Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> clipka <nomail@nomail> wrote:
> > The Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt II's GAU-8/A machine cannon, when fired, produces
> > more recoil thrust (45 kN) than a single of the plane's two turbofan engines (40
> > kN each)...
>
>   In order to not to get a misleading picture, a bit of context should be
> given: While the recoil is indeed 45 kN, the maximum combined output of the
> A-10 engines is 82.6 kN.

Hm... I guess I did mention that it's 40 kN per engine, and 2 engines...


>   There's a persistent urban legend that the recoil of the GAU cannon is
> so strong that firing it for long periods of time would stop the plane.
> While the recoil is indeed impressive, it's not, however, strong enough
> to stop the plane (but it can slow it down significantly).

Depends on how strong the aerodynamic drag at minimum speed is. If it was
equivalent to ca. 35 kN, that would come close enough to stopping the plane for
practical purposes ;P (though I doubt it; the actual slowing down of the plane
seen when firing is most likely just due to the pilot not bothering to readjust
the throttle accordingly; I bet they're not flying anywhere near 100% power when
in a 30 degrees attack dive...)


> > Fire power, literally. That's what I'd call brute force.
>
>   In certain communities the term is "more dakka".

Is that "dakka" as in "rat-tat-tat"?

But these things don't go "rat-tat-tat", nor "dakka dakka" - they're more like a
loud, high-pitched humming at 3900 Hz (something like b'''' for the musicians
out there)...


> > (Then again, that's what that whole ugly thing was designed for.)
>
>   Ugly? Certainly not. It's beautiful. Impressive. Awesome. :)

Impressive? Beyond doubt. Beautiful? Uh... no, not really :P


>   This photo shows the size of the thing:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GAU-8_meets_VW_Type_1.jpg

Yeah, that shows pretty well why the thing is not called a "gun" but a
"cannon"...

That's basically all the A-10's purpose: Bring that thing up into the air, aim
it at one of the bad guys, and play that song in b''''. Yeah, and drop a few
bombs while you're there anyway.

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