- Nov 27, 2003
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A question, which plane in the entire USAF's inventory entered service under severe resistance in the seventies and despite all the naysayers' objections has become a legend?
Here's a hint, its main armament is THIS, the car is there just to show the sheer size of the thing.
...which fires THESE.
Another Hint: it shares its official name with THIS...
...but unofficially people name it after THESE.
Well, of course it's the "Gun-with-a-plane-attached" the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, or as everybody else calls it "The Warthog" which first flew in 1976 and despite itself is still going strong.
Now the Genesis of the Warthog can be traced back all the way to World war two when planes like the Hawker Typhoon and the Illushin IL-2 "Sturmovik" were providing close air support to troops on the ground. But with the advent of Jet-power the emphasis was put more on quick strike ground attacks with planes like the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo and the Republic F-105 Thunderchief.
But when it came to providing close air support those jet powered attackers were simply too fast for what was asked of them. Because true CAS as performed in the second world war, asked for planes which had enough range to stick around for the entire battle and be agile enough, to turn on a dime.
To the USAF's shame the only plane it had which adequately performed that role was NOT a flashy supersonic jet. It was THIS.
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider, which was a WW2 era plane and a NAVAL design none the less, oh the horror...
But the troops on the ground, either they be army or Marines LOVED the Skyraider, or "Spad" or "Sandy" as they called it because of it being versatile, tough, it could deliver a knock out punch and most importantly could stay around.
As this picture shows the Skyraider could really bring the stink to the enemy.
But if there was one flaw with the Skyraider, it would be its 20 MM guns. Because the Skyraider having been designed as primarily a bomber, the guns were sort of fitted as an after thought, why would you need to do strafing if you have bombs? But as the Vietnam war showed, strafing was still a vital part of providing Close air support and
But in the late sixties the USAF and the USN were replacing their rapidly ageing Skyraiders by Ling Temco Vought A-7 Corsair II's
Which could carry less ordinance than the Skyraider but added a six barrel Vulcan cannon to the mix and most importantly LOOKED the part, it was a JET and in modern day warfare there was no place for slow lumbering piston powered planes.
Or was it really? Because the Corsair, much like the other jet-powered attack planes was too fast for its own good, even though it wasn't supersonic. So then the Army started lobbying with Lockheed to develop an attack helicopter which could provide that vital close air support, the result was the AH-56 Cheyenne.
But rising development costs and a head-to-head with the big bosses of the USAF who claimed that THEY should provide the Close Air support led to the cancellation of the Cheyenne.
So rather reluctantly the USAF relented, and issued an order for a slow speed heavily armed attack plane specifically designed for Close air support. Two designs were chosen, they were:
The Northrop A-9
and the Fairchild Replublic A-10. Both planes were quite similar but in the end it was the Warthog which won the competition because of a couple of factors.
First of all the Engines were situated on a tough-to-shoot-at-from-the-ground position. And it was designed around THIS...
But even as the Warthog entered service the USAF was already looking ahead to what could replace it because, let's be honest, the Warthog is like a flying school bus, nothing fancy, nothing movie star quality about it at all.
But in popular culture, the Warthog had already gotten a place in history, most notably when during the early eighties the popular "Transformers" series featured a character called Powerglide who transformed into a Warthog.
The toy of Powerglide was one of the most popular because of it being the only one which could have its arms akimbo.
Powerglide also appears in current Transformers series but still transforms into a Warthog, you simply can't improve on perfection.
But with the eighties coming to an end and no opportunity to use the Warthog in battle the USAF was looking forward to replace them with attack versions of the F-16 Fighting Falcon and regain dignity.
However, the 1991 Gulf war changed everything and the Warthog proved itself many times over.
The troops on the ground loved the sound of the Warthog' gun as it provided them air cover but as this picture shows, the ones on the receiving end weren't so appreciative of that said sound.
Exactly as it was designed to do, the Warthog could deliver a knock out punch but could also take incredible hits and still continue flying.
Now, 40 years after it first took to the air the Warthog shows no sign of stopping, in recent conflicts it again show that its worth its weight in gold but the USAF on their part show no signs of stopping their elitist attitude trying to find a replacement for that big, lumbering, flying van and are talking about having the F-35 Lightning II replace it.
Critics have said that replacing the A-10 with the F-35 would be a "giant leap backwards" given the A-10's performance and the F-35's high costs. Also developments in drones have been brought forward to replace the fleet of Warthogs. But as it stands the Warthog is rapidly turning into a plane that the USAF just cannot do without, no matter how badly they want to get rid of it.
And Warthog pilot badges show exactly why...
