The scout series aircraft [stock]

[Duban]

It all started with an idea to make the fastest and highest flying air breathing spy plane possible. The first aircraft was a clumsy twin engine aircraft that couldn\'t escape the runway, never mind Kerbin. It required you to bounce around on the ground until the drop before the ocean just to take off.

Starting with my initial failure I used what I learned until I made a successful spy aircraft, the scout v2. From then on I built, and rebuilt a series of successful high altitude spy aircraft until i reached my ultimate goal of 20+km flight. Here are the aircraft.

Scout

Alias: The early scout prototype

Peak Velocity: 650m/s

Maximum Altitude: 16.6KM

Range: 400km

Description: Primitive compared to later models, most of the aircraft\'s weight is just air inlets. It was the beginning that set the basis for what was to come.

Scout V3

Alias: The light ray

Peak Velocity: 710m/s

Maximum Altitude: 18.6KM

Range: 600km

Description: At this point I had very little idea what a high altitude spyplane in KSP should look like. I realized the engines could stand on their own with the fuel in the fuselage to cut down on the extra weight, a recurring theme. Ultimately it was an extremely high velocity aircraft for only 7 engines. Later models could only hope to match the light ray\'s speed with many more engines.

Scout V4

Failure

Description: The V4 broke on the launch pad. After dozens of redesigns it became little more than a mosh pit of structural connecters but no matter how hard I tried it always broke. Alas, We will never know your potential scout V4.

Scout V5

Alias: The bi-jet

Peak Velocity: 620m/s

Maximum Altitude: 19.4KM

Range: 600km

Description: The twin wing design gave the aircraft a very unique flight pattern. The aircraft had incredible lift that brought it to previously unmatched altitudes with the lowest maximum velocity. It\'s flight was also uniquely level with very little difference between the peak and minimum altitudes/velocities. It was also the most stable of the scouts at high altitudes.

Scout V6

Underperformer

Description: A modified V5, the V6 was outperformed by its predecessor in every way. At least the V4 might have been a good craft if it worked. This one was Grade-A certified terrible.

Scout V7

Alias: Big Dog

Success: >20km flight achieved.

Peak Velocity: 730m/s

Maximum Altitude: 20.4km

Range: 1,200km

Description: Jettison-able fuel tanks define this aircraft\'s performance. It has twice the range of any previous aircraft, about 1/3 the diameter of Kerbin but its performance is weak in early flight. The extra fuel means it\'s only traveling about 630m/s at 14km at the beginning of the flight and steadily climbs to its maximum velocity by the end of its journey. At the very last 100km or so of its flight it also becomes very back-heavy, sending it into an uncontrollable climb.

I hope you enjoyed my scout series of aircraft. The sucessful aircraft mentioned above are attached. Please tell me what you think .

[Cezary]

Nice R&D. Those things must be taxing on the CPU. I\'ve been trying something similar, but with a much simpler design.

I managed to hit 726 m/s using just 2 TurboJets. Using 5 tanks of fuel, the plane, named Floater, flew 700km North from the KSC at an altitude of 18.5 km before coasting down just short of the polar ice cap.

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Ship Download Link ***

[Monkthespy]

._.

[.ADestroyer360]

Now I can spy on those Nigerian phone scammers.

[sss]

Now.

i love it, but my PC will explode if i try this

[move]NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!![/move]

thats too bad, but good work anyway.

[toastar]

I tried it and had a hard time taking off, I added some front canards and it takes off like a dream

Edit: on second though maybe I should of put them on the front drop tanks?

Edit2: nope bad idea.

[rspeed]

I\'ve done a few planes along the same lines, none named. Here\'s the most recent design:

Got it as high as 17km and as fast as 875 m/s.

10 delta wings (they have the best ratio of lift/weight/drag), 16 engines, 5 fuel tanks.

Not stock, as there\'s a MechJeb capsule.

[warlock0110]

looks like some top secret spy plane lol