[x1stcav]

It seems like deja vu all over again.

Some of you flyers help my memory here. Wasn't it in the late 60's or early 70's that the Army proposed its own close air support fixed wing based on an updated P51 airframe with turbo power?

Didn't the AF go crazy and was the A10 a result?

[Gnarly]

I believe that there was some consideration of using a beefed-up P-51 with turboprop. You may also recall that the 1st Cav experimented with UV-1 Mohawks w/guns in RVN. The Air Force went nuts.

[VOA]

Wasn't it in the late 60's or early 70's that the Army proposed its own close air
support fixed wing based on an updated P51 airframe with turbo power?

That's the Piper Enforcer (PA-48).
I remember it because of that hughmongous exhaust vent on the fuselage.

See it (and some text) at this URL on the Wright-Patterson AFB Museum site:
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/annex/an2.htm

And for other Mustang fanatics (plane AND car):
www.mustangsmustangs.com

[ASOC]

The revised A-51 was a counter to the A-10 -- to save money.
For the record, the A-10 replaced the A7 and the A7 pilots were none to happy. None of the wiz-bang avionics. I worked on the A10 OT&E at Nellis in the early 70s. First time they fired the gun, an engine flamed out because of injestion of powder residue....A WHOLE lot of work went into the plane to make it work.

You may remember when, in GW1, the A10s got close to ZSU-23/4 they got shredded big time. The A10 was originally made for 'nam as a COIN support A/C like the Mohawk or Bronco. The Bronco and F4 had a 30mm gun pod for busting tanks as well.

A Preditor with a Hellfire sounds like a good deal to me.

BTW, the USAF will still provide CAS for the Army and Corps - weather permitting.....which is why the smart commander will insist on arty to go along to the field.

Hoo-ah