fighter could only communicate over high frequency military channels. After several moments, the Soviet pilot disengage, retracting his landing gear and accelerating two fly two arcs around the airplane before disappearing.

With both the flag of the Federal Republic of Germany and the registration serial D-ECJB on the tail, the MiG pilot knew the airplane was not a Yak-12 nor was it a Soviet aircraft and determined the aircraft did not pose a threat to the Soviet Union and thus disengaged.

As he continued on his flight, Rust entered a Soviet Air Force training zone where his altitude helped him appear harmless and thus avoided his being intercepted by Soviet military aircraft. Following the shoot down of the airliner in 1983, Soviet protocol had been changed so that no civilian aircraft could be engaged unless orders were received from the highest levels of the Soviet military command structure. It was determined at one point along his trip that Rust was a student pilot, and Soviet military personnel assigned his airplane a friendly radar code.

By the time he reached Lake Seliger about 250 miles from Moscow, for a third time Air Force interceptors were scrambled to investigate however the fighters never descended below the cloud cover to make visual contact with the small airplane as it was determined two dangerous to descend below the low lying cloud bank. As he approached forty miles west of the town of Torzhok, Rust was confused for one of two helicopters participating in a Soviet search and rescue operation for an air crash the previous day and again Rust's airplane was assigned a friendly code by Soviet air defense radar. Shortly thereafter, Rust departed the Leningrad military district and entered the Moscow military district. Reports were passed on between military district commanders regarding the tracking of an unidentified aircraft however information regarding the origins of the aircraft from the Gulf of Finland or that it was West German marked or its seemingly steady course towards Moscow were not included in the report.

At around 6pm Rust approached the outskirts of Moscow. With the city's airspace restricted to both military and civilian air traffic, radar controllers soon realized something was wrong. As he made his way over the Soviet capital, Rust removed his helmet and began scanning the cityscape for Red Square. He proceeded to fly from building to building he suddenly saw the turreted silhouette of the Kremlin and he began heading in its direction looking for a place to land. After rejecting an idea to land within the walls of the Kremlin amongst fear of being arrested by the Soviet KGB, he picked a spot between the Kremlin and Hotel Russia, a bridge that crossed the Moscow River and led directly into Red Square. The bridge was six lanes wide with light traffic and the only obstacles were wires strung over each end of the bridge and its center. Rust determined he had enough space to fly over the first set of wires and land before taxiing the rest of the way into Red Square.

Cutting his engine to idle and extending his flaps to full position, Rust dropped down over the first set of wires and flared the plane for landing. He barely avoided a collision with a Volga automobile before rolling along in the direction of Red Square. Originally planning, to park in the middle of Red Square just before the tomb of Vladimir Lenin, this plan was discarded a small fence chain strung about surrounded St. Basil's Cathedral and thus prevented this plan from taking effect. He chose instead to pull up in front of the Cathedral itself. After nearly five and a half hours since leaving Helsinki, he had arrived in Moscow. As he climbed from the Cessna, he was expecting to be apprehended by KGB agents but was instead greeted by curious onlookers who recognized both him and the aircraft as being foreign. The crowd was overly friendly many asking Rust for autographs. Atleast one person gave Rust a loaf of bread as a sign of friendship.

Soon thereafter, the KGB arrived confiscating cameras and notebooks while also interviewing witnesses. Soon two trucks arrived at the Square with soldiers to contain the seen and dismiss the crowd that had gathered around the young West German. Rust was soon approached by an interpreter who asked for his passport before ushering him towards a waiting vehicle. The Cessna was removed from the Square and taken to Sheremetyevo International Airport where it was disassembled for inspection by Soviet military authorities. Soviet authorities believed he had been part of a larger plot to attack the Soviet Union and during his interrogation he was accused of being a spy for the CIA or the West German military. They used the fact that the date 28 May was Border Guard Day in the Soviet Union, and that he may believe that with the celebrations that the Soviet border would be more lightly defended. The Soviets confiscated his maps initially using them to fuel their accusations of his presence as being one of intelligence gathering however this theory was defeated when the Soviet consulate in Hamburg was able to obtain the same maps from a local mail order company.

