That would be the airplane which lost the competition for a close air support aircraft to the A-10. It's the A-9 and I've seen one (possibly that one) at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside, CA while the other one is at the Castle Air Museum. It was built by Northrop and some say it was the inspiration for the SU-25 Frogfoot.
It looks like what would issue from an A-10 humping an old AT-6...
Stunning lack of a GUN may have caused it's demise...
Our beloved hogs are ugly, but for a purpose. This one's just ugly and deadly - for the pilot. Engine location makes a low and slow airplane too vulnerable.
Thats where people who were alergic to mud and hard work go when they're in the military Theo.
That way the can sleep in till noon, spend 20 minutes in the air and then race off to Paris and spend the rest of the night having several highly experienced nubile young French peasent girls galloping up and down their... hang on!
I seem to recall the fellows "allergic to mud and hard work" having about zero life expectancy in WW II over the course of a tour, most especially in American Daylight Bombing Operations, as well as in RAF Bomber Command. Odds of survival in other air postings over the years have often not been too good. Helios in VietNam, or Afghanistan for the Soviets, anyone? Or Afghanistan for the West today?
Of course, on modern battlefields, the poor mud-sloggers can call in airstrikes to get them out of jams pretty much whenever they want, as well. More useful and more precise than most artillery.
What cads, those airmen. And if you get shot on the ground they fly you to hospitals and home, as well.
7 comments:
That would be the airplane which lost the competition for a close air support aircraft to the A-10. It's the A-9 and I've seen one (possibly that one) at the March Field Air Museum near Riverside, CA while the other one is at the Castle Air Museum. It was built by Northrop and some say it was the inspiration for the SU-25 Frogfoot.
It looks like what would issue from an A-10 humping an old AT-6...
Stunning lack of a GUN may have caused it's demise...
Our beloved hogs are ugly, but for a purpose. This one's just ugly and deadly - for the pilot. Engine location makes a low and slow airplane too vulnerable.
If an A-10 and a T-37 were to have a baby this is what it would look like.
Its pretty wild looking.
Northrop A-9. IIRC, it and the Su-25 Frogfoot were in development at the same time.
Sadly, the one at Castle has been moved. It was an interesting part of the collection.
Its an "areoplane".
Thats where people who were alergic to mud and hard work go when they're in the military Theo.
That way the can sleep in till noon, spend 20 minutes in the air and then race off to Paris and spend the rest of the night having several highly experienced nubile young French peasent girls galloping up and down their... hang on!
Murray: And we buy them a beer when they save ours asses.
I seem to recall the fellows "allergic to mud and hard work" having about zero life expectancy in WW II over the course of a tour, most especially in American Daylight Bombing Operations, as well as in RAF Bomber Command. Odds of survival in other air postings over the years have often not been too good. Helios in VietNam, or Afghanistan for the Soviets, anyone? Or Afghanistan for the West today?
Of course, on modern battlefields, the poor mud-sloggers can call in airstrikes to get them out of jams pretty much whenever they want, as well. More useful and more precise than most artillery.
What cads, those airmen. And if you get shot on the ground they fly you to hospitals and home, as well.
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