"Killer Chick" in an A-10 Warthog
2.1 MILLION views Premiered Feb 6, 2026
On April 7, 2003, at the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. troops near Baghdad call for urgent close air support. Captain Kim “KC” Campbell takes her A-10 in at low altitude to cover a force engaged near a bridge in northern Baghdad, sending dozens of Goat Shaggers to hell.
On the way out from one of her attack runs, she flies into a concealed MANPADS ambush. A shoulder-fired missile strikes the tail, and the damage is immediate: both hydraulic systems fail, leaving the aircraft at zero pressure and barely controllable. In the middle of intense combat, over a hostile city, Campbell is forced into Manual Reversion — the A-10’s rare and dangerous emergency mode.What follows is a documented account of an incident widely cited as a benchmark of the A-10’s survivability.
Correction: 00:00 Col John “Coke” Blocher got in contact with us to let us know that he was not the JTAC on the ground directing KC’s attack run on 7 April 2003. The confusion is because the actual JTAC was using the same call sign that Coke used the day before (“Advanced 33”) when he was directing the airstrikes for Donk Strasburger and Billy Bob Thornton on 6 April. Apologies to Col Blocher and thanks to David Bonner - Chief Historian at the Air Force Academy for getting in touch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGZzsOqXj0
2.1 MILLION views Premiered Feb 6, 2026
On April 7, 2003, at the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. troops near Baghdad call for urgent close air support. Captain Kim “KC” Campbell takes her A-10 in at low altitude to cover a force engaged near a bridge in northern Baghdad, sending dozens of Goat Shaggers to hell.
On the way out from one of her attack runs, she flies into a concealed MANPADS ambush. A shoulder-fired missile strikes the tail, and the damage is immediate: both hydraulic systems fail, leaving the aircraft at zero pressure and barely controllable. In the middle of intense combat, over a hostile city, Campbell is forced into Manual Reversion — the A-10’s rare and dangerous emergency mode.What follows is a documented account of an incident widely cited as a benchmark of the A-10’s survivability.
Correction: 00:00 Col John “Coke” Blocher got in contact with us to let us know that he was not the JTAC on the ground directing KC’s attack run on 7 April 2003. The confusion is because the actual JTAC was using the same call sign that Coke used the day before (“Advanced 33”) when he was directing the airstrikes for Donk Strasburger and Billy Bob Thornton on 6 April. Apologies to Col Blocher and thanks to David Bonner - Chief Historian at the Air Force Academy for getting in touch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGZzsOqXj0
"Killer Chick" in an A-10 Warthog
2.1 MILLION views Premiered Feb 6, 2026
On April 7, 2003, at the height of Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S. troops near Baghdad call for urgent close air support. Captain Kim “KC” Campbell takes her A-10 in at low altitude to cover a force engaged near a bridge in northern Baghdad, sending dozens of Goat Shaggers to hell.
On the way out from one of her attack runs, she flies into a concealed MANPADS ambush. A shoulder-fired missile strikes the tail, and the damage is immediate: both hydraulic systems fail, leaving the aircraft at zero pressure and barely controllable. In the middle of intense combat, over a hostile city, Campbell is forced into Manual Reversion — the A-10’s rare and dangerous emergency mode.What follows is a documented account of an incident widely cited as a benchmark of the A-10’s survivability.
Correction: 00:00 Col John “Coke” Blocher got in contact with us to let us know that he was not the JTAC on the ground directing KC’s attack run on 7 April 2003. The confusion is because the actual JTAC was using the same call sign that Coke used the day before (“Advanced 33”) when he was directing the airstrikes for Donk Strasburger and Billy Bob Thornton on 6 April. Apologies to Col Blocher and thanks to David Bonner - Chief Historian at the Air Force Academy for getting in touch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGZzsOqXj0
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