The Soviet investigation team produced pictures of the bridge into Red Square inquiring how he'd managed to land with all the wires in the way. Responding that there were only three sets in position when he landed, the Soviets learned that a public works crew had removed most of the wires for maintenance. The Soviet investigation into the incursion was concluded on 23 June 1987. He was charged with illegal entry into the Soviet Union, violation of flight laws and malicious hooliganism. Rust would plead guilty to the first two charges but plead innocent to the hooliganism charge. After a three day trial, on 4 September 1987 he was found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison. The prison was more restrictive than being sent to a Soviet gulag labor camp but it ensured Rust's safety nonetheless. He spent his time in prison quietly with special privileges such as permission to work in the garden and permission to receive visits from his parents every two months.

In November 1987, American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which eliminated nuclear and conventional ground launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges between 300 to 3,400 miles in Europe. As a goodwill gesture towards the West, the Supreme Soviet ordered that Rust be released from Soviet detention. He arrived in West Germany on 3 August 1988 with his return being accompanied by huge media attention.

The incident caused a great deal of damage to the credibility of the Soviet military system. The authorized and unchallenged incursion allowed Mikhail Gorbachev to dismiss many of the greatest opponents to his reforms. The Soviet Minister of Defense Sergei Sokolov, along with the Chief of Soviet Air Defense Alexander Koldunov were among the highest ranking officials dismissed over the incident along with hundreds of other military officers. Some of the officers were revered heroes of the Soviet Union having gained fame for their exploits during the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany. The upheaval would be the greatest turnover of military personnel in the Soviet Union, since Josef Stalin initiated extensive purges of the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Rust's flight also changed the perception that citizens of the Soviet Union had of the Soviet military. The myth of Soviet military supremacy and superiority was defeated as were Soviet propaganda reports that the West was constantly searching for methods to penetrate the resolve of the Soviet people.

For the effort of the search party launched following his disappearance near the Finnish border, Rust was fined a sum of some £62,500 or about $100,000 USD.

The Maple Leaf & The Sword: Canadian Forces Europe

Canada was an unlikely contributor of military forces to West Germany during the Cold War, however it nonetheless provided forces for the percieved war against the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union. Initial Canadian forces to arrive in West Germany originated in 1951, when the 27 Canadian Infantry Brigade was deployed to Hanover, West Germany as a part of the British Army of the Rhine. These initial units would soon be relocated two years later in 1953, when they were garrisoned at Soest. From here, Canadian military forces would rotate Army units with the 27 being replaced by 1 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group in October 1953, followed by 2 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group in 1955 and 4 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group in 1957. Up until 1957 with the arrival of 4 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group, each brigade had only been equipped with a single squadron of main battle tanks, however 4 CIB was equipped with a full armored regiment equipped with Centurion tanks and an independent brigade reconnaissance squadron equipped with Ferret armored cars. As 1959, approached and it became time for 4 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group to rotate back to Canada, the policy was changed with 4 CIB and its associated brigades remaining in Germany instead of different units rotating in and out every two years. Under this policy, major combat elements under 4 CIB were rotated out of West Germany every three years.

The Brigade was headquartered in Soest with additional units positioned in Soest and other towns across North Rhine-Westphalia.

• Soest - Brigade Headquarters complete with 1 Infantry battalion and service units
• Hemer - 1 Infantry battalion and an artillery regiment
• Werl - 1 Infantry battalion, an engineer regiment and a field ambulance unit
• Iserlohn - 1 Armored regiment

In 1962, 4 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group was reinforced with a helicopter recce troop operating nine CH-112 Nomad helicopters. The CH-112 was Canada's variant of the American Hiller OH-23 Raven observation helicopter. Into the 1960s, the Brigade strength was around 6,700 men organized into three mechanized infantry battalions, a reconnaissance squadron, an artillery detachment and a logistical operations detachment. It was subsequently called a 'light division' by Canada's British counterparts. On 1 May 1968, 4 Canadian Infantry Brigade Group was redesignated as 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group in response to Canada's armed forces being unified to become the single Canadian Forces. After a review of Canadian policy, the Canadian government reduced defense spending and reduced the force in Europe by half.

