One of the best A10 descriptions I've ever read:

[Kenan]

From Youtube:

 

Sephirius

The GAU-8 was a case of a guy making a gun SO awesome, that he just stepped back, and said, "This shit needs to fly'. And everyone else is like, 'You cant make a gun fly!'. And the first guy is all like, 'F**k you, yes I can. I will strap a plane to this gun.' And everyone's like, 'You mean strap the gun to a plane?' And the first guy is like, 'No, man. I am strapping the plane to the gun. The plane is an accessory.' And then everyone's minds were blown. Ears were bleeding.

 

:D

[Eight Ball]

lol really nice :D

 

But in the flight manual released by ED, you can read that the prototype (YA-10) was initially equiped with an M61A1 20 mm cannon.

 

Page 20 :

The YA-10A was initially fitted with an M61A1 20 mm cannon that would later be replaced in production aircraft with the GAU-8/A 30 mm cannon.

So actually the plane wasn't build around the GAU-8, like many people tend to think.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Eight Ball

[PeterP]

@ Macadam

Yes you are right!

But this was just before

And then everyone's minds were blown. Ears were bleeding.

and after that happened - our "Guy" in the factual report (!) had free hands and could do what he wanted to do !

- this is just not included in the manual that ED released. -don't believe everything that is written down!

Hmm... Seems we will have to remind them to include it in the printed manual! :D

Edited March 18, 2011 by PeterP

[AlphaOneSix]

So actually the plane wasn't build around the GAU-8, like many people tend to think.

 

Well that's not completely true either. There requirement for the 30mm gun existed at the same time as the requirement for an airplane to mount it. The YA-9 and YA-10 prototypes were ready before the GAU-8 was out of development, so they had to mount *something* in the interim. The M61 is very common, so it was the best choice. The winner of the competition was never planned to go into production with a 20mm cannon, it was always planned to mount a 30mm cannon in the winning aircraft.

 

From the GAU-8 wiki entry:

 

"The GAU-8 was created as a parallel program with the A-X (or Attack Experimental) competition that produced the A-10. The specification for the cannon was laid out in 1970,[2] with General Electric and Philco-Ford offering competing designs. Both of the A-X prototypes, the YA-10 and the Northrop YA-9, were designed to incorporate the weapon, although it was not available during the initial competition, and the M61 Vulcan was used as a temporary replacement."

 

In other words, while the plane was not specifically built around the GAU-8 (which did not exist at the time), it was certainly built with a high velocity, high rate-of-fire 30mm cannon in mind.

[Eight Ball]

Thanks for the info !

 

Indeed when you see the room the GAU-8 needs, you can't really think it wasn't planned :)

[AlphaOneSix]

14% of the empty weight of the A-10 is the GAU-8 system. Ouch.

[PeterP]

In other words, while the plane was not specifically built around the GAU-8 (which did not exist at the time), it was certainly built with a high velocity, high rate-of-fire 30mm cannon in mind.

 

So (again) in other words, Kenan is absolutely right with his found factual report

and ED should include it in the printed manual?! - oh, come on. It has only 4 lines instead of 80 lines of military Bla-Bla;) so it would not suck up so much space to cover the real facts in the printed manual ! :thumbup:

Am I right?

Edited March 19, 2011 by PeterP

[Frostie]

It should also be noted that the Hog was originally designed as a single engined aircraft with a meagre nozzle sticking out the back, but because of the extreme nose down on take off's they added 2 huge oil drums strapped to the back to counter balance the weight of the GAU. Having realised the potential here they replaced the oil with two spanking new engines then removed the tail nozzle engine and replaced it with a stocky dwarf who they sealed inside with a lifetime supply of chupa chups. True story.

[PeterP]

Frostie, I didn't made it to the bath in time... but I'm still laughing ..

[Kenan]

So actually the plane wasn't build around the GAU-8, like many people tend to think.

 

Blasphemy!