4 real.

 

ok....30mm still awsome to see it in person...

 

I have always loved the A-10, neat story. When I was like 9 or 10, me and dad were fishing by a runway at NAS Dallas when it was open years back. dad is retired Navy, so he had "privilages", anyway I look up and 2 Warthogs were preparing for takeoff and we were at the end of the runway. I was so excited, and when they came "screaming by" because of the turbine whine, I could have swore I got a woody, but I was too young, sure felt like one. It was AWESOME!! I also remember sitting on top of a hanger in Millington, TN back in the early early 80's watching the blue angels. AWESOME also.

 

its such a cool plane. the placement of the engines... the gatling gun with DU slugs,... its such a beast.

 

I saw A-10 wart hogs do a lot of moc runs through the hills & valleys in South Korea.


Never heard one fire, except for on TV.


Anything that can kill a main battle tank with bullets, gets my vote.
That GAU-8 Avenger cannon is no punk. Although the projectile is only 50% larger than the one on the M-61 Vulcan 20MM cannon, it hits the target with 12 times the kinetic energy.

If the A-10 was capable of a hig-speed dog fight with a regular fighter, that gun would rip an aircraft to shreds. (Brrrrp) Bye-Bye Mig-31.

Unfortunately, A-10 is in it's element being slow & low. Whereas the A-10 can't touch an F-14, 15, 16, 18 or 22 at 36,000 feet. None of them can get low and go turn for turn with the A-10.

She's weak, she's under-powered, and she's not that cute... But she gets the job done.

Were I a flyboy, and I couldn't get the F-15; I'd want the A-10.
You can keep the F-16... I know it's bad, but when my **** is on the line, I want more than 1 engine.

 

It is even more awesome seeing it fire. I have not seen that live, but have seen film of it taking about a tank. It has the most unique sound when it fires. Almost a buzz. The closest I have seen to the 30mm firing is a 20mm firing at Aberdeen Proving Grounds at a live fire demo right after Desert Storm. It was neat, although quite wimpy compared to everything else I saw that day. Was even within 3 fft of an M-1A1 driving by. Let's just say the ground vibrated as it went by.

 

gotta love the sound of that cannon

 

its not unlike the phalanx cannon used on naval ships. super high speed guns that sound like one long buzz

 

I read somewhere that besides needing to acquire the target, an A10 goes into a dive before firing it's cannon because the recoil slows the bird down enough in level flight to where stalling may be a problem...now that's a badass cannon.

 

Yeah- I've heard that too- I duno if it's true.

They say the recoil is equal to the thrust of the engines.
That would be one tough cookie if they'd put some real engines on it. Discovery winds said teh engines are basically, the same engines on the Lear-jets of the 1970's.

I think quiet operation was more important than afterburners, considering it's role... I can appreicate that- but, when the time comes to get out of Dadge, I'd like to be able to get the he!! out of Dodge...

Air Force pilots say the A-10 is the only plane in the service that suffers bird strikes, from behind.

But, when it comes to killin', aside from the A-10- if you want to get up close & personal with your killin', I can think of no better machine to protect you, while you slay them...

 

I saw a Discovery Special on it once...in Desert Storm an a-10 actually had half of one wing destroyed and it still made it home..thats awesome

 

An F-15 too...

The A-10 was designed to make it home on one engine, one wing, and with a chunk of the fuselage missing. That's tough.

The F-15 wasn't built that way; but he made it anyway. The pilot said if he had been able to see his wing, he'd have bailed out for fear of losing control- but he didn't see it, fortunately his wingman didn't see it (Or didn't say anything) and the Eagle brought him home...

 

One of the Apache models packs the 30mm GAU-8/A Gatling gun, too. I've heard it fire down range on training exercises at Ft. Polk, LA. We called it "The Dragon." One bad-assed ****.

 

wasn't it the Apache that became target practice du jour for the Taliban? Not sure, but one of the helicopters truned out to be very vulnerable to cowards with RPGs hiding between rocks (or under them)

 

PeeWee Herman could knock out Tyson if he caught him in the right situation.


























Well, he could if he had an RPG.