[50mm]

I guess I didn't understand the "party" lingo. I had to look up the term. My contracting for the A-10 was avionics-related, not armament.

The picture does appear to have a 2,1,2,1 pattern. When I watched the loading of ammunition in person, all the rounds were DU (or at least they all looked the same,) but the aircraft was headed for target practice out of Davis-Monthan not real combat.

By the way, even though they told me the DU rounds were "safe," I never touched them or the gatling barrels. Can't be too "safe!" I was planning children at the time and didn't want them to come out glowing.

[rmh47]

I believe that they used all DU rounds when they knew they were going after tanks. If they were seeking targets of opportunity, which would include unarmored vehicles, the "party mix" was the preferred load.

I think of the F-22 as rather like James Bond in black tie at a party with his Walther. Suave, debonair, sophisticated, and deadly. Able to put a 9mm Kurz round between the opponent's eyes before he even knows what happened.

The A-10 is more like a big guy with a two day beard and carrying a hefty toolbox showing up on your front porch and saying, "Anybody here call about sumthin' needs destroyin'?"

[patton]

Look up the current mortality rates for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and remember that both were nuked.

You worry too much.