[.041 Safety Wire]

The "Enforcer" is not as good for the job as it looks.

It's Soviet rival was the Su-25. The Air Force chose to buy the A-10 instead.

B50

The A-10s closest rival was the YA-9

The Enforcer was never intended to be used by our Air Force. However, the Cavalier company decided to sell the rights for further development to the Piper Aircraft Corporation, and cancelled any further work on the re-engined Mustang project. On November 4, 1970, the Dart-powered Mustang prototype was delivered to the Piper factory at Vero Beach.

At that time, the US was embroiled in the Vietnam War, and combat experience indicated that there was a need for a low-cost, high-performance close-support aircraft for use by foreign air forces obtaining MAP assistance. This project was given the name Pave Coin.

In pursuit of production contracts under the Pave Coin program, the Piper company undertook a more ambitious Mustang conversion effort. One single-seat F-51D and one two-seat TF-51D airframe were fitted with the 2455 s.h.p. Lycoming T55-L-9 turboprop engine. The project was given the name Enforcer by Piper. The first Enforcer conversion was flown on April 19, 1971. Later that year, the USAF evaluated one of these Enforcers and confirmed the original performance claims, but did not show very much enthusiasm for the project.

Even though the USAF never saw any use for the Enforcer, Congressional pressure led eventually to a contract in September 1981 for Piper to construct two new prototypes for evaluation. They were known under the company designation of PA-48. The two PA-48 prototypes were given civilian registrations rather than military serial numbers, and were never given any military designations.

The PA-48 Enforcer bore only the slightest resemblance to the F-51D--only ten percent of the parts were in common. The fuselage was lengthened by 19 inches aft of the wing and larger tail surfaces were fitted. Power was provided by a Lycoming T55-L-9 turboprop. The familiar trademark Mustang ventral scoop was completely removed, and a large turboprop exhaust was fitted on the left-hand side of the fuselage just ahead of the cockpit. A Yankee rocket ejector seat was fitted in the single seat cockpit. Provisions for wingtip tanks were made, and ten underwing hardpoints were fitted. The fixed wing-mounted guns were removed, and all gun armament was carried within underwing pods. The two PA-48s first flew on April 9 and July 8, 1983 respectively, and the USAF conducted its evaluations at Elgin AFB and Edwards AFB during 1983/84. Gross weight was 14,000 pounds. Maximum speed was 403 mph and cruising speed was 363 mph. Service ceiling was 37,600 feet and combat radius (with two gun pods) was 469 miles.

The PA-48 Enforcer was unsuccessful in obtaining any production orders, and both prototypes were put in storage by the USAF in late 1986. One of them (N481PE) is now on display in the Annex building at the WPAFB Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The other Enforcer is on display at the Edwards AFB Flight Test Museum.

The two PA-48s first flew on April 9 and July 8, 1983 respectively, and the USAF conducted its evaluations at Elgin AFB and Edwards AFB during 1983/84.The YA-10A first flew on 10 May 1972. After trials and a fly-off against the YA-9A, the Air Force selected Fairchild-Republic's YA-10A on 10 January 1973 for production. There was an additional fly-off against the Ling-Temco-Vought A-7D Corsair II, the principal Air Force attack aircraft at the time, in order to prove the need to purchase a new attack aircraft. The first production A-10 flew in October 1975, and deliveries to the Air Force commenced in March 1976 to units at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The first squadron to use the A-10 went operational in October 1977. In total, 715 airplanes were produced, the last delivered in 1984.[6]