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Zero you sent me this photo back in the day along with a ton of other stuff. Anyway this photo looks like the A-10 is in a vertical climb...is it? If so how was it done, if not am I looking at the photo wrong or was it changed in some way? Thanks for any info.

From the looks of the ground in the background, it looks vertical to me, too. FWIW.

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson

Me two 30mm and that's the way the picture is formated also. Thing is that's a lot of weight on the Hawg and to do that it must have been a big build-up of speed followed by a slow pull to the vertical.

Getting old sucks... I don't remember sending that, but your memory is probably better than mine... I have collected a good amount of Hog pics/memorabilia over the years...

It's possible to get this manuever done-- like has been discussed, you just have to start with enough energy (speed). A basic rule of thumb for us going over the top sustainably is about 315 knots minimum (which means you should have 120 at the top of the loop. In all likelihood, this was taken at the right time during a loop-- snap the photo as the jet pulls through pure vertical. With that loadout especially (and any loadout in the Hog, to include "clean" configs), the Hog can only sustain pure vertical for a few seconds-- the energy/airspeed bleedoff happens VERY quickly. At Weapons School we'd have the students start a loop at 250 knots-- they'd often see the airspeed get down to the 50 knots limit over the top (not limiting airspeed, but that's as low as it will display) to demonstrate that they had nose authority and control of the aircraft. Granted, you can't do much if anything except pull straight down, but it was a good learning point. The slowest most guys ever get is either during the control manuever (70+ degrees up, wait for it to stall out and drop off, then recover) or the 120 training rule when conducting air combat manuevers (BFM, ACM, DACM, DACT). Since we weren't fighting in the 250 loop, we could take it down and demonstrate the learning objectives.

Now, as to the wiseness behind such a manuever with that config... let's just say you wouldn't see me attempting it.

Cheers,
Zero

Ha ha thanks for the info Zero, it is a unique A-10 photo.

I prefer seeing my Hogs pointed a few degrees below the horizontal anyway.

_________________
\"Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who do not.\"
- Thomas Jefferson