# NORTHROP YA-9 FIRST FLIGHT TEST FILM A-10 THUNDERBOLT RIVAL 85354

This silent film shows the Northrop YA-9 performing its first public flight at Edwards Air Force Base. The Northrop YA-9 was a prototype attack aircraft developed for the United States Air Force A-X program. The YA-9 was passed over in preference for the Fairchild Republic YA-10 that entered production as the A-10 Thunderbolt II. Apart from aircraft themselves, the A-X program was also developing a powerful cannon for the winning plane to carry. Eventually, this would result in the GAU-8 Avenger, but for trials, the YA-9 and YA-10 were both equipped with the smaller M61 Vulcan Gatling gun. By comparison, the A-10 engine location at the tail is less conventional, but offers greater survivability in the case of a hit on the engine area. The double tail of the A-10 also hides the engine infrared and noise signature, and incorporates redundancy in case one of the tails is shot away. A fly-off of the two prototypes took place between 10 October and 9 December 1972, with the YA-10 declared the winner on 18 January 1973. The two YA-9 prototypes were subsequently relegated to NASA for continued flight testing before being quickly retired. When retired, the YA-9s' custom-built engines were removed and were later mated to a C-8 Buffalo airframe as part of the NASA-Boeing joint Quiet Short-haul Research Aircraft (QSRA) study into a quiet short-haul commercial aircraft. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a…

- Kind: Film
- By: PeriscopeFilm
- Genres: Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/85354-northrop-ya-9)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/85354-northrop-ya-9?play=1)