Maggie's Farm

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Wednesday, August 4. 2010

What's that?

What's that thing behind the old VW?



Answer below -

That is the gatling gun of the A-10 "Warthog". That is one scary "weapons platform."


 h/t Synthstuff

Posted by Bird Dog at 05:02 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0)

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Are you sure? Judging by the vintage Volkswagon in the foreground, I'm likely to guess that this is the nose canon of an F-4 Phantom Jet. Although both are similar, the A-10 nose canon, I do believe, is improved. I think both are 50mm and can shoot over 2000 rounds per minute.
#1 Moose on 2010-08-04 05:18 (Reply)
If it's on the internet, it must be accurate!
You could be correct. Or it could be an older car in the photo.
Still, one nasty gun.
#1.1 Bird Dog on 2010-08-04 05:45 (Reply)
Yea,verily, that is the nose gun out of an A-10. The M-61 Vulcan, a 20mm gun, is 5'11" long, and wieghs 202 pounds. The GAU-8 Avenger is a 30mm gun is 19 feet 10.5 inches long, and wieghs 620 pounds. A much bigger weapon.
#2 SCOTTtheBADGER on 2010-08-04 06:58 (Reply)
The A-10 is a device contrived to place that gun in positions where it can create small enemy formations out of large enemy formations.
#3 buddy larsen on 2010-08-04 08:30 (Reply)
Yes, BD, that is "an older car" in the photo. It's the original VW, in all its glory, and I had one just like it back in the 1960s. It was a little workhorse, just as Dr. Porsche designed it to be -- "the people's car." I drove mine for ten years and many many miles, and then sold it to the young girl next door, who drove it for ten more.

When I bought mine, I had it customized by having the side panels painted black [the car was beige] on the advice of Brooks Stevens, a great car designer who lived in Milwaukee and patronized the bank i worked in. The car looked quite elegant, in a miniature sort of way, like a shrunken down Bentley. Brooks was the designer of the first post-World War II Packard, which was also elegant in its own way.

Marianne
#4 Marianne Matthews on 2010-08-04 10:42 (Reply)
It is an early VW, however the original had a small oval rear window.
#4.1 Reverendyo on 2010-08-04 13:50 (Reply)
It is the gun they built a aircraft around.

Many times saw the A-10's at Indiantown Gap making practice rounds. The furious ripping sound of the monster gun, followed a few seconds later by the impact of hundreds of arty rounds. No speakers in the world could accurately reproduce that rip - carumf sound.
#5 NJSoldier on 2010-08-04 13:55 (Reply)
The A-10 has an odd feature. Its engines sound eerily like the engines on a C-5 Galaxy, a plane that could swallow an A-10 at one gulp.
#6 Geoff Brown on 2010-08-04 14:25 (Reply)
Did y'all know that the A-10 was the only air borne weapon system built specifically around the gun platform? Meaning they designed the gun first, then built the aircraft around it.

It's true.
#7 Tom Francis on 2010-08-04 19:37 (Reply)
#7 And a fine bird it is. Born to not be broken by enemy fire.... An old P-47 is still my favorite...
#7.1 dorf on 2010-08-04 20:55 (Reply)

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