the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II
it's that Fairchild part that is the key factor,
Fairchild Aviation Corporation was created in Long Island, New York, in 1925 to address a specific need for aircraft designed as aerial photography platforms.Led by Sherman Mills Fairchild, who enjoyed both wealth and talent, Fairchild and its iterative companies fast became a reliable part of American aviation industry.
Sherman Fairchild invented a synchronized camera shutter and flash mechanism when he was a freshman at Harvard. A troubling bout with tuberculosis made Sherman ineligible to serve in the U.S. military during World War I, but he endeavored to be of value with his lens shutter inventions, particularly suited to aerial photography.
Fairchild’s use of existing generic aircraft as camera platforms disappointed him, and the bright inventor went to several aircraft manufacturers with his ideas for a photographic survey aircraft.
The responses Fairchild received for building such an airplane sounded too expensive to him, so Sherman created the Fairchild Aviation Corporation in Long Island, New York, in 1925 to build his FC-1.
And the long term result, the Fairchild Republic Warthog.
The A-10 (pictured), fondly know as the "Warthog" is a long-lived ground support aircraft with a nose cannon that is "One of the most powerful aircraft cannons ever flown" (Wikipedia). Loved by ground troops, they are being phased out and replaced by the F-35! Which is like buying a Ferrari to do the job of a Jeep! Too expensive and cannot do the job.
ReplyDelete