That it did. Was there, saw the results.
A-10C Firing the Avenger, 30mm
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That it did. Was there, saw the results.
Having worked with the A-10 in Alaska--a looong time ago--I can say I never heard of the gun smoke "extinguishing the engines, although it does cause a degrade in power over time. For that reason the engines are water-washed every 100 hours of flight, at least during my time with them. Water washing is running soap solution through the engine while the turbine are spun up followed by a clear-water rinse and engine run to dry everything out. They did a couple of cannon mods to a few A-10 there. One changed the two-speed rate of fire to a single rate of fire. They also changed the cannon muzzle to a different design to blow the gun smoke down below the plane. It worked in that aspect, but the powder particles cause significant erosion on bomb racks etc. (Think sand blasting) and a vibration caused some items to crack. I've never seen another A-10 with the muzzle mod since.
Yes, the center of gravity is affected by the ammo weight, thus the "empties" are retained in the ammo drum. Even on the ground, if the drum is emptied for maintenance, a jack is placed under the tail to prevent the aircraft from tipping on its tail. Ammo for practice is "TP" (Blue bullets). Combat ammo was either API (Armor piercing incendiary) or HEI (High explosive incendiary). Yes, the casings are an alum alloy.
Operating at sub-zero temps with the aircraft parked outside (No heated hangars at the time) was a bear and hard on the planes, but we managed to get them airborne in temps down to -45 to -50.
Yes, the center of gravity is affected by the ammo weight, thus the "empties" are retained in the ammo drum. Even on the ground, if the drum is emptied for maintenance, a jack is placed under the tail to prevent the aircraft from tipping on its tail. Ammo for practice is "TP" (Blue bullets). Combat ammo was either API (Armor piercing incendiary) or HEI (High explosive incendiary). Yes, the casings are an alum alloy.
Operating at sub-zero temps with the aircraft parked outside (No heated hangars at the time) was a bear and hard on the planes, but we managed to get them airborne in temps down to -45 to -50.
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If that's the case it would make sense to transfer them to Army Aviation.
It's closer to an Apache helicopter than a F-16
@SMSgt: THANK YOU
OP
That transfer was being discussed in the 80s when I was stationed at Ft. Rucker. I had my hand raised as high as I could get it. Then Desert Storm came along and the Air Force rethought the idea.
And that's why you live in "The Sunshine State." Joe
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Pretty sure that would win any bear gun argument.
My understanding is that the army is prohibited from having jet-powered warplanes by law. Part of the army-air force separation agreement. Propeller-driven aircraft would be okay, but not an A-10.
Partly true. It wasn't how cold it got in the interior of AK, it was how long it stayed cold. Sub-zero in mid October and remained so until maybe early March. Most of my service was in the more northern areas (WA, IN, AK, WA) and the shoveling snow got really old.
Then the Marines could pick it up.
If the Navy allowed it. I'm sure the grunts on the ground in both services would love to have their own A-10s at their beckon, but they don't get a vote in that decision. Unfortunately...
DWalt
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What if the Iraqis had manpads in 1991? It's a much different battlefield today.
LVSteve
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They did. At least one Tornado crew found that out doing a JP233 run.
jdh
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The Army is "prohibited" from having any armed fixed wing aircraft. The Mohawk had rocket pods mounted on wing pylons, Strictly to launch smoke marking rockets "they" said. The Air Force claimed it to be a violation of the 1948 Key West Agreement and threw a blue balled hissy fit. The rocket pods were removed.
FlyTyinFool
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I wonder if that includes the delivery fees?
Could we spare the Ukrainians a few of these?
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When the 75th FS was stationed at Kandahar they would take off fully armed with limited fuel, then hook up with a tanker and top off. They could stay on station for a long time, providing cover day and night. The A-10 C has the same targeting pod as the Fighting Falcon (F-16).
LVSteve
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I remember the airplane the A-10 replaced, the A-1E Sky Raider. We had a pair of A-1s join our 9 ship formation one day. They were just goofing off and we were doing 100 Knots. They didn't hang around long. They were on their way to re-arm. I don't know if they could have gotten that slow with a full load.