It was also decided that instead of being an attachment as an active part of the British Army of the Rhine, the 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group would be given a new role and status as a reserve unit attached to the American US VII Corps or II German Corps. With its new status and designation, the unit was relocated to the town of Lahr in southern West Germany where it stood up at Canadian Forces Base or CFB Lahr. Now in a reserve status, 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group's nuclear capability was thus withdrawn although, the unit would continue serving as a deterrent against Soviet aggression in Europe.

Canadian Infantry Brigade Group/Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group units included:

Armor

• The Royal Canadian Dragoons - 1957-1959, 1970-1987
• Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) - 1966-1970
• 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) - 1960-1964, 1988-1993
• The Fort Garry Horse - 1962-1966

Infantry

• 1st Battalion, Canadian Guards - 1959-1962
• 2nd Battalion, Canadian Guards - 1957-1959
• 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment - 1962-1965
• 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment - 1965-1969
• 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment - 1977-1984, 1988-1993
• 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry - 1964-1967
• 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry - 1966-1970, 1984-1988
• 1er Bataillon, Royal 22e Régiment - 1967-1993
• 2e Bataillon, Royal 22e Régiment - 1965-1969
• 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada - 1960-1964
• 2nd Battalion, The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada - 1957-1959
• 2nd Battalion, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada - 1962-1965
• 3rd Mechanized Commando, The Canadian Airborne Regiment - 1970-1977

Artillery

• 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery - 1957-1960, 1967-1993
• 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery - 1964-1967
• 3rd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery - 1960-1964

Units assigned to CFB Lahr would include:

CFB Lahr

• 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group Headquarters and Signal Squadron
• one armoured regiment
• 1970–1987 - The Royal Canadian Dragoons
• 1987–1993 - 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's)
• 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery
• 4th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery
• 4 Combat Engineer Regiment
• 4 Service Battalion
• 4 Field Ambulance
• 4 Military Police Platoon
• 1er Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment
• 444 Tactical Helicopter Squadron
• 5 AMU (Air Movement Unit)

Initially equipped with Centurion tanks and Ferret armored cars, Canadian military capabilities were enhanced with the replacement of the Centurion by the Leopard 1 main battle tank and the employment of the M113 armored personnel carrier.

The Royal Canadian Air Force also committed a detachment No.1 Air Division RCAF at Canadian Forces Base Baden-Soellingen. With the need for greater NATO air defense commitments, No.1 Air Division RCAF was officially established in the 1950s initially at four bases in France and West Germany. These bases respectively were RCAF Station Marville home to No.1 Wing and RCAF Grostenquin home to No.2 Wing positioned in France and RCAF Station Zweibrücken home to No. 3 Wing and RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen home to No.4 Wing located in West Germany. Each wing had three fighter squadrons assigned to them each. Eight air division squadrons were replaced with strike aircraft complete with nuclear capability an issue which would prove quite controversial in Canada.

In 1963, the French government announced that all nuclear weapons positioned on French soil would fall under French control, an announcement that the Canadians and other NATO forces strongly disagreed with. As a result of this, all Canadian nuclear strike forces were relocated to RCAF Station Zweibrücken and  RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen. In 1964, RCAF Station Grostenquin was closed with its assets transferred to RCAF Marville. RCAF Marville would later be subsequently closed when France withdrew from NATO's military command structure and ordered all foreign military forces to vacate French soil or thus fall under French military authority. The units from RCAF Marville were then transfered to RCAF Station Lahr. In 1966, the Canadians took over Base Aérienne 139 Lahr which was operated by the French Armée de l'Air. French forces were vacating the base in compliance with the French withdrawal from NATO. The first RCAF personnel would arrive in March 1967 when it was renamed RCAF Station Lahr.

