A-10 Gatling Gun Test
- Thread starter wuzak
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fubar57
General
This was after a test firing to see what would happen if there was a run away gun. This picture was taken six minutes after it ran out of bullets. The tech rep had pictures of the last few rounds out the gun, they were traveling sideways, backwards and tumbling. (by the last few hundred or so rounds there was no rifling left in the barrel) the next day they changed the barrels and it fired like it was brand new. The GAU-8 system is an incredibly tough beast, just like the hogs (A-10's). I worked on this gun for 20 years or so and there is nothing like the capability it gives the hog pilots.
Attachments
I was working in the GE armament plant in 1970 when they were developing that beast. We were busy cranking out Vulcans, Minis, and Micros for SEA, but the rumor was there was something hush hush going on down in R&D. One day a lot of military brass showed up and R&D rolled a long cart with a tarp draped over it down the center aisle towards the loading dock, trailed by the test range crew and more brass than any of us had ever seen in one place. Well, halfway through the production floor the fire alarm went off, lights flashed, and a canned announcement came over the PA that all personnel must evacuate immediately and report to their section rally points outside. As we were milling about outside, several more cars full of brass pulled up, and a loud and vociferous contention ensued in the parking lot as our supervisors told us to go back to work. When we got inside we found the tarp off the cart, revealing the mother of all Gatling cannons. It was twice as long as a Vulcan, had more barrels, and was a spectacularly larger caliber. One of the guys stuck his thumb in one of the barrels and said it had to be 30 mikes at least. When the bigshots came back in we got the "Don't ever tell anybody, ever, what you think you saw" lecture and sent back to our work stations.
Cheers,
Wes
Cheers,
Wes
You can run, but why die tired?
awesome firepower.....
- Thread starter
- #8
wuzak
Captain
Just found this video of a model A-10
I was on a cross country with an instrument student in a Beech Sierra just south of the Yankee One MOA when a flight of four Hogs came up behind our right wing and formated on us in a tight right echelon in slow flight, flaps down. None of their noise penetrated our Dave Clarks, and my student was under the hood, so she never knew. The leader's cockpit was barely half a wingspan off our right wingtip, and Flight Service called to say the Air Guard flight we'd been warned to watch for had reported us in sight and would maintain visual. As I was frantically gesturing to the jets to back off, my student keyed her mike and said "Please advise Sapper One Flight, instrument training in progress, unexpected maneuvers are possible, please give us plenty of maneuvering room." She actually managed to sound like a professional flight instructor!
A few seconds later, the flight lead gave me a thumbs up and a "kiss off" gesture, and the Hogs dropped out of sight behind. Took me awhile to settle down as my student flew on, blissfully unaware.
Cheers,
Wes
A few seconds later, the flight lead gave me a thumbs up and a "kiss off" gesture, and the Hogs dropped out of sight behind. Took me awhile to settle down as my student flew on, blissfully unaware.
Cheers,
Wes
Great Video..!!
Cool stuff!
Barrett
Senior Airman
My youngest brother a Jane's/IDR's weapon evaluator for nearly 20 years. Shot the GAU-8 and the single-barrel 30mm for the Apache. IIRC apparently the GAU was so inherently accurate that Big AF installed a "spreader plate" at the muzzle end to open up the dispersion for greater hit probability.
YF12A
Airman
Remember these like yesterday. Going to the 24 Hours of Daytona Race in January 1982 with my 2 best friends, my turn at the wheel when we were, I think in Georgia on I-95 South, when my friend Chip riding shotgun called out a flight of 4 A-10's rolling in on us from 2 O'Clock. They used us as target practice, just great! Then in 1995 when I took my Dad to see "his" Sikorsky VS-44A being restored at the Sikorsky factory, we then went to her future home, the New England Air Museum, and as we were walking to the Museum from the parking lot, the 103rd FW of the CT ANG launched at least 24 A-10's at once, just stopped everyone in their tracts! Dads gone, now flying upstairs with his friend Charles Blair, then AEA pilot and future owner of the very same VS-44A.
