Close air support attack aircraft ·First flight 1972 · In service 1977
The A-10 Thunderbolt II — the Warthog — was designed backwards: the whole aircraft was built around the enormous GAU-8/A Avenger 30 mm rotary cannon in its nose.
Its pilot sits in a titanium "bathtub" that shrugs off ground fire, its twin engines are mounted high and clear of damage, and it can loiter low and slow over friendly troops longer than any fast jet. Ugly, beloved and impossible to replace.
