The famous shot of General Electric's GAU-8... - GAU-8 volks.jpg

.... along with its ammunition drum and feeding system, next to a Volkswagen
Beetle.

Interesting article on the development of the GAU-8 and all the problems
associated with it...

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...ng-and-a-curse

...."According to Jacques and Strouble, the most immediate issue was that the
muzzle flash simply blinded the pilot, which could be dangerous even in a
shallow dive at a relatively slow speed at low altitude. The gasses left dark
soot on the windscreen, as well as the fuselage, that eventually blocked their
view, too.

"To deal with the latter issue, the A-10 has a window-washing function. A switch
on the right hand side of the cockpit triggers the 30-second wash cycle,
according to an official 1988 flight manual. Using cooled bleed air from the
auxiliary power unit, the system floods the windshield with cleaning fluid for
six seconds, followed by another 24 seconds of just air to “purge” the liquid.
The same burst of air can clean rain at low speeds, too.

“The windshield wash system should not be used anytime forward vision is
essential since forward vision is obsured [sic; obscured] during the wash
cycle,” the manual warns in a somewhat ironic twist.

"Repeated firing shook the gun mounts so much that parts galled, a process by
which the repeated friction causes separate metal components to adhere together.
As one test report noted, this had no impact on the aircraft's ability to fly or
fire the gun, but made it especially difficult to get the GAU-8 out of its
compartment for routine maintenance.

"More worrisome, the gasses, which contained no oxygen, had a tendency to flow
up over the aircraft’s wing and into its engines, threatening to choke them out.
In addition, the particles in the fumes might contain unburned gunpowder, which
could cause flameouts, or would build up in the engine turbines, both
potentially serious issues.

"Since the most significant issue is the gasses getting into the engine and
causing it to give out, when the pilot in a Warthog pulls the trigger, it
continually trips the ignition system. So, even if the engine does stop
suddenly, it immediately restarts.

"All of this work to mitigate the impact of the gun on the A-10's airframe and
engines is an amazing concession of aircraft design to one single component.
It’s testament to the fact that the gun was just as important as the plane
itself, if not more so. With this in mind, it's no surprise really there have
been attempts, although largely unsuccessful, to work similar capabilities onto
other existing tactical aircraft.

Worth the read.

more at
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...ng-and-a-curse





*

Why would anyone want to fit an A-10 with a VW Bug?

Now, a VW Bug with a GAU-8, on 't'other hand...

On 9 Aug 2017 07:13:39 -0700, Miloch
wrote:

... along with its ammunition drum and feeding system, next to a Volkswagen
Beetle.

Interesting article on the development of the GAU-8 and all the problems
associated with it...

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...ng-and-a-curse

..."According to Jacques and Strouble, the most immediate issue was that the
muzzle flash simply blinded the pilot, which could be dangerous even in a
shallow dive at a relatively slow speed at low altitude. The gasses left dark
soot on the windscreen, as well as the fuselage, that eventually blocked their
view, too.

"To deal with the latter issue, the A-10 has a window-washing function. A switch
on the right hand side of the cockpit triggers the 30-second wash cycle,
according to an official 1988 flight manual. Using cooled bleed air from the
auxiliary power unit, the system floods the windshield with cleaning fluid for
six seconds, followed by another 24 seconds of just air to “purge” the liquid.
The same burst of air can clean rain at low speeds, too.

“The windshield wash system should not be used anytime forward vision is
essential since forward vision is obsured [sic; obscured] during the wash
cycle,” the manual warns in a somewhat ironic twist.

"Repeated firing shook the gun mounts so much that parts galled, a process by
which the repeated friction causes separate metal components to adhere together.
As one test report noted, this had no impact on the aircraft's ability to fly or
fire the gun, but made it especially difficult to get the GAU-8 out of its
compartment for routine maintenance.

"More worrisome, the gasses, which contained no oxygen, had a tendency to flow
up over the aircraft’s wing and into its engines, threatening to choke them out.
In addition, the particles in the fumes might contain unburned gunpowder, which
could cause flameouts, or would build up in the engine turbines, both
potentially serious issues.

"Since the most significant issue is the gasses getting into the engine and
causing it to give out, when the pilot in a Warthog pulls the trigger, it
continually trips the ignition system. So, even if the engine does stop
suddenly, it immediately restarts.

"All of this work to mitigate the impact of the gun on the A-10's airframe and
engines is an amazing concession of aircraft design to one single component.
It’s testament to the fact that the gun was just as important as the plane
itself, if not more so. With this in mind, it's no surprise really there have
been attempts, although largely unsuccessful, to work similar capabilities onto
other existing tactical aircraft.

Worth the read.

more at
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone...ng-and-a-curse





*