N/AW A-10 "THUNDERBOLT" II

The N/AW (Night/ Adverse Weather) development effort was jointly funded by the Defense Department and Fairchild Republic to the amount of $5 million and $2 million respectively. As part of this effort, Fairchild leased the first DT&E aircraft (serial number 73-1664) from the Air Force for the purpose of modifying it into an expanded N/AW two-seat version. Because the company had allowed for expansion in the original design, the amount of rework to be performed on the leased plane would not have to be drastic.

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 A-10A, Fairchild Republic proposed a prototype of a two-seat Night/Adverse Weather version and the proposal was approved by the Air Force. 73-1664 was returned to the old Republic plant at Farmingdale, Long Island, New York, USA, in April 1978, and modified to include a second seat and night-vision avionics. The N/AW version was 200 lbs. heavier than a conventional A-10.

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

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