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Comment by beaker52 | Hacker News Reader

Guns producing more recoil than an aircraft's powertrain is nothing new. In WW2 fighters would be slowed when firing larger calibre weapons, noticeably impacting airspeed, especially with repeated firing.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aviation/can-gun-recoil-rea...

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Guns producing more recoil than an aircraft's powertrain is nothing new.

Yes, but AFAIK, the A-10 is the only plane that was designed by starting with a BFG, then building a plane around it.

You are forgetting the Bell P-39 Aircobra and P-63 King Cobra, both airframes designed around their cannon.

Ah, yeah, though I wasn't aware they really did start with the particular gun and work their out. Ok, yeah, they even had the specific gun in mind! The Oldsmobile T9 Cannon, you learn something new everyday!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_P-39_Airacobra#Circular_Pr...

Upvoted for the elegant use of "BFG."

Sometimes "elegant" == "obvious"

There is a difference between just slowing the craft and producing recoil force on the same order as the engines. If a plane is flying at a constant speed, then its in equilibrium. The engines are producing an equal amount of thrust to the amount of drag on the plane. Any recoil force will upset this and slow the plane down. This doesnt mean that they are producing more force than the powertrain.

The A10 doesnt do this either of course. It produces more recoil force than one engine, but not both.

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