Documenting the art form known as A-10 ladder door art

Ladder door art is my passion and has been for the past eight years. I've collected hundreds of images and the background information on the ones I could. I was even thinking of going as far converting The Warthog Pen into a pure door art website but, was convinced not to do that.

I'm also in the process of writing a book on the door art of the A-10 which I hope to finish this year (2008). The working title is "The Hidden Art of the A-10 Thunderbolt II", with a subtitle of "ladder door art of the A-10 "Warthog". I'm looking for images, from any era, of door art and the stories behind the art-work itself.
I'm looking for any and all info I can get on a door such as, crew names, article who did the work, and where the idea/image came from.

If you have photos of door art, or a information on a door, please email me the the photo (or information) to the email addy at the bottom of the page. If the image is in digital format that's great, if you have a "hard copy" of a door, and have the ability to scan it, please do so in 300DPI or larger and send it in.

To give you a little background on how I became interested in door art and why I'm so interested in it here's an exert from my book...

How did I become interested in the A-10s door art? Well, I have always been somewhat of a history buff so during my 23 1/2 year Air Force career I would always study the history of the aircraft I was working at the time to help motivate me in my daily duties.

I started working on the A-10 Thunderbolt II back in 1992 when they replaced the OV-10 Broncos at Shaw Air Force Base South Carolina, where I was stationed. At that time the internet was fairly new, at least to me, and I had no home computer. My main references on the A-10 were books and the few video which were available to me. My first few year working the A-10 I read what I could, and learned as much as I could about the history of the “Warthog” but, it was very limited knowledge to say the least.

I moved to Moody AFB Georgia in 1995 and worked the A-10 as a crew chief, expediter, production super, and flight chief for the next four years which keep me busy with little time for my passion, the history of the Hawg.

In 1998 I was hired as the Headquarters Air Combat Command (HQ/ACC), A-10 Maintenance Liaison (ACC-LO), working in the A-10 System Program office (SPO) at McClellan AFB California. When I was hired as the ACC-LO it took me out of the every-day working of the A-10 and allowed me more time to research its history. I bought a home computer that same year and got connected to the internet.

Working for HQ/ACC and inside the A-10 System Program Office allowed me unparalleled accesses to the entire A-10 community and to people within the SPO who had worked the A-10 their whole careers. The SPO was also full of historical documents and people more than happy to answer any questions I had on the A-10; I was in Hog heaven to say the least!

McClellan, which had been the A-10’s depot since the first A-10 rolled through in 1979, closed in 2002 as part of the 1998 Base Realignment and Closure Committees (BRAC) recommendations. I moved, along with the A-10 SPO and the A-10 depot, to Hill AFB Utah in 2000. Part of my job at Hill was working with a new section within the SPO known as the “Hog Readiness Team.” Their job, and mine, was to get hard-to-find parts, or parts not yet being produced at Hill, for the A-10s to keep them flying during the depot transition.

One day I was called by the structures repair facility to look at a couple of crew boarding ladder doors which were in the shop for repair. They had been removed from storied aircraft at the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) outside Tucson Arizona. These doors were going to be stripped of all paint, inspected, necessary repairs made, and sent to the field to replace damaged doors. As some of you may or may not know the Maintenance and Regeneration Center is the US Air Forces storage area for aircraft which are no longer in active service. It’s better known as the aircraft bone-yard.

