It’s hard to believe that it was less than seven decades ago that German highways were used by Luftwaffe pilots on their Messerschmitt bf109s or Focke-Wulf Fw 190s as improvised airstrips, but it’s even harder to believe that A-10 Thunderbolts, F-16s, and even Hercules cargo plane can still do it today.
The photo captures the moment in which the A-10 is about to land in an emergency simulation. The following clip shows how these highway segments are used as emergency airstrips—first conceived by the Nazis before World War II—work with portable facilities like radar, control tower, fire and ambulance service, and refueling.