The current estimates say that the Warthog will around to at least 2040, not bad for a plane which the USAF never wanted in the first place.
Here's a hint, its main armament is THIS, the car is there just to show the sheer size of the thing.
...which fires THESE.
Another Hint: it shares its official name with THIS...
...but unofficially people name it after THESE.
Well, of course it's the "Gun-with-a-plane-attached" the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, or as everybody else calls it "The Warthog" which first flew in 1976 and despite itself is still going strong.
Now the Genesis of the Warthog can be traced back all the way to World war two when planes like the Hawker Typhoon and the Illushin IL-2 "Sturmovik" were providing close air support to troops on the ground. But with the advent of Jet-power the emphasis was put more on quick strike ground attacks with planes like the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo and the Republic F-105 Thunderchief.
But when it came to providing close air support those jet powered attackers were simply too fast for what was asked of them. Because true CAS as performed in the second world war, asked for planes which had enough range to stick around for the entire battle and be agile enough, to turn on a dime.
To the USAF's shame the only plane it had which adequately performed that role was NOT a flashy supersonic jet. It was THIS.
The Douglas A-1 Skyraider, which was a WW2 era plane and a NAVAL design none the less, oh the horror...
But the troops on the ground, either they be army or Marines LOVED the Skyraider, or "Spad" or "Sandy" as they called it because of it being versatile, tough, it could deliver a knock out punch and most importantly could stay around.
As this picture shows the Skyraider could really bring the stink to the enemy.
But if there was one flaw with the Skyraider, it would be its 20 MM guns. Because the Skyraider having been designed as primarily a bomber, the guns were sort of fitted as an after thought, why would you need to do strafing if you have bombs? But as the Vietnam war showed, strafing was still a vital part of providing Close air support and
But in the late sixties the USAF and the USN were replacing their rapidly ageing Skyraiders by Ling Temco Vought A-7 Corsair II's
Which could carry less ordinance than the Skyraider but added a six barrel Vulcan cannon to the mix and most importantly LOOKED the part, it was a JET and in modern day warfare there was no place for slow lumbering piston powered planes.
Or was it really? Because the Corsair, much like the other jet-powered attack planes was too fast for its own good, even though it wasn't supersonic. So then the Army started lobbying with Lockheed to develop an attack helicopter which could provide that vital close air support, the result was the AH-56 Cheyenne.
But rising development costs and a head-to-head with the big bosses of the USAF who claimed that THEY should provide the Close Air support led to the cancellation of the Cheyenne.
So rather reluctantly the USAF relented, and issued an order for a slow speed heavily armed attack plane specifically designed for Close air support. Two designs were chosen, they were:
The Northrop A-9
and the Fairchild Replublic A-10. Both planes were quite similar but in the end it was the Warthog which won the competition because of a couple of factors.
First of all the Engines were situated on a tough-to-shoot-at-from-the-ground position. And it was designed around THIS...
But even as the Warthog entered service the USAF was already looking ahead to what could replace it because, let's be honest, the Warthog is like a flying school bus, nothing fancy, nothing movie star quality about it at all.
But in popular culture, the Warthog had already gotten a place in history, most notably when during the early eighties the popular "Transformers" series featured a character called Powerglide who transformed into a Warthog.
The toy of Powerglide was one of the most popular because of it being the only one which could have its arms akimbo.
Powerglide also appears in current Transformers series but still transforms into a Warthog, you simply can't improve on perfection.
But with the eighties coming to an end and no opportunity to use the Warthog in battle the USAF was looking forward to replace them with attack versions of the F-16 Fighting Falcon and regain dignity.
However, the 1991 Gulf war changed everything and the Warthog proved itself many times over.
The troops on the ground loved the sound of the Warthog' gun as it provided them air cover but as this picture shows, the ones on the receiving end weren't so appreciative of that said sound.
Exactly as it was designed to do, the Warthog could deliver a knock out punch but could also take incredible hits and still continue flying.
Now, 40 years after it first took to the air the Warthog shows no sign of stopping, in recent conflicts it again show that its worth its weight in gold but the USAF on their part show no signs of stopping their elitist attitude trying to find a replacement for that big, lumbering, flying van and are talking about having the F-35 Lightning II replace it.
Critics have said that replacing the A-10 with the F-35 would be a "giant leap backwards" given the A-10's performance and the F-35's high costs. Also developments in drones have been brought forward to replace the fleet of Warthogs. But as it stands the Warthog is rapidly turning into a plane that the USAF just cannot do without, no matter how badly they want to get rid of it.
And Warthog pilot badges show exactly why...
The current estimates say that the Warthog will around to at least 2040, not bad for a plane which the USAF never wanted in the first place.
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