The A-10A, officially
called "Thunderbolt II" but known more
commonly by its unofficial name of "Warthog", was the first jet
aircraft designed specifically for the close air support mission.
The A-10 was one of two designs selected after an initial design
contest, and subsequently beat the other contender the Northrop
YA-9 to the production contract after a fly-off competition. (See
HERE for the flight manual for the A-9A.)
The initial YA-10 first
flew in 1972. The production aircraft first
flew in 1975 with deliveries to the USAF commencing in 1976.
Production ended in 1984 after 715 aircraft had been built.
The A-10 was designed
for maneuverability at low speeds and
altitudes, good field performance, but especially for protection
from small arms fire. The pilot sits in a titanium "bathtub" and
there is multiple redundancy of systems and structure.
The aircraft had minimal
avionics and was built around a huge
30 mm gatling cannon. The large rounds and massive rate of
fire means the aircraft can destroy a heavily armed battle tank
in as few as six direct hits. Only short bursts can be fired to
protect the barrels from overheating, but also due to the massive
recoil of the weapon.
The CD has
been scanned from the
original manuals and retains
any colour pages.
This CD contains:
1. USAF Flight
Manual for the A-10A, T.O. 1A-10A-1 dated
20-2-83, revised to 15-3-88, approx 368 pages.
2. USAF
Supplement Flight Manual (Performance Data)
T.O. 1A-10A-1-1 dated 30-11-82 revised to 16-9-87,
approx
167 pages.