Future of the A-10 Warthog

Good book. Movie not so much.

 

Not unusual, probably as often as not for political reasons. Classic examples are YB-49 (government) and Beechcraft Starship (private industry).

 

Good point. I had not considered that.

 

Jim- According to the test team, the YB-49 was an accident looking for a place to happen. The test team worked hard to get the proposed initial production contract killed. Too advanced for the state of the art in both flight controls/aerodynamics and engines.

 

Yes, but given that technology was advancing rapidly you don't go destroying everything, including all the test aircraft. We also know there is some backstory regarding the Sec of the AF and Jack Northrop.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49

 

Jim- With a four star talking about buying hundreds, I do not think anyone wanted to take a chance.

 

The point is whether the decision to destroy all vestiges of the aircraft was politically/personally motivated. Why would they not allow the Smithsonian to have one?

Anywho, back on topic. At a small airshow back in the early 80's they had an A-10 on display. It was scheduled to depart and the announcer made a point to say that it would be conducting a TO under FULL MILITARY POWER. Slightly underwhelming display compared to the F-15 which departed later.

 

Jim- Yup, two small turbofans with no afterburners do not make much noise. Conversely, not much of an IR signature, either.

Saving a B-49 for the museums would have been a good idea.

 

I remember reading in a book (Ben Rich's Skunk Works?) that Northrop tried to fight the firefighters from putting out the fire on the 49.

 

A B-32 Dominator had been set aside for the Air Force Museum, but at some point someone made a clerical error and the aircraft was scrapped.

Another sad story regards the early battleship USS Oregon, a veteran of the Spanish-American War. When it was retired it became a museum ship in Portland. When WW II broke out, it was requisitioned for some obscure task. After the war, instead of being returned to museum status, it was unceremoniously scrapped. As a result, the protected cruiser USS Olympia is the only warship of that era still in existence, and even its future is currently under threat.

 

....seems there is still significant disagreement on the A10 CAS issue. While other craft may have the ability to stay around longer, they may still not be able to provide the assistance needed.

Sort of like waiting for the hook and ladder truck to come while your house is on fire. You could have saved the house with a little more than a garden hose, but you put that away for the winter. Yeah, the hook and ladder had much more capability, but it wasn't there when it was needed.

The US Air Force has no idea what it's doing with the A-10 - Business Insider

 

Outsiders like that kid have no idea what they are talking about and that article is just so much fluff.

 

This was supposed to be the future:
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Idea did not float too well. Poor thing was already slow enough and a bit of a bear on a loaded hot day take-off without adding in all that extra weight and drag including LANTIRN pods, not shown. When postulated, NVGs were not too good and the idea was to operate quite a bit of time at night. Flight controls were too dumb for TFR, so it would all have been manual, even if following TFR-like cues.

New NVGs are a thing of wonder and much lighter and higher resolution than those clunky things back then.

 

At least Martha's got it right.

The A-10 won't go away until she's been the President.

 

Here to stay? for now.. The A-10 Thunderbolt 'Warthog' is Here to Stay - ?Indefinitely,? Says US Air Force

 

I think they made two two seaters. I know one was at Edwards AFB and was used to test avionics and cockpit layout.

 

the B-2 and YB-49 share a few things in common ,like the wing span,
and glad to see jack Northrop got to see the B-2 plans before he passed
and it says the life span of the B-2 is till 2052

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-2_Spirit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49

AND THE 1/3 SCALE
PLANES OF FAME - _script-page-aircraft

 

Jim- They only made one two seater, as far as I know. Noted earlier in this thread, it was a no sale.

Note USAF plans to retire the A-10 preceded ISIS/ISIL. Times change, so the A-10C is currently very useful in SWA. Eventually, though, it will be retired because it is not survivable in a high threat environment and will get too expensive to maintain.

 

A-10 looks like it's here to stay after Air Force upgrades - Business Insider

 

There is a two seat A-10 located outside the Edwards AFB museum for quite a few years now. I have some pics but it will take some effort to dig them up.

 

Zooming into Satellite view and then into what few pics there are seems a few interesting things parked outside too!

https://goo.gl/maps/3btmsat4NZJ2

 

Yep, that looks about right. The really cool stuff is inside . There are some more cool displays a mile or two west at the main gate including a side by side seating F-106. There are a lot more cool displays at the Blackbird air park in Palmadale outside the Lockheed plant. It was better when they had the F-117 outside but that was probably a decade ago

 

How many Warthogs can we buy for one F-35?

 

Mark- You sure that was not a TF-102A? The two seat F-106B had tandem seats.

No A-10s- Go try and find a manufacturing plant for them on Long Island where Fairchild Republic built them, company now owned by Northrop Grumman. If you wanted an A-10 replacement, clean sheet of paper design would be much better and cheaper.
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