US 355th Wg A 10C credit USAF 640"Just a nice Picture...!"
 
With the Riverside Resort & Casino as a backdrop, A-10C "Memphis Belle III" lands at Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport (AZ).
 
Wearing the commemorative Vietnam-era SouthEast Asia (SEA) camouflage paint scheme, Davis-Monthan's 355th Wing Thunderbolt II 78-0651/DM came to Bullhead City to participate in the local airshow on 1 April 2023.

After the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing was inactivated at Takhli RTAFB (Thailand) in December 1970, the unit reactivated at Davis-Monthan AFB (AZ) in 1971. Initially the wing had four squadrons, 333rd, 354th, 357th and 358th, equipped with the A-7D Corsair II ground air support aircraft. One of the squadrons, the 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed to Korat RTAFB (Thailand) in late 1972 and was attached to the 354th tactical Fighter Wing.

From Korat, the 354th, and later the 357th, which replaced the 354th in June 1973, conducted combat operations first in South Vietnam, then in 1973, in Cambodia, supporting the Lon Nol Government until 15 August 1973 when US combat operations in Southeast Asia were halted by Congress.

Withdrawing from Thailand in 1974, the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing began to send its Corsairs to the Air National Guard, and transitioning to the new A-10 Thunderbolt II. By 1979, the wing had completely transitioned to the A-10 and achieved operationally ready status. On 1 September 1979, Tactical Air Command took the 355th off deployment status and redesignated it as the 355th Tactical Training Wing becoming the USAF's A-10 Thunderbolt II Operational Training Unit.

Credit photo: A-10 Demonstration Team/ USAF

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