Maj. Jesse Smith exits an AT-6C after testing the light-attack aircraft's ability to perform a CSAR mission.
Maj. Jesse Smith exits an AT-6C after testing the light-attack aircraft's ability to perform a CSAR mission.
Back to the future. I wonder what its capabilities are for absorbing punishment.
Aircraft such as the Skyraider should have never left our inventory. All the actual benefits of cost, ease of maintenance, ease of training, ability to stay on mission for hours as opposed to minutes, etc. I guess low and slow just isn’t sexy enough.
Conceptually, it’s similar to a manned Predator.
JMHO, of course.
They’re doin’ it wrong.
They need big, tough radial engines that will run forever on minimal maintenance and can absorb damage and keep on running. They need big, boxy airframes that can be adapted to whatever needs doing. They need big, well sprung landing gear that can handle rough fields. They need cannons that deliver HE or AP.
They need AD1 Skyraiders or the Il-10 version of the Sturmovik.
The “high-tech” should be in the sensors and the precision guided munitions that can be swapped out as the mission demands.
Give them "The Tractor" !!!Now that’s one bird I’d love to fly. It may be a trainer, but I’ll guarantee you it’s hot compared to other single-engine props available to general aviation.
I flew a WWII SNJ (Navy version of T-6 Texan) once and was stunned at what that 600HP radial could do - for a few seconds at least. The owner/friend (now deceased - went in in a P-38 similar to one his dad flew in WWII) was aerobatic rated and we had a lot of fun in it.
http://www.warbirdalley.com/t6.htm
I’m sure this bird is hotter than the SNJ.
Why not save the cost and just retool for some P47s? This is probably one of the lamest ideas of all time. Build an aircraft that only has usefulness in Iraq and Afghanistan or some similar war and totally trash the F22.