A-10 Thunderbolt II

[rafi]

Thanks a lot, Narses2. 

[Weaver]

A bunch of info and pictures about "Firehog" proposals has just been posted on Twitter by user Echoes in the Sky here:
https://twitter.com/exoticaviation/status/1415011585517576196?s=20





Firehog art from here: https://www.deviantart.com/generaltate/art/Fairchild-Republic-A-10-Firehog-740014760

Somewhat skeptical article: https://fireaviation.com/tag/a-10/

Links to documents/archives (just in case the tweets vanish):
https://web.archive.org/web/20060621090809/http://firehogs.com/letters/af2fs.shtml
https://web.archive.org/web/20060621090745/http://firehogs.com/letters/fs2af.shtml
https://web.archive.org/web/20060311033342/http://www.firehogs.com/a10demo.shtml

https://wildfiretoday.com/documents/A-10_airtanker.pdf (This relates to the schematic above and has a key plus a full technical description)

[Mossie]

Nice one Harold.   I've got an A-10 that's been waiting for the Firehog treatment for some time. I've not seen the cutaway before, do you have a key for it?

[Weaver]

Nice one Harold.   I've got an A-10 that's been waiting for the Firehog treatment for some time. I've not seen the cutaway before, do you have a key for it?

Yes: full tech description and key is in the last link in my post.

[Mossie]

Great, I'd downloaded it, not sure how I missed them. 

[jcf]

The proposal document just highlights the absurdity of the concept. 

The cost per airframe of their proposed conversion would be eye-watering, add
in the cost of certification and you end up with an aircraft that would probably
cost more per unit than the converted DC-9s or 737s.

[Weaver]

Agreed. You can see why an A-10-style aircraft would be useful for the mission, but as soon as you start converting an actual A-10, you run into the same brick wall that any other conversion attempt does: losing the gun means losing 4000lb of ballast, all forward of the CofG, and the amount of re-engineering to deal with that rapidly gets uneconomic.

[Mossie]

Yup. Much as I find the idea interesting, it was never  viable.  The operation behind it smacks of a dodgy used car deal.

[Zero-Sen]

[kerick]

Looks familiar. Now if I would just finish the darn thing! I guess as they say, great minds think a like.

[Zero-Sen]

... I guess as they say, great minds think a like.

Perhaps, however with nearly ten years of difference!

[kerick]

... I guess as they say, great minds think a like.

Perhaps, however with nearly ten years of difference!

Now I know mine has been taking a long time but not ten years! Oops, now I see the date down in the corner! 

[ysi_maniac]

BlackHog for general logistics purposes in battlefield.

[thundereagle1997]

https://www.deviantart.com/armoredryukenshi1984/art/Boeing-A-22-Thunderbolt-III-902662610

An A-10 with Close mounted canard foreplanes and a 40mm 4 barrelled cannon plus 45,000lbs of unguided anti tank/close air support ordnance on 30 wing mounted and 15 fuselage mounted conformal external hard points without redesigning the undercarriage which is more designed for forward facing rough field operations

[AeroplaneDriver]

https://www.deviantart.com/armoredryukenshi1984/art/Boeing-A-22-Thunderbolt-III-902662610

An A-10 with Close mounted canard foreplanes and a 40mm 4 barrelled cannon plus 45,000lbs of unguided anti tank/close air support ordnance on 30 wing mounted and 15 fuselage mounted conformal external hard points without redesigning the undercarriage which is more designed for forward facing rough field operations

45,000lb of CAS ordnance on an A-10?  That's pushing all bounds of whiffery.  A fully loaded A010 is a bit of a pig as it is.  I hope that rough field is 20,000 feet long.