B-44B Sabre

[Aanker]

Aspiration Aerodynamics B-44B Sabre

Build a fuselage, glue on some wings, attach eight or so jet engines and your typical heavy duty bomber is born. But for more clandestine or urgent missions, a more attentively designed airframe is necessary. Aspiration Aerodynamics is proud to present the B-44B Sabre, a supersonic bomber carefully fashioned to fulfill and exceed our expectations of performance excellence, intuitive flight characteristics and flexibility.

Freely inspired by the Convair B-58 Hustler

Specifications

Parts: 124

Mass: 30.0t

Crew: 2

Height: 7.3m

Wingspan: 10.4m

Length: 22.7m

Powerplant(s): 4x J-X4 Whiplash Turbo Ramjet Engines

Maximum SL Speed: Mach 1

Maximum Speed: Mach 3 @19.5 km altitude

Armament: 1x 4.6t Hammerhead Fin Stabilized Bomb, externally mounted; 2x 1.0t Firefly Fin Stabilized Bombs, internally mounted

Utility Equipment: 1x Airbrake, 1x Drogue Chute

Operational Guide

Commands

1 - Toggle engines

2 - Drop Hammerhead FSB

3 - Open/Close bomb bay doors

4 - Drop Firefly FSBs

5 - Open Drogue Chute (landing only!)

6 - Cut Drogue Chute (landing only!)

Note: drop the Hammerhead FSB before dropping the Firefly FSBs.

Takeoff

Takeoff is straight and stable. Rotation is possible after 60-65 m/s. Engines will provide enough thrust to quickly accelerate the B-44B to Mach 1 at Sea Level. For ascent to high altitude, stay within 20-30 degrees to allow smooth leveling out to cruise altitude at 19km. 45 degree ascents are quicker but may result in overshooting the target altitude, with subsequent engine flameout.

Flight

The B-44B is very stable in flight. Roll maneuvers while the Hammerhead FSB is attached may appear unstable, but approach rolls carefully and the Sabre will handle the rest. Avoid overheating the intakes and engines by flying at maximum throttle at lower than 18-19km altitude. Mach 3 can be sustained at altitudes of 19-20km. This enables reaching either the western or eastern landmasses within 8-9 minutes.

Landing

Slow down to 100-120 m/s on approach. For the final approach, avoid dropping below 55 m/s, or a stall will ensue. Once on the runway, deploy the drogue chute and use both landing gear and the airbrake to slow down to a halt. Remember that the B-44B is not a fighter jet - it maneuvers gently and with reduced engine power pitching up is slightly slower.

Bombing

The Hammerhead FSB is heavy and streamlined. It will fly far before impacting the ground. The Firefly FSB is light and, while streamlined, has more drag per unit of weight. It will impact the ground relatively early. The Firefly FSB should not be dropped while flying too fast, or the rapidly decelerating bomb may impact the rear of the cargo bay. Stay within 200 m/s.

Link

http://kerbal.curseforge.com/shareables/230388-b-44b-sabre-stock

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Video

[Tada]

It´s actually pretty nice. Flies nice, bombs work really well! Thumbs up!

[gmiddlemass]

Beautiful replica... fantastic work!!

[Aanker]

Thank you both! I'm trying to make a scientifically oriented version, call it SB-44 (S for Science) and maybe slap on a piggyback SSTO or something for the rule of cool.

Pretty sure this plane, itself, could be turned into an ssto.