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The awesome A-10 video the Air Force doesn’t want you to see
Business Insider ^ | Sept. 2015 | Business Insider

Posted on 09/09/2015 5:16:15 PM PDT by WilliamofCarmichael

The A-10 Warthog is the only aircraft built for a close-air-support (CAS) mission.

It was literally designed around its distinctive 30mm Gatling gun. The gun is more than 19 feet long and weighs more than 4,000 pounds.

The distinctive sound made by the weapon (aka the BRRRRRRRRRT – . . . .

(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: a10; aerospace; aviation; combat; support
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To: FreeAtlanta
Easier to see here, the original P-47 Tunderbolt models (P-47-A thru early -D variants) had a high spine aft of the cockpit and were called "Razorback" as in "Razorback Hog.":

Later -D models and subsequent variants had the full bubbletop canopy.:

A-10s are called "Hawgs" simply because they're ugly and like to get down in the dirt:


41 posted on 09/09/2015 7:51:31 PM PDT by PLMerite ("The issue is never the issue. The issue is the Revolution.")
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Sounds like *FREEDOM* to me! [sic]

Awesome, wonderful video. We have the BEST men and BEST military! God Bless and keep them from harm.


42 posted on 09/09/2015 7:56:25 PM PDT by Daffynition (*We are not descended from fearful men*)
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To: WilliamofCarmichael; Hulka

Maybe FReeper and ‘Warthog Driver’ Hulka would weigh in on this thread? BBBBZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!


43 posted on 09/09/2015 7:57:02 PM PDT by bobby.223 (Retired up in the snowy mountains of the American Redoubt and it's a great life!)
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To: Riley

Yes it was and I shared on FB as well.


44 posted on 09/09/2015 8:04:22 PM PDT by bonfire
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To: PLMerite

This former Army guy thinks the A-10 is the prettiest plane we have and I hope they keep it. I really believe it is a mistake to get rid of it because nothing else we have can do what it does so well.


45 posted on 09/09/2015 9:21:24 PM PDT by volunbeer
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To: volunbeer
I think A-10s are beautiful because they do their job (destroying things) very well. But then again, I like the lines of a Stuka, too:

The Ju-87G Model was a functional predecessor (tank killer and CAS) of the A-10. IIRC the guys on the A-10 design team were required to read Oberst Rudel's book "Stuka Pilot." Above is one of his aircraft.

46 posted on 09/09/2015 9:41:41 PM PDT by PLMerite ("The issue is never the issue. The issue is the Revolution.")
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To: FreeAtlanta; All

Your #36 graphic is great!

Most jet pilots are small in stature because the cockpits are compact. The A-10 can accommodate larger pilots.

(My ‘small in stature’ comment derives from when I was a skinny 18y/o on the flight deck of a carrier and found myself to be bigger than most pilots.)

Chad Hennings was 6’6” and about 290#! Hall of Fame football player in NCAA and Air Force Academy Atheletes. Won three Super Bowl rings as a DT for the Dallas Cowboys in the ‘90s.

Oh yeah.... He was a Warthog pilot in Iraq before joining the Cowboys, even though he was drafted by them in ‘88 while still at the AFA in Colorado. ....Fantastic guy and aircraft.


47 posted on 09/10/2015 12:05:24 AM PDT by octex
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To: WilliamofCarmichael

Love me some A-10! Hope there’s a couple at the Reno Air Races/show next week. Anybody?


48 posted on 09/10/2015 8:02:15 AM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?!)
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To: bobby.223; WilliamofCarmichael
Great video. . .swells my heart.

Most fun you can have is to fly that jet and shoot that gun. . .most fun you can have with your trousers on, basically.

Worst nightmare is blue-on-blue. It happens and something we KNOW happens, but a nightmare scenario that Hog Drivers wake up in a sweat over. When I was a FAC on the ground calling in A-10’s. I was never concerned about frat from CAS aircraft as I knew the guys would do anything to get me and my Army troop brothers out of a jam, too include giving their own life. . .and CAS pilots have been doing that since the first CAS mission.

