Get your own A-10 Warthog

[aFarewellToKings]

P.S. The official name for the A10 "Warthog" is the "Thunderbolt II."
It was named after the WW2 era P47 Thunderbolt because both of them were most famous as low level attack and tactical ground support aircraft.
And both of them were tough as nails and could get shot up badly and still fly the pilot home safely.

The A-10's unofficial nickname is the Warthog.
The P-47's unofficial nickname was the Jug. When they were brought over to England, the British thought that was short for Juggernaut (which is the way they would have named things). Actually, the Americans named it that because of was difficult to learn to control; if you weren't careful with the wheel brakes, it would stand on its nose. Looking like a milk jug.

 

[DinkyDau]

Outstanding! I had the sound cranked up and Bride starting yelling,,What the Hel is that...I said pure blue pill baby...And now she is pissed..But really it was worth it!! Thanks OP!

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

It was called "The Jug" because of the short fat profile of the engine and cowling.

It's the shape required for a Pratt & Whitney R2800 double wasp radial engine, with 2 banks of 9 cylinders each. All air-cooled.

If the nickname "jug" had negative connotations about the aircraft handling even on the ground, Republic Aircraft would not have contracted out the manufacture of thousands of little ceramic moonshine jugs to give away to P -47 pilots after the war as souvenirs.

My dad had one, which he got at the Republic plant itself during a reunion in 1960. After he passed away, we donated it and a few other things to the Republic Aviation Museum on Long Island where his aircraft had been built.

 

[Tazz]

That's awesome! Wonder how much...

A LOT! Add up everything that goes with these including paint on one of these bad boys and you're well into the thousands, I got tired of adding it all up! lol!

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

Pics of my dad's jug from the 1961 reunion of P-47 pilots (and ground crew-- mechanics, armorers, etc.). The first P-47 flew in May of 1941, though the Army Air Corps didn't take delivery of them until a couple of years later.

It was originally intended to be a high-altitude bomber escort and air superiority fighter. A dogfighter. But the slim P-51 Mustang, with its narrow liquid-cooled engine, and far lower fuel consumption, was the star of that role. So the Thunderbolt became a ground-pounder on low level bombing and strafing missions.

They even got pretty good at taking out German tanks with those unguided 5" air-to-ground rockets, but they had to come down way too low to be accurate with those. Dad always admired the A-10 for its tank-killing abilities with its nose cannon. Dad said that a burst of his eight .50 caliber machineguns would often knock the treads off a tank and stop it from traveling, but it could still sit there and turn and shoot. It was nearly impossible to "kill" a tank with .50 BMG rounds, even with hundreds of hits.