imthebait

I'm working on an aircraft capable of speeds above 1450 m/s but right now the limiting factor is stability on landing, unfortunately this craft needs to be flown almost entirely by auto, but I liken it to having an aircraft that is fly by wire. Will post soon, I know I said this before at a much lower speed, but this time I'm pretty sure you can't go much faster with turbos without turning the craft into a rocket with no wings, the only thing I can think of now is just removing all wings and utilizing body lift alone with some small control surfaces. Anyways one more point of advice is, if you're using pilot assistant turn off the reaction wheels in your vessel, they, for some reason, slightly increase angle of attack, and you can squeeze a few more m/s out of the crafts. I've done inconclusive tests with gimbaling, but I'll get more info on that later. Anyways, the Skybreaker X is on its way soon, if anyone wants to try and make a turbo based plane that can beat it, I'm all for a challenge.

Just a little info for everyone, if you're flying with a decent autopilot, the more unstable your plane is, the faster it will go and as long as you're above mach three that means more efficiency. I'm currently working on yet one more velocity craft, (i know, but I love the challenge), and what I've found is 1 keep parts to a minimum, especially wings, it significantly reduces drag and you can go faster, my fastest planes have been less than twenty parts. In addition, use significantly less intakes than you think you need, 1 ram scoop at mach 4 provides enough air for two turbos. 2 fly as low as you can without exploding, I cruise at about eighteen kilometers, you might burn a bit more fuel, but if it's speed you want, going lower is less distance to travel, and you travel much faster, of course this only is really feasible with speeds above mach 4 or else you'll run out of fuel Anyways, fly dangerously guys, and good luck to all future entries

Overhead, you hear a rising thunder, the sound of a sonic boom reaching you from above, looking up into the night sky you see nothing, no indication of an aircraft. Then, as you think you won't see it, a flare on the horizon catches your eye, the Maching Bird is in Flight! I was wrong, very wrong, the minute i thought i would save turned into 4 and a craft capable of speeds that make rapiers worry, screaming across the sky at more than mach 4 is the Maching Bird, http://imgur.com/a/uA0M9 Top Speed:1390m/s Time: 49:28 The only way I think I could go faster is if I had the shock cones, but I'd be willing to bet its possible to cruise at 1400 m/s with turbos, but you have to bring the fuel for it. Someone prove the need to have rapiers in the game, beat my turbos with superior power.

haha yeah, sorry i'll edit the original post and link em here http://imgur.com/a/YWoyt

I have finally finished the 3 lap challenge, the Eagle has landed and I can now say I never want to spend that much time watching my plane on fire ever again, while I'm pretty sure I could do 4 if I really put my mind to the challenge, cruising speed was 1200+, but altitude varied until I got done with the first circumnavigation, i had too much fuel to fly higher while still maintaining speeds above 1200, Eagle 1 Top speed: 1253m/s Time elapsed: 2:44:53 Cruising altitude: 21000-22500m http://imgur.com/a/YWoyt Thanks all, I'm going to be monitoring this thread for really cool aircraft so i look forward to seeing other peoples submissions. Fly Safe, oh wait this is KSP never mind, have fun!

Good luck mate, best of luck to your craft

It had more to do with angling the engines relative to the aircraft, but ive found that if i just forgo stability and put cog right under cof the aircraft flies pretty level, but she is very unstable so dont stall

So, i finished my velocity enter, the Raptor 1 is capable of fairly impressive speeds, traveling at an average rate of 1300 m/s this aircraft is fast. while i am pretty sure i can get my time down by about a minute by refining my takeoff and landing, i think this is approaching the speed limit on turbo's, unless i can get up around 25km while still traveling above 1300, i expect anything else may just burn up Top Speed: 1323 Time spent: 54:20, or 54:10 if you're counting time to remember to press f3 http://imgur.com/a/Cm39X Im working on the 3 circumnavigation aircraft, if anyone wants to know it takes about 700 fuel for one circumnavigation at this speed

I think i figured it out, if you take the distance of the flight taken as a circumference and get the radius, it comes out to 627019, which just so happens to be 27,000 meters above the surface of kerbin, even though i flew at 22,500m you could easily add some distance for variations in flight. pilot assistant had a tendency to be a few tenths of a degree off, which after two circumnavigations could add up. Anyways, just a thought. Still working on my entry for velocity circumnavigation.

I'm back, now I know this is breaking the rules which is why I'm asking, but is it possible that we could use robotics on this? The aircraft I'm trying to create varies in pitch by about five degrees throughout its flight and I'm trying to find ways to adjust the angle of engines mid flight, anyways I just started work so I'll be working more on this in a day or two

I haven't looked too hard for anything, and I'm away from home for a day, but if I find anything I'll let you know, the biggest challenge I've been having is I hit 1000 m/s on the way up at around 10k but if I don't take off the throttle a bit, I'll cruise straight into the stratosphere past 40k alt or more

All of my builds will be turbos, because of the fact that I'm doing it in career, also I have a hunch that I can get faster than rapiers due to less required fuel and there for less mass. If not then I'll just be cruising at stupidly high speeds hoping not to explode

To be honest, I was faster on the way up, but I'm not complaining, I'm gonna try and make a craft capable of 3 circumnavigations based off of the falcon. Because I got so close to having enough fuel to do so. Plus the craft in working on for the solo speed run is showing lots of promise, my main issue is preventing it from either overheating in the low atmosphere or breaking as I try and steer it away from high angle climbs at speeds positive of mach 4.

No quicksaves, im not sure where the error is coming from, while i topped out at 1238m/s flying, cruise speed was somewhere around 1200 or so, maybe it just has to do with how the distance is calculated, because if it just calculates furthest you were from starting point to staring point, then it would come out looking like 1 navigation. Idk the one thing im not sure of is what award i get with this, to me it seems like its fast enough to compete with the speedsters as well as qualifying for the double navigation. Edit: i just read the rules, ill definately be passing on flying for two hours in a row again so im going with the grand navigator. besides, i think i can make a craft that does one navigation with turbos at 1300 Out of curiosity, does anyone want me to upload the craft? - - - Updated - - - Thanks for the help, i was away from KSP for about a year and a lot of stuff has changed, i made use of it in my prototype and im currently testing it to see if i can squeeze a bit more airflow, alt and speed out of it.

I saw this and thought i would try my hand, I "borrowed" the tilted engine and intake design from MunGazer, but i was completing this on career mode, so i have limited tech, using turboram jets i managed speeds i thought you couldn't get with jets alone. topping out at over mach 3.6 i completed two circumnavigations in under two hours. I give you the Falcon 1 Two Circumnavigations Max Alt: 23000m Max Speed: 1323 m/s unintentionally, though, cruising speed got up to 1238 or so Total Time Taken: 1:54:43 http://imgur.com/a/12il0 Two circumnavigations one one tank with almost enough fuel for a third, I am doing some minor tweaking on the design to see if i can get a bit more efficiency out of the thing by tilting the engines to closer to 2.5 degrees. BTW MunGazer, if you could let me know how you tilted the engines on your craft while they were attached to connecting points that would be great!