Mosquito light fighter
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 8:18 am
To accompany the Wasp medium fighter, a faster and lighter armed fighter was required, to work and operate as an interceptor. It follows typical design theories, with the plasma stream engines built onto the wings on either side. This particular craft carries one pilot. Her armament consists of 4 x 20mm automatic laser cannons all mounted firing forward. This fighter is probably one of the most maneuverable fighters in the Ariel Triumvirate, easily capable of out-turning any Danarian or Nishari fighter.
The major flaw of the early designs that came out was the landing gear. The gear that lowered from the nose needed to be incredibly long, and quite thin, in turn making it fragile and susceptible to breaking. Over 200 pilots on the first batch of 500 died because of the landing gear failing, and the fighter crashing into the ground. Over a 100 more were injured when the landing gear suddenly gave way at a standstill.
To combat this, a mechanical system was incorporated into the wings that is capable of lifting them to almost horizontal levels during landing operations, meaning the nose landing gear could be strengthened and made larger, while taking up the same amount of space to fold in due to its shorter height. The wing landing gear was altered to fit the new landing position.
A curious advantage came out of this. In trial runs of this new type in atmosphere, one technician suggested moving the wings into a higher angle position to try and increase flight speed. The speed was dramatically increased over the wings down position, at a cost of maneuverability. Now, the wings automatically have two wing positions, cruising and combat. Cruising has a roughly 30 degree angle from horizontal, where as the combat has a roughly 70 degree angle from horizontal. In space it has little effect on the situation, but in atmosphere it alters the performance in each field greatly. Landing position is roughly 5 degrees from horizontal.
The major flaw of the early designs that came out was the landing gear. The gear that lowered from the nose needed to be incredibly long, and quite thin, in turn making it fragile and susceptible to breaking. Over 200 pilots on the first batch of 500 died because of the landing gear failing, and the fighter crashing into the ground. Over a 100 more were injured when the landing gear suddenly gave way at a standstill.
To combat this, a mechanical system was incorporated into the wings that is capable of lifting them to almost horizontal levels during landing operations, meaning the nose landing gear could be strengthened and made larger, while taking up the same amount of space to fold in due to its shorter height. The wing landing gear was altered to fit the new landing position.
A curious advantage came out of this. In trial runs of this new type in atmosphere, one technician suggested moving the wings into a higher angle position to try and increase flight speed. The speed was dramatically increased over the wings down position, at a cost of maneuverability. Now, the wings automatically have two wing positions, cruising and combat. Cruising has a roughly 30 degree angle from horizontal, where as the combat has a roughly 70 degree angle from horizontal. In space it has little effect on the situation, but in atmosphere it alters the performance in each field greatly. Landing position is roughly 5 degrees from horizontal.
