Northrop YA-9 ground attack aircraft - photos and video

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.

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...rthrop_ya9.jpg

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...throp_ya91.jpg

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...throp_ya92.jpg

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...throp_ya93.jpg


2:10 video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j45tWqeRAA


Previously:

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...137#post134465
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...118#post130213
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...637#post102089
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...217#post134781

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

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.