Before I continue I would like to tell you a little about the AMARC facility and the A-10s storied there. Between 1992 and 1995 174 A-10s were sent to AMARC for storage following Desert Storm. They were, and still are today, broken into two classes known as Inviolate and violate aircraft. Violate, or reclamation aircraft, are aircraft which will never be regenerated or sold to foreign countries and are used as a spare parts pool for aircraft still in the active fleet. They are the aircraft most commonly associated with AMARC. Inviolate are the aircraft held in reserve for possible regeneration or sale to foreign governments. They are “bagged and rapped” to protect them from the elements during their stay at AMARC. This sealing process is described by AMARC this way…

Seal Aerospace Vehicle for Storage

Most of the aircraft at AMARC are protected by a vinyl compound called Spraylat, which is sprayed on as two coats. The first coat is black in color and seals the aircraft to protect its systems from dust, moisture, animals and insects. The second coat, which is white in color, helps to reflect sunlight and heat to protect the aircraft from excessive internal temperatures. Before the spraylat is applied the engine intakes and exhaust areas have desiccant material installed into them. Other openings (such as boarding ladder doors) are filled with barrier material or barrier tape. All access panels, doors, plates and other small openings are sealed using tapes. Brushable spraylat is used in conjunction with the barrier materials and tape to ensure a complete seal. Cockpits are vented and glass and acrylic surfaces are cleaned before the spraylat is applied to them.

Of the 184 aircraft sent to AMARC 85 were held in inviolate storage and 99 where placed in violate.

To continue, the doors I was going to look at had been removed and sent to Hill AFB for refurbishment from the violate storage aircraft so they could be used on active aircraft with damaged, non-reparable doors. Part of the refurbishment process was to strip all the paint and inspect them for cracks and corrosion, repair them as needed, and then repaint them before shipping them to an active unit. One of the individuals in the shop wanted me to take a look at some “art” on the doors and tell them if it was OK for them to strip it off. I believe this was the first time Hill AFB workers had seen A-10 door art and they were a bit unsure of just what it was, and what to do with it. The workers at McClellan had seen A-10 door art come through their shops hundreds of times, during their twety plus years as the A-10s depot, and knew it was no big deal to strip it off to do the needed inspections and repairs.

I too had seen lots of door art working the A-10 at Shaw AFB SC. and Moody AFB GA but, wanted to look at this art to make sure it wasn’t something special I wasn’t aware of before I gave the OK to removed it. Hey, it was a slow day at work anyway.

I drove to the east side of the base where the shop was located and found the supervisor who had called. I told him I was here to look at the A-10 ladder doors before they were stripped because they may had some sort of special art on them? My first look at the doors was as we turned a corner into the paint shop and saw them sitting on the floor leaning ageist the wall. They were sitting with the art facing the inside so I couldn’t see it as we approached. We walked up to the doors, three of them, and the supervisor reached down and picked one up. He then turned it around so I could see the art on the inside.

All I could say was WOW!!! Looking at me from the door was an evil clown with wild reddish orange hair, long pointed teeth, leaning against the bottom of the door like he was ready to jump out at me if I got to close! The phrase “Dangerous Toy” was written above the image in large balloon style letters.

As I said before I knew what door art was and had see a number of them working on A-10s but, this one really struck me. First because of the design itself and second, the fact I knew these doors had been sealed-up in the boneyard for years. I realized I was looking at an image which had not been seen in close to a decade because it had been sealed behind spraylat, hidden from view! The art was also in such good shape for being as old as it was. Later as I thought about it I realized they were in such good shape because of the protective measures we talked about before taken by AMARC to protect the aircraft sitting in the desert form time and the elements.

Before I had time to fully take-in the image he put it back down on the floor, image facing out, and picked-up the next door in line. When he turned this one around I was again struck by a powerful image, this time a dragon (or serpent), hovering over what appeared to be a river of fire, or a crack in the earth filled with lava. I call this one “River Of Fire” and like the first door the colors on this one were still bright and full, and the image powerful.

He placed this one on the floor beside “Dangerous Toy” and picked-up the last door in line. This one was a simpler design of what I like to call a skull and cross-bone patch, with the title “Appetite for Destruction” above the image. He placed this one down beside the other two.

