Can we discuss how cool A10's are?

[Konigballer]

"The fuel tank is designed to reseal itself if it takes stuff like 7.62 and I think even a bit larger."


Combat aircraft have actually been using self-sealing fuel tanks since WW2. The tanks have a kind of "rubber" bladder around them so when a bullet passes through the bladder, it only creates a slit through the rubber that can reseal itself, instead of punching a hole that would leak.

One of the reasons early WW2 Japanese aircraft, like the Zero and Oscar, where such easy kills was because they lacked self sealing fuel tanks. Thats why in WW2 combat footage from our planes, you will see japanese fighters explode spectacularly, often after very few hits.

[TransMan]

about 2 years ago i went to a live fire demonstration at Ft. Knox they demonstratied tanks and howitzers Apaches and the best of all were the two A10's that flew over and shot the hell out of a bunch off old tanks soooooooooooo SWEET!

I learned from one of the pilots earlier in the day that basicly what happens when they shoot a tank it super heats the whole tank almost instantly pretty much burning all its occupants alive VERY quickly.

[BlackVCG]

Interesting. I didn't know they had that technology back then. Thanks for the info.

I'm sure, in the case of the A-10, the effectiveness and the ability to handle larger puncture sizes were improved over WWII aircraft.

[Blennidae]

Also, I like how the gun is offset from center
I remember hearing/reading something like that if the gun was centered it would ruin the frame. Something like that.

Actually its the nose gear that is off center, to make room for the gun. The barrel that fires has to be on centerline, or the recoil would cause problems when fired.

[rkjunior303]

Those things are just pure grunt.. Sure they don't fly supersonic.. but they are highly manueverable in a low altitude, low airspeed environment.. Those things were invaluable in afghanistan... Defintely one of my favorite aircraft in the services.

[fire1811]

i have a video of an A-10 making a strafe run. its pretty damn amazing.
anyone want to host it?

[Halliday]

Oh, I guess that was it keeping the gun on center. Makes sense........ putting it on the side would make for a nasty spin

[Jeffy-CanCon]

...

Speaking of plane durability, there was an incident where two F-15's collided and the one lost one of its wings. The pilot got the plane on the ground and the airbase called Lockheed to have them come look at the plane. They told them "There is no way that plane lost its wing in flight and landed safely." The pilots attested to it so Lockheed did some tests. Come to find out the F-15 is aerodynamically stable and can fly without any wings.... Gotta love that Pratt F-100. It's all about power to weight-ratio.

That's amazing. I remember in the Gulf War how they had an A-10 come back missing half it's tail, but a whole wing?!

[devildog]

man, when the poop hits the fan, nothing makes me happier than to see the a-10s rolling in. they are my best friend

[Steelrat]

It's an awesome aircraft, and I wish they were making more. SFAIK, all the current aircraft date from the early 70's, as teh design was done in the late 60's.

I heard about the proposal to phase them out and replace them in the CAS role with modified F-16s, and I thought it was the stupidest thing ever. The F-16 is a paper target compared to the A-10, for battlefield survivability. Less armour, less armament, less dwell time.

Consider the environment they were planning for at the time. The A-10 is an awesome plane, but in a was against the old Warsaw Pact it would have taken a beating from SAMs (the soviets had a TON of SAMs) and enemy aircraft. The A-10 is tought, but not really able to survive in an environment with a lot of threats. The A-16 would have been fast, and better equipped to utilize precision stand-off weapons, though it would have lacked the slow speed, loiter, and big gun of the A-10.

What the A-10 IS is a superb place for COIN and low-intensity conflicts. With few-to-none anti-aircraft threats, the A-10 is able to do what it does best, blow stuff up, without any major risk. The little AAA that the iraqis can toss at it isnt much of a threat at all.

And the Avenger cannon IS offset to the side, but just remember that only ONE barrel in a gatling-type gun is actually firing, and the position that the gun actually fires from is on the centerline. When the barrels are not lined up in that position, they are in the process of extracing and loading.

[rkjunior303]

even the landing gear was designed with being touch in mind. if for some reason the hydraulics systems go out, the gear is lowered backwards so when released airspeed will lock it into place.

does anyone knoe why it was designed to use turbofans rather than an actual jet? Was it the low speed, high manueverability?

[Automaggin2]

Yummy, depleted uranium tipped shells


My uncle went to the Air Force academy and flew A10s for about 10 years. He said they were so much fun to fly. He has videos of him flying and straffing. Those things are flying tanks basically.

[Steelrat]

even the landing gear was designed with being touch in mind. if for some reason the hydraulics systems go out, the gear is lowered backwards so when released airspeed will lock it into place.

does anyone knoe why it was designed to use turbofans rather than an actual jet? Was it the low speed, high manueverability?

A turbofan IS an actual jet. Turbojets havent been used for quite a while. As for why they used airliner engines, I would guess that its because they were cheap (no development costs) efficient, and perfectly suited to the A-10, which doesnt need the thrust provided by more powerful turbofans with afterburners and the like.

[PyRo]

Airliner engines are quieter too arn't they?

[Steelrat]

probably, and thats another good attribute for a CAS plane.