With the consolidation of Canadian military forces, RCAF Station Lahr was renamed Canadian Forces Base Lahr which was shortened to CFB Lahr. RCAF Station Zweibrücken would also be closed followed Canadian defense reviews in 1969 as part of an effort to remove duplication of force projection and cut the defense budget. Soon only RCAF Station Lahr and RCAF Station Baden-Soellingen remained. Along with the fighter units maintained at CFB Baden-Soellingen, there was a mechanized infantry battalion assigned there as well. Mechanized Infantry Battalions at CFB Baden Soellingen included:

• 1970-1977: 3rd Mechanized Commando, The Canadian Airborne Regiment
• 1977-1984: 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment
• 1984-1988: 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
• 1988-1993: 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment

In addition to these units there was a communication squadron as well as an air defense battery and a multi-force airfield repair unit. Under the reorganization of Canadian defense forces, No.1 Air Division RCAF became 1 Canadian Air Group. Following a period of intense renewed Cold War tensions, CFB Baden-Soellingen received improved infrastructure and services as well as upgrades and improvements to the base to accommodate the arrival of new CF-18 Hornet multirole fighters to replace the CF-104 Starfighters.

When Lightning Strikes: Close Air Support & The A-10

One of the most vital assets on the modern battlefield is the capability of close air support in support of the ground commander. Specialized ground attack and support aircraft have been a deciding factor in battles throughout the twentieth century. Initially close air support originated in the form of grenades or small bombs being dropped over the sides of biplanes and small dirigibles during the First World War. These were used against opposing sides trench lines in support of artillery barrages and advances across the barren landscape of No Mans Land. Dedicated close support platforms were developed subsequently in the years following the armistice and the end of the First World War. Aircraft specifically designed to support the ground forces in the form of dive bombers anti tank platforms took on a new form when in 1936, a resurgent Luftwaffe under the guidance of Hermann Göring, himself a veteran of the First World War and the Nazi Party deployed its new Junkers Ju 87 airframe. The Ju 87 commonly referred to as the 'Stuka' taken from its official title of Sturzkampfflugzeug meaning 'dive bomber' was a twin seat, gull winged, fixed under carriage attack aircraft essentially a flying artillery piece able to provide sturdy, accurate and effective fire support against ground targets.

 The Ju 87 proved successful in the 1936 Spanish Civil War and during the Blitzkrieg campaign against Poland in 1939. The type operated with limited successes during the 1940 Battle of Britain where the types slow nature, poor maneuverability and lack of defensive armament made it vulnerable to interception by Royal Air Force fighters. It would go on to serve in the Balkans campaigns as well as in North Africa and along the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union. In the Eastern Front campaigns, the Stuka found a new lease on life when it was armed with heavy cannons and employed as a 'tank buster' to destroy Soviet armored vehicles. Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel a Stuka pilot would become the most decorated German pilot during the Second World War including being the only person awarded the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. His kill count would total some 2000 vehicles destroyed including 800 vehicles, 519 tanks, 150 artillery pieces, 70 landing craft, 9 enemy aircraft, 4 armored trains, several bridges, a destroyer, two cruisers and a Soviet battleship the Marat.

The United States and the United Kingdom had their own dedicated close air support aircraft the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Hawker Typhoon respectively. Both aircraft saw subsequent deployment against German forces in the latter years of the war when the Luftwaffe had been all but defeated on the western front. Following the initial landings on the beaches of Normandy codenamed Operation Overlord, American P-47s and British Typhoons provided close air support for advancing ground forces during the hedgerow campaigns employing effective firepower against well placed German tanks such as the Tiger and Panther. Using an assortment of heavy cannons, wing launched rockets or bombs the capability of these aircraft combined with their rugged construction and nature made them valuable assets to the advancing ground forces. Utilizing speed, maneuverability, armored construction designed to protect the pilot and capabilities for carrying a large amount of ordnance refined the way ground attack aircraft would be forever be developed.

The successes of ground attack aircraft during the Second World War would not be completely or correctly noted without mentioning one of the most effective ground attack platforms of the war, the Soviet Union's Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik. Known as the 'Hunchback', 'Flying Tank' or 'Flying Infantryman' by ground forces, the type was effectively employed against German forces during their invasion of the Soviet Union. The heavy armor of the aircraft made it exceptionally difficult for the Germans to shoot down the type and it was commonly nicknamed 'Schlächter' or Slaughterer or 'Der Schwarze Tod' the Black Death. German pilots referred to it as Eiserner Gustav 'Iron Gustav' or Zementbomber 'Concrete Bomber'. Even Soviet leader Josef Stalin was an admirer of the type and championed it, paying it a great tribute in his own unique way. It was said that when one production factory fell behind in producing the planes, Stalin sent an angry worded cable to the factory manager demanding more airplanes and stressing the vitality of the type to the war effort. He ended the cable with the words 'This is my final warning.'