I stood back and looked at the three doors… man theses were nice pieces of art and I knew they dated back to the Desert Storm era, or before. For the first time seeing door art I wondered, who had painted the images, what did the images mean to the crew chief and pilot, and what would they think about the up-coming fate of their door’s art? I knew these images were most likely long forgotten by the people who had them painted and they probably thought the images had been lost years ago but, here they were in their full glory.

I was again asked what they should do about the art because, as I said before, they believed them to be something special. They were special just not in the sense they were thinking. I knew what I had to say but, I took a minute to just look at the doors. I was fascinated by Dangerous Toy. I guess it was because of the psychological impact of that evil looking clown and the title Dangerous Toy fit the A-10 aircraft so well, I thought it was just too cool! Also remember my love of history? These were three doors from the Desert Storm era which had been “written-off” by most people as lost but, here they were in their full glorie. I would later find out more about Dangerous Toy’s origin, history, and the person who had painted it but, more on this later.

As I studied the doors I turned to the supervisor and said what I knew I had to say, “Do what you had to do to fix the doors and get them out into the field.” I knew this meant the art would be destroyed but, my job was to keep aircraft in the field flying and to do this, these doors had to be inspected and repaired as needed. At that moment I would have loved to have been able to say something different but, in the end I knew, the art would have to go.

Before I left I ask the shop supervisor to take photos of the art before they sand-blasted the images off so there would at least be a visual record of them. To my disappointment I found out a week later this didn’t happen when I asked for copies of the pictures. This sadden me very much because I knew no one had see that art in years and now it was lost forever, or so I thought. After asking around I finally tracked-down some pictures of the doors that AMARC had taken when they first opened them up and found the art inside. I storied the pictures on my computer at work, thinking to myself, a small piece of A-10 history was lost the day they sand-blasted those doors. The opportunity to get even a simple photographic record of these doors was also almost missed.

This incident made me think of all the door art images lost through the years because no visual record had been made of them. It always seems there’s time tomorrow to take a picture of “your” aircraft, or “your” door but, as I have learned sometimes that day just never comes or, slips through your fingers for one reason or another. I also thought of the World II nose art, which I have always loved, and how people today are still trying to track-down images and information on that art, sixty years later. With the pictures storied on my computer I forgot about Dangerous Toy, River of Fire, and Appetite for Destruction with little thought of how they would affect me very soon.

About a week later I was walking through the depot hangar and noticed another door across the hangar with some type of art on it. Remembering my experience a week pry I walked over to take a closer look. As I walked-up to the aircraft I could see it was a stylized A-10 with the words “Junkyard Hawg” written in “bullet holes”. As I’ve said a number of times I knew about door art and had see a number of them in my years on the A-10 but, I think this was the first time I had really stopped and looked closely at one. Again I wondered what this art meant to the pilot and crew chief of the jet and, what in the future would happen to it. Would it fall pray to the sand-blaster like Dangerous Toy, River of Fire and Appetite for Destruction? Would it disappear without so much as a photograph?

I think my interest in A-10’s history and my experience the previous week coupled together to make me realize I was seeing history in the making right before my eyes in the form of A-10 door art. Door art, like true nose art, reflects the times it was painted in, the current military climate, and most importantly a small piece of the personalities of the air and ground crews who have them painted. That day I decided to photograph (and later collect from any source available) all the door art I could so there would, at the very least, be a photographic record of this art form. I also decided to find out as much as I could about each piece of art so there would be more than just a visual record if at all possible.

To me much of the A-10 door art is the Warthog’s nose art of the Cold War. The people who had the three AMARC doors painted could not have imagined their art would have such an affect on someone a decade later but, they did, and still do today. So that’s why I have been photographing and documenting background information on ladder door art from that day forward, and will continue to do so as long as I can.
End

Ladder door art is a true art form in my opinion and has been "hidden" for way to long. If you would like to see a couple of examples of doors and the info I've collected click on the images below.

If you can help me with my project in the form of pictures or information please send it to the email addy below.

Send images or information to...
Hogpen13@aol.com

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