Handley Page H.P.42 replica

[kapteenipirk]

This is a project i have wanted to build for a long time now, but i kinda forgot about it for a while and didn't have any good ideas at the time.

But now, it is finally done. And amazingly enough it only took me about 3 hours to put it together and test it.

I still ain't perfect but it does it's job pretty well.

(i kinda wanted to come up with a name for this one that starts with the letter H just like in the real ones)

The H.P.42 is one of my all time favorite airliners simply because of it's looks and also because of the fact that it's very unique.

Back in it's day it was  1-class luxury to fly on one of these things, you know, drinks and a comfy seat and that's about it.

The design of the H.P.42 did have it's drawbacks tough, and one of these might be the reason why there aren't more aircrafts like this one (excluding the rise of monoplanes).

And that is the fact that, out of the 8 built, 3 of them where destroyed by wind while they where parked. One ended up cartwheeling on to a railroad track and the other two where thrown into each other by wind.

So yea, having an aircraft with more than enough wing surface on it is not that good of an idea. The fuselage of the Beluga has the same problem, making crosswing landings extra hard. It basically acts like a big sail.

But, despite all that, no lives where lost in civilian service (a unique record for a contemporary aircraft), tough all of them had gotten destroyed by 1940.

 

Just looking at these historic aircrafts makes me wonder that just how much more efficient they could be made, using modern materials, engines, building techniques, etc.

Tough i think that an aircraft like this would propably end up being terribly inefficient. It would end up being quicker, more fuel efficient and safer than the original, but that's about it. Also, it might make for a good glider.

Wind would be even more of an issue since modern materials are lighter, making the aircraft lighter as well (propably).

 

But as for aircrafts like the Concorde tough, well, that might be a different story.

 

Lets get on with the KSPfied version shall we.

All and all, it ended up being a pretty simple build, mostly because of the straight wings, rudders and elevators. And the fact that i already had a custom cockpit that was pretty much perfect, helped a lot (it did need some cleanup tough).

The tail section was also suprisingly easy to build, and didn't take too long to make.

(yes, some H.P.42's had flag poles on top of the cockpit)

I think that the main wings are a little too forward and the rudders could have been a bit taller, but other than that i don't think there is really anything else to fix on this.

NOTE: As much as you would expect this one to be like a stunt plane, its not, it can't even do a loop de loop. So yea, always keep your eye on your altitude when making tighter turns.

Top speed: 90-100 m/s

Stall speed: 40 m/s

Length: 43m

Wingspan: 54.6m

Height: 12m

Mass: 95 tons

Parts: 521

As a bit of a bonus, i did a full flight using only the IVA view.

NOTE: due to risk of crashing, no actual passengers where on-board this flight . Guess they just didn't trust me enough on that one .

 

And there you have it folks, a nice little replica of a big bi-plane from aviation history. I hope you enjoy it .

 

Mod used: KAX

Download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/js35uy2sg53xwwy/Handley%20Page%20H_P_42.craft?dl=0

Edited May 31, 2016 by kapteenipirk
some typos here and there

[EVA_Reentry]

Love the Kustom Kockpit!

[kapteenipirk]

5 hours ago, EVA_Reentry/Strangelove II said:

Love the Kustom Kockpit!

Thanks .