A random question I came up with, while reading about the A-10 Thunderbolt II , affectionately reffered to as “The Warthog.” Basically, the plane was built to be a very rugged, very simple, very reliable, and excessively heavily armed Close Air Support aircraft, using minimal avionics and electronics to maximise ease of maintinance and repair in the field, not to mention having the GAU-8A Avenger BFG, allowing it to take out main battle tanks in as little as six hits.
Is there any particular reason that this plane couldn’t have been built in the late 1960’s or early 1970s? If the gun (or the ammo) was beyond the day’s technology, perhaps some other kind of hard-hitting primary weapon?
I think it is safe to say that the Warthog was built because of Vietnam not coincidental to Vietnam. Once you get a plane like that you find that it is adaptable to all kinds of useful purposes that may not have inspired the initial need.
I thought it was primarily intended for use against Soviet tanks. In Vietnam we had the A-1 Skyraider (dad flew in the AEW version in Korea), which, according to dad, ‘had the instantaneous firepower of a light cruiser’. The A-7 Corsair II could also carry a good load, and had a 20mm canon that could be useful against grount targets.
Me too. I saw one performing at the Chino Air Show last year, and I’ve seen one frequently operating out of Bellingham. Unfortunately I don’t have a spare $500,000 at the moment.
During the 90’s I saw an A-10 with a large AWACS like antenna on it. Flying rather low, in the woods behind my house. What was the National Guard doing?
My first thought was that the avionics and airframe were doable with '50s technology, but not the main gun.
It turns out that the GAU 8/A wasn’t immediately available when the Warthog went into production, so until the Avenger was ready, they used the older M61 Vulcan. The Vulcan is very much '50s technology.
There’s a brilliant photo of a GAU 8/A sitting next to a Volkswagon Beatle on that Wikipedia link.
For some reason, I was under the impression that it was from the early 80s or very late 70s. :smack:
On an unrelated note, every time I hit the apostrophe key in the reply box in Firefox, it makes the Find bar come up on the bottom. Very annoying. :mad:
Consider that the military was looking for a next generation plane to replace the A-7. The Vietnamese were procuring much of their equipment from the Soviets. The beauty of the (ugly) Warthog was that it was so versitile. It was a plane that could be used for lots of different purposes with real world applications. From what I have heard, it was one of those rare military weapons programs that had very few critics as far as cost and application.
