![This A-10C 'Warthog' that rolled out of the local factory in the 1970s is being delivered in September to the Hagerstown Aviation Museum in Maryland. [Courtesy: Hagerstown Aviation Museum]](https://flyingmag1.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/087-at-Rider-Jet-Center-Sep-2017.jpg?width=1623&height=913)
For aviation historians and military history fans, Hagerstown Regional Airport (KHGR) in Maryland is the place to be in September, as the facility serves as the home of Fairchild Republic Aircraft, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
It begins on September 12-14 at the Hagerstown Aviation Museum with Wings & Wheels Expo, a celebration of flying Fairchild aircraft along with classic cars, food, and music.
The event includes an aircraft homecoming with hundreds of Fairchilds and others, a hangar dance, and on Sunday a roundtable discussion including those women who worked in the factory during World War II, dubbed “Rosie the Riveters,” who are in their 100s and looking forward to sharing their stories.
Airplane rides will be available for a $200 donation. More information on the event can be found here.
As part of the weekend celebration, on September 22 the museum will be taking delivery of the last Fairchild Republic A-10C used by the Maryland Air National Guard (ANG). The A-10C, tail number 79-0087, rolled out of the factory at Hagerstown in 1979. It will be retired from its role with the ANG to become a permanent exhibit at the museum.
About ‘087’
According to museum officials, the combat-flown aircraft has been serving with the 175th Wing of the Maryland Air National Guard since it rolled out of the factory in 1979. Museum officials say the last mission of the “Warthog,” as the aircraft is known, will be for it to fly home to KHGR, the very airport it first launched from some 46 years ago.
The aircraft will be “demilled” and added to the museum’s collection of Fairchild Republic aircraft.
“It is the largest museum-owned collection of Fairchilds in existence,” said Tom Riford, museum board member and vice president of Rider Jet Center in Hagerstown.
This A-10 was used in Iraq and Afghanistan. During these conflicts the Fairchild A-10 gained a reputation for providing effective and devastating close air support. Known as a “flying tank,” it earned the nickname Warthog for being tough and aggressive, yet some suggested it is aesthetically challenged like its animal counterpart.
On the day of the delivery, the museum will open at 10 a.m. EDT, with the planned arrival time set for noon. The public is invited to attend, and admission will be by donation.
“This is an emotional and historic moment, not just for the museum, but for our entire community,” said John Seburn, president of the Hagerstown Aviation Museum. “Now, after decades of faithful service defending American troops, 087 is coming home.”
According to Seburn, between 1976 and 1984, some 700 A-10s were produced by the Fairchild Republic factory in Hagerstown.
The plane will be flown by Major Taylor Price, who will be coming from the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th Wing in Baltimore.
“This will be its last flight, ever,” said Riford. “We understand it is the Maryland Air National Guard unit’s last flight also, as the unit is being divested of all its aircraft and transitioning to a cyber unit.”
![This A-10C, tail number 79-0087, rolled out of the factory at Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1979. [Courtesy: Hagerstown Aviation Museum]](https://flyingmag1.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/image-3-1.png?width=834&height=668)
The Fairchild A-10 087 will be permanently preserved—also known as demilling the aircraft—and then put on display at the museum through the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force civilian museum loan program.
“We would like to thank the National Museum of the USAF and the 175th Wing of the Maryland Air National Guard for the opportunity to receive this iconic Hagerstown-built A-10,” said Kurtis Meyers, vice president and curator of the Hagerstown Aviation Museum. “This tribute honors Fairchild’s legacy, the veterans who served with it, and the thousands of workers who designed and built the A-10.”
The Fairchild legacy is strong at the airport, according to Riford, noting that the building the museum currently occupies was the WWII-era Fairchild factory.
“It is made of wood and known as ”the dome,'” he said.
In the 1940s the factory turned out many airplanes, including hundreds of PT-19s. PT stands for “primary trainer,” and Riford said “pretty much every pilot started their training in a PT-19 before they went on to other aircraft.”
