Kerbal Dynamics Thunder

[Scoundrel]

So for my latest career I decided to grind the survey contracts and eventually found myself needing a high efficiency plane that could go anywhere on Kerbin, land, then return. This is the result:

The craft features advanced aerodynamic features that make it easy to land, easy to fine tune heading and pitch, and its very sturdy construction means that as long as you are subsonic, you can't make the plane break apart. In fact it has been so carefully designed that it has enough fuel to circumnavigate Kerbin without the drop tanks (which are actually only there for fun or for when I'm spending a lot of time messing about doing important science stuff).

Of course, at a certain point one will unlock the turboramjets and that's when you get this:

Which is the exact same plane but with turboramjets.

And yes, the picture was completely necessary!

When flown at 20km+ it can cruise at over 1000m/s and sips fuel so slowly that it is possible to circumnavigate Kerbin at least once, perhaps even twice.

Here's a beauty shot of the RJ variant going transonic:

You can get the base craft here and the turboramjet variant here.

ACTION GROUPS:

1 - Toggles the Ladder

Edited May 23, 2015 by Scoundrel
Added some more visual aids

[SHiftER2O]

That... That design is so.... WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT??? Side-ways Mk2 fuselages of course!!!

[ghostbuzzer7]

That... That design is so.... WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT??? Side-ways Mk2 fuselages of course!!!

Agreed very interesting, why dont we ever think this

[SHiftER2O]

Agreed very interesting, why dont we ever think this

It's basically some sort of IQ test we never even heard of xD

[Tankbuster32]

There's a real plane like that (which I assume you based the craft on

[Scoundrel]

Thanks for the comments and yeah, BAE stole the idea from me . There's some nice aerodynamic side effects of this design (sorry couldn't resist!), which makes it pretty docile to fly. I've actually managed to land it on a mountain... unfortunately I knocked it with Jeb while being a goof and planting a flag for a photo doing important science and PR work, and sent it sliding to its certain death, so maybe landing it on mountains isn't a good idea.

Edited May 23, 2015 by Scoundrel
grammar