March 08 2005
South Florida Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Raul Benedicto, 82, engineer, helped develop A-10 Warthog
By Peter Franceschina
Staff Writer
Raul L. Benedicto, a retired Boca Raton aeronautical engineer who was a key member of the team that developed the Air Force's tank-busting A-10 Warthog, died Saturday after a brief illness. He was 82.
Born Valentine's Day in 1923 in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Mr. Benedicto earned his engineering degree with honors at the University of Michigan and spent most of his career with military contractor Fairchild Republic Co. of Long Island, N.Y.
He was involved in the design of a number of aircraft, including the team that developed the A-10 in the late 1960s. He rose to become chief engineer at the company before retiring, after 35 years, to Boca Raton in 1981.
“We had a 38-year marriage, never a fight, never an argument, something that doesn't exist very often,” said his wife, Ines. “He was the best man in the world. He was a fantastic guy. When you never have a fight or an argument, you can imagine.”
A number of Fairchild engineers retired to South Florida, including Gordon Rosenthal. He and Mr. Benedicto avidly followed news of their progeny's successes in the first Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“He was very analytical. He had a very strong mind,” Rosenthal said. “He was enthusiastic about aircraft in general and the role he was playing.”
The A-10 is designed around a giant cannon that is lethal to tanks, artillery and other armored vehicles. Its ugly appearance earned it the nickname Warthog, but the engineers who designed it are proud of the protections built-in for pilots, who fight at close quarters with the enemy and can fly the plane back to base even if it has been shot up.
“The only problem with our airplane is that it is ugly as can be. It doesn't bother me, because it was designed to meet certain requirements,” Mr. Benedicto told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel for a 2003 story on the Warthog. “It's not sexy. It's functional.”
Mr. Benedicto was an avid chess and bridge player. He was the New York state chess champion in 1966, and he and Ines won a number of regional bridge tournaments in Florida. The couple loved to travel and take cruises.
Even though Mr. Benedicto was born on Valentine's Day, it was not a day the couple celebrated more than any other, Ines Benedicto said. “Every day was wonderful,” she said. Ines Benedicto said her husband's wish was to be cremated and have his ashes scattered across the Atlantic Ocean.