Hog Drivers are proud of their jet and their mission. Deeply proud.

Before Gulf War I, the A-10 was the red-headed step-child of the Air Force. Never really respected. . .but then GWI came along and even Gen Horner, the biggest anti-A-10 ass around, praised the A-10.

The jet is irreplaceable. Its ability to do the CAS mission is unmatched. Sadly, the Air Force and DoD are making the same mistake it did back during Vietnam—buying a jet that is supposed to do all missions, be everything to everyone. . . the JSF is the F-111 of our time.

Rationale? Why pay for a single-mission jet when we can buy a multi-mission jet? Stupid question that gets a stupid answer. . the JSF.

49 posted on 09/10/2015 11:03:02 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: FreeAtlanta
When I first flew the A-10 we didn't even have INS. . .we didn't need no stinking INS, that's why gawd made maps.

Would practice strafe runs out to 12,000 feet. Fun stuff. . .very accurate even without radar-ranging, stabilization software and all that gizmo stuff. Could punch through an inch and a half of armor at 8,000’ whereas the JSF needs to close to 2,000’ to get that penetrating power.

Pfffttt. . .

50 posted on 09/10/2015 11:07:21 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: Tenacious 1
Living in Kansas City in the 70s & 80s, we had A-10s just down the road at Richards-Geubar AFB in Grandview. One day, riding my Kawasaki south, down 71 highway, some joker in an A-10 decided to buzz me at what couldn't have been more than 50 feet. Scared the hell out of me.

We also had annual air shows at RG-AFB, and getting to see the A-10s maneuver was really incredible. It was amazing how quiet those planes are when they're coming at you,but holy crap, they're LOUD when they overfly you! Of course, there were no live fire exercises at the airshow, which was something of a let-down.

While I've never experienced the 30mm cannon, I used to do a lot of work out at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, and I used to hear test fire of the 20mm Gatling cannons, and that was incredible. I can only imagine what the 30mm sounds like.

Mark

51 posted on 09/13/2015 8:52:33 PM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: jneesy
so naturally the air force wants to get rid of it

The AF has been trying to kill the A-10 since before the first Gulf War. The A-10's incredible success there really pissed off a lot of AF brass.

Mark

52 posted on 09/13/2015 8:55:19 PM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: FreeAtlanta
I remember reading that the A-10s were so "low tech" during the 1st Gulf War that pilots would often wear the same sort of night-vision goggles that the infantry used. And when actively searching for targets at long distances, they'd use the IR TV cameras in their Maverick missiles at night, and just use binoculars during the day!

Mark

53 posted on 09/13/2015 9:04:57 PM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: PLMerite

IIRC, weren’t P-47s “retasked” during the Korean and early Viet Nam wars to act as CAS, loaded up with rockets under the wings, as well as the internal M2 .50 machine guns?

Mark


54 posted on 09/13/2015 9:07:46 PM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: MarkL
IIRC, weren’t P-47s “retasked” during the Korean and early Viet Nam wars to act as CAS,

You may be confusing P-47s with the lookalike AD-1 Skyraider.

55 posted on 09/13/2015 9:21:56 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: MarkL

low Tech is part of the answer.

A combination of high tech F-22s, and low tech A-10s and men on the ground is how we can beat our enemies.

Apache helicopters aren’t bad, either.


56 posted on 09/13/2015 9:23:59 PM PDT by FreeAtlanta (Restore Liberty!)
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To: okie01

You’re right, the Skyraider.

Sorry!


57 posted on 09/13/2015 9:32:11 PM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: bobby.223

Interesting. . .thought you’d like to know I was just called a liar for “claiming” to be a fighter pilot and stealing glory and all that. . . http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3344111/posts?page=139#139


58 posted on 10/04/2015 11:41:16 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: BenLurkin

Give them to the Marine Corps, we love CAS.


59 posted on 01/14/2016 10:42:36 AM PST by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: WilliamofCarmichael

Great video.


60 posted on 01/14/2016 10:44:04 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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