HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY A-10 WARTHOG

05/12/2022 01:58 AM | CHRIS EGER

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY A-10 WARTHOG

The closest thing to a gun with wings, the Fairchild-Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II first flew some 50 years ago this week.

Designed as the world's best close-air support aircraft at a time when the Soviets owned the eye-popping figure of something like 50,000 tanks, the first prototype A-10 flew at Edwards Air Force Base on May 10, 1972, a date now known as BRRRRT-Day.

Nixon was in office, Roberta Flack's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was on the top of the charts – which is a beautiful coincidence considering the love the public has for the A-10 – and a gallon of milk cost 52 cents.


An A-10 Thunderbolt II assigned to Moody Air Force Base, Ga., rests at Avon Park Air Force Range, Fla., during exercise Mosaic Tiger 22-1, Nov. 17, 2021
An A-10 Thunderbolt II assigned to Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, rests at Avon Park Air Force Range, Florida, during exercise Mosaic Tiger 22-1, Nov. 17, 2021. (Photo: Airman 1st Class Courtney Sebastianelli/U.S. Air Force)

The aircraft was designed from the ground up as a tank-killer, and to this day is the only aircraft to carry the massive GAU-8A Avenger cannon, a 30mm electric Gatling gun that delivers seven times the energy per round as the vaunted 20mm M61 Vulcans carried by other American aircraft. For reference, the 30mm PGU-13/14 shells for a GAU-8A weigh 12.48 ounces while a 20mm shell as used in a Vulcan runs a comparatively puny 3.52 ounces. Also, the GAU-8A can spit out shells at a withering 4,200 rounds per minute.

[link to www.guns.com (secure)]