After the end of the Second World War, dedicated close support aircraft were largely disregarded in favor of fast moving fighters and fighter bombers. In the United States, the most effective close support platform in the years after the war was the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. The piston powered, propellor driven aircraft known as the 'Spad' was effectively deployed in Korea and Vietnam. Fast jets nicknamed 'Fastmovers' by ground forces were largely ineffective in close air support operations because the high operating speeds didn't afford pilots the opportunity of time to accurately pinpoint targets on the ground as well as the drawback of lacking loiter time on target.

In 1966, the United States Air Force instituted the Attack Experimental (A-X) program office which was followed on 6 March 1967, by the request placed with 21 defense contractors for a low cost dedicated attack aircraft. Pierre Sprey, an aircraft designer and defense analyst partnered with the Secretary of the Air Force to outline the details of the requirements for the new aircraft. Interviews with Skyraider pilots resulted in the desire for the new type to have a long loiter time, good maneuverability at low speeds, extreme battlefield survivability and heavy cannon firepower. Design elements were taken from the earlier Soviet Ilyushin Il-2, German Henschel Hs 129 and the American Douglas A-1 Skyraider. Additional information was taken from accounts written by German Stuka ace Hans-Ulrich Rudel in his biography. The final proposal took shape in May of 1970. The threat of Soviet armored forces and the emphasis of the new type to be able to operate in an all weather environment concluded that the aircraft be designed specifically for a 30mm cannon, fly with a maximum speed of 460mph, have a takeoff distance of 4,000 feet, be able to carry an external combat load of 16,000lbs with a 285 mile mission radius and have a unit cost of US $1.4 million.

From this point on out the program began to develop in two phases, with the initial requirement for the aircraft developed, the requirement for the new aircraft's cannon armament was soon developed. The requirement for the cannon dictated that it be of 30mm in caliber with a requirement for a high rate of fire at 4,000 rounds per minute with high muzzle velocity.

Northrop and Fairchild Republic were selected by the United States Air Force to submit prototypes. Northrop would submit the YA-9A and Fairchild Republic would submit the YA-10A with General Electric and Philco-Ford being selected to submit prototypes for the cannon armament.

In develop separate from the aircraft, the 30mm cannon was not available for the initial aircraft trials and both aircraft were retrofitted with the smalled M61 Vulcan 20mm gatling gun. The Fairchild Republic YA-10A prototype built in Hagerstown, Maryland first flew on 10 May 1972. Following a trial and fly off competition, the YA-10A was selected over the YA-9A by the United States Air Force on 18 January 1973. General Electric was selected to manufacture the 30mm cannon designated GAU-8 in June 1973.

The first production aircraft were flown in October 1975 with the Air Force receiving its first deliveries of the type in March of 1976 with 715 airframes being built and delivered to the United States Air Force between 1976 and 1984. The aircraft would designated officially as the A-10 Thunderbolt II, inheriting it's name from the rugged World War II era Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

The Thunderbolt II has superior maneuverability characteristics at low operational speeds attributed to its large wing area, high wing aspect ratio and large ailerons. The inclusion of the high wing aspect ratio permits the type to accomplish short takeoff and landing or STOL capability allowing it to operate from improvised airfields near the front lines of a conflict. The loiter time for the aircraft is great and the airplane can operate at altitudes under 1,000 feet with 1.5 mile visibility. Its slow operating speed of 330 knots or 350 miles per hour makes it a much more suitable attack platform than fast moving jet aircraft. The aircraft's infrared signature is lowered by passing engine exhaust over the types horizontal stabilizer and between the twin tail pylons. The placement of the engines high on the fuselage and behind the wings partially shields them from anti-aircraft fire as well as keeps them high out of the risk of the ingestion of foreign objects or debris.

