Two Things Nobody Knows About The A-10

Unlike Any Other

The A-10 Thunderbolt II had its maiden flight 51 years ago. But even after 5 decades of service, there are two things people hardly know about this magnificent aircraft.

Number one: the gun isn’t actually in the middle of the plane. The Warthog’s GAU-8/A Avenger is offset to the left in order to make room for other things in the nose area.

Because of this, the autocannon doesn’t fire at the 12 or 6 o’clock position. Instead, the barrel fires at the 3 o’clock position from the pilot’s perspective.

The second thing people might not notice is the fact that its nose gear is also offset quite a bit farther to the right. As you would’ve expected by now, this was done to make room for the 600-lb, 200-ft-long autocannon.

Interestingly, this peculiar nose gear setup allows the Warthog to have a tighter turn radius when turning left during taxi.