KerbalX

The A-10 Thunderbolt II on display in the SPH.

• I included the aka in the craft name since odds are people would most likely know this as the Warthog. At the same time, I wanted to include the name that it was given before the popular nickname.
• For the Gatling gun in the front, I used an retracted Gigantor panel. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EXTEND IT!
• Balancing the CoM and CoL so that the plane won’t be so nose-heavy, tail-heavy during takeoff, and (for that matter) actually fly was a nightmare. After looking at CrissMatt’s (armed) Warthog, I used engine nacelles for air intakes and realized I needed to drain the FRONT tanks as opposed to the rear ones.
• I installed small hardpoints on the wings to mimic the real Warthog’s impressive weapons capacity. Unfortunately, since I didn’t have BDArmory anymore (and I had trouble using guided weapons systems when I did), this version is more or less unarmed. On the bright side, that means you can add whatever weapons you want.
• Underneath the fuselage, I included fireworks to mimic the A-10 dropping some air-to-surface ordinance. This aircraft has 24 shots in it, so use them sparingly.

Before a weapons test could be performed, this prototype had to undergo a cruise test. With that knowledge, the military would get a better assessment of what the plane was capable of and how to deploy them in combat.
Here, we see Victor Kerman, Val’s older brother, after flying over Alt Test Mountains. Before he was cleared to go interplanetary, he volunteered to get certified in flying attack aircraft. As part of the test, he had to do a cruise flight of an unarmed Warthog from the KSC.

The Warthog flying over the desert with 110 fuel units left after covering 728 km.

• In his mission report, Victor stated that he didn’t care about the plane’s combat range since If you do your job right, you’d have leveled the enemy enough to make a new airstrip.

With fuel at critical levels, Victor is determined to get past this upcoming mountain range before landing.

After flying 890 km from the KSC, Victor made it over the mountains and glided for about 30 kilometers before touchdown with only 12 fuel units left. While awaiting the recovery crews, he stepped outside and gave a salute in front of the Warthog.

• He then called his sister and told her I dare your nerd friend Bill to build a plane to beat this one. Oh, wait, he can’t. Nobody can.

The next evening, Victor got called for a weapons test. Though the wing-mounted racks were unloaded, the fuselage-based ordinance weapons were not. Here, he rains some hell on dummy boats in the water. After this photo was taken, he proceeded to strafe a fake convoy with the Gatling gun.