Specially designed wing panels are resistant to combat damage and they bear no load so damaged panels can be quickly replaced in field environments. The ailerons are positioned near the far end of the wings to produce a greater rolling moment. The ailerons of the A-10 are almost 50% of the total wingspan of the aircraft improving control of the aircraft at slow speeds. The aircraft is ideal for field use, being designed to be maintained with minimal equipment. The Thunderbolt II was designed so that parts from both the right and left side of the aircraft are interchangeable including the aircraft's engines, main landing gear and vertical stabilizers. The A-10 was further designed with a sturdy landing gear, low pressure tires and large straight wings to allow for operation from short unprepared strips with a high ordnance load thus permitting operation from damaged sites. If an airfield's runaway is damaged, the A-10 can operate from short taxiways as well as straight sections of road such as the autobahns in West Germany.

The airframe was designed to be extremely tough, able to sustain direct hits from armored piercing and high explosive rounds fired from calibers up to the Soviet 23mm. Flight systems are triple redundant in design with mechanical systems to back up the double redundant hydraulic systems thus allowing the attack pilot to maintain flight and land the aircraft when hydraulics are lost or even if part of the wing is lost. It was also designed to continue operation with one engine, one tail, one elevator and with half of one wing missing. The aircraft utilizes self sealing fuel tanks, and landing gear that partially protrude from its wing nacelles to allow for belly landings in the event of an emergency with minimal damage to the aircrafts underside.

The pilot is protected by a 1,200lb titanium armored 'bathtub' which has been tested to withstand direct hits from 23mm as well as 57mm rounds from multiple trajectories and deflection angles. The armor protection makes up roughly six percent of the aircraft's empty weight although it does provide protection for the pilot against fragmentation as well. The canopy itself is resistant to small fire adding additional protection to the pilot.

Although capable of mounting a variety of weapons systems, the A-10s primary armament is the General Electric GAU-8 30mm Avenger cannon.The weapon system fires a depleted uranium armored piercing shell at a rate of 3,900 feet per minute. The cannon takes half a second to come up to speed with 50 rounds being fired during the first second, and roughly 70 rounds per second afterwards. The gun maintains a high accuracy of being able to place some 80% of its shots within a forty foot diameter circle from 4,000 feet while in forward flight. The GAU-8 is also optimzed fora slant range of 4,000 feet with the A-10 in a 30 degree dive. It is positioned off center in the nose of the aircraft with the front landing gear placed to the right of the center line so that the actively firing cannon is directly on the aircraft's center line. General combat load on the cannon is 1,174 rounds of 30mm ammunition although it can carry a maximum of 1,350 rounds.

A second common weapon utilized by A-10 pilots is the AGM-65 Maverick guided missile which allows the Thunderbolt II to engage targets at greater distances than engagements with the GAU-8 well out of the range of modern anti-aircraft systems. Other weapons include cluster munitions, Hydra rocket pods with the additional capability of being able to use laser guided bombs and the AIM-9 Sidewinder air to air missile for a defensive capability against enemy aircraft.

A-10s were initially deployed to RAF Bentwaters/RAF Woodbridge in England complete with the European I woodland paint scheme designed to minimize visibility from above in the low operating environment of the aircraft. It used dark green, medium green and dark grey to effectively blend in with the typical forest terrain of Europe. Another feature of the type was a false canopy painted on the underside of the aircraft behind the cannon to confuse enemy ground forces of the aircrafts attitude and maneuver direction. A-10 detachments rotated from RAF Bentwaters/RAF Woodbridge to four locations in West Germany known as Forward Operating Locations. These sites were Leipheim, Sembach Air Base, Nörvenich, and Ahlhorn.

A-10s were frequently painted with nose art such as sharks mouths and hog faces. It was initially unwelcomed by fighter pilots who generally favored speed and appearance. An additional role picked up by the aircraft was the forward air control role in which the aircraft would be redesignated as the OA-10 and utilize a load of Hydra smoke or white phosphorous rockets for marking ground targets.

The type would go on to a lengthy and prestigious career following success in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and subsequent US conflicts across the globe. Commonly nicknamed by its pilots as the 'Warthog' the A-10 has proven a ground commanders most valuable asset on the battlefield while proving to be the scourge of the sky to enemy ground commanders.