The Maryland Air National Guard retired its A-10 Thunderbolt flying mission this week, marking a significant transition for one of the nation’s oldest Air Guard units. On Tuesday, the 175th Operations Group, 175th Maintenance Group and subordinate units were inactivated as part of a U.S. Air Force divestment plan.
The move shifts the 104th Fighter Squadron toward a new role supporting cyber operations. The unit, federally recognized in 1921, has been part of Maryland’s military aviation sphere for more than a century.
The Air Force began phasing out the Maryland Air National Guard A-10 fleet in March, concurrent with its larger phased retirement of the aircraft. Over the past two decades, the squadron completed nine combat deployments, including missions aimed at deterring Russian aggression, the service said. In 2024, the aircraft supported three operations.
“Nobody understands the importance of these aircraft better than the men and women of the 175th Wing,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement. “While I never had the honor of deploying our A-10s as governor, I am very proud to be the governor who is able to say: job well done.”
The last two A-10s will depart Martin State Airport for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, where they will join hundreds of other retired aircraft in long-term storage. The transition does not end Maryland’s flying mission, however. In December 2024, Moore announced that the Air Force’s 121st Fighter Squadron would move from Washington, D.C.’s Air National Guard to Maryland.
“We have advocated vigorously to maintain Maryland’s flying mission, both in the interest of national security and to continue the proud tradition that Maryland plays in defending our country,” Moore said at the time.
One of Maryland’s A-10s, tail number 79-0087, has been donated to the Hagerstown Aviation Museum after its final flight home to the place where it was built, Flying reported. Built in 1979 at the Fairchild Republic plant there and flown in Iraq and Afghanistan, the “Warthog” was welcomed by hundreds of spectators before joining the museum’s collection of historic Fairchild aircraft.
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