>make it to France before the Russians could steamroll Germany.
Wat. France left NATO in 1966, there would be no C5s landing in France with anything.
The A10 was in fact intended to offset the Soviet Union's vast advantage in numbers, but there was no believable scenario in the 1980s in which the Soviets would have failed to force the Fulda Gap with armor within 48 hours ... absent use of tactical nukes. This is why the German people were extremely unhappy about the presence of Pershings in West Germany, because the only way to prevent the Russians from overrunning West Germany was to nuke West Germany.
France left the joint military structure in 1966, it was still bound by the military alliance. It would be ridiculous to think they would honour the alliance, but refuse to allow American planes to land in France in the event of war.
Wat. France left NATO in 1966, there would be no C5s landing in France with anything.
The A10 was in fact intended to offset the Soviet Union's vast advantage in numbers, but there was no believable scenario in the 1980s in which the Soviets would have failed to force the Fulda Gap with armor within 48 hours ... absent use of tactical nukes. This is why the German people were extremely unhappy about the presence of Pershings in West Germany, because the only way to prevent the Russians from overrunning West Germany was to nuke West Germany.