JACK McKILLOP COLLECTION
No. 5670. Fairchild Republic YA-10B Thunderbolt II (73-1664 c/n A10-0001) US Air Force
Photograph from USAF

Fairchild Republic YA-10B Thunderbolt II

09/15/2006. Remarks by Jack McKillop: ""Fairchild Republic built two YA-10 prototypes and six YA-10 pre-production aircraft and then built 707 A-10As. They were all single-seat aircraft; the only two-seater ever built was the YA-10B, converted from the first pre-production YA-10A, 73-1664.

In order to improve the aircraft, Fairchild Republic proposed a prototype of a two-seat Night/Adverse Weather version of the A-10A and the proposal was approved by the Air Force. The first production A-10A-FA, serial 73-1664, was returned to the old Republic plant at Farmingdale, Long Island, New York, USA, and modified to include a second seat and night-vision avionics.

First flight was performed at Edwards AFB, Muroc, California, USA on May 4, 1979, but funding for the A-10B was not provided by the Congress and after modifying this one aircraft, the project (also known as N/AW A-10) was dropped. The YA-10B is on display at the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC) Museum at Edwards AFB."


Created September 15, 2006