Northrop YA-9 ground attack aircraft - photos and video

[Altair]

The YA-9 was a prototype ground support aircraft developed by Northrop for the United States Air Force A-X program . It lost to Fairchild Republic's YA-10 which entered into production as the A-10 Thunderbolt II.










2:10 video:

Previously:

McDonnell XF-88B Voodoo - photos
Douglas X-3 Stiletto test flight - video
Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey unfolding - GIF and photos
Kyushu J7W1 Shinden - photos

[Scotsman Hosie]

I doubt you'd be able to land that thing with ordinance attached–even with the wing spoilers

[greyhoundollie]

The A-10 wart hog, which won the fly off with this YA-9 plane, lands with full load if necessary. However the design differences are a BIG help allowing it to do this.
A-10 engines are mounted on the body of the plane aft of the wings. That makes more lift available at the wing. The plane was never designed to be a go fast plane....but it can fly at about 450 knots if it has to. It has 11 pylons, 1 more than the YA-9. 3 of the pylons are mounted on the center line body of the aircraft. Munitions loaders called the A-10 the flying bomb dump.

I was a missile man in the 1970's in the Air Force. Sending out 10 Maverick missiles to one plane would stick in your mind for a long time. The Gau 8 gun 30MM is a HUGE chunk of machinery, nearly 20 ft long, mounted in the body of the airplane. Since only the front one foot end of the 7 barrels are the only part that shows the guns size is not apparent. Google "The Gau 8 gun 30MM dimensions" and select images to get a pretty good view of that monster. The nose landing gear has to be off set to the side because of the GAU 8.