A friend of mine worked with the company that built the A10s and lost his job when they were taken out of production.
He said at the time that the Air Force was embarassed by the A10 because it was sub-sonic and so ugly. They envisioned all future needs of close ground support would be met by the sleeker jets flown by their hot dog jet jocks.
Poor old Warthogs just keep trashing those ideas.
Part of the beauty of design in the Wart hog is that the cockpit is essentially a titanium tub and the controls have wire cable backup (or so I've been told). Supposedly they can be shot full of holes and make it home in one piece.
Now will someone please post some A-10 Warthog footage?!????