B-29 SuperFortress replica "Freedom Fighter"

[kapteenipirk]

I got inspired by the "who can make the best planes in KSP" post to make my own SuperFortress replica.

Note: the description for this one is going to be a long one.

 

Engineers report:

So, using all the experience i got from my previous B-17 Replica, i again went for the "all or nothing" style detailing and built it around the MK-3 fuselage system.

Because i wanted to make it a bit different, i went for the tanker version instead. This means that there is no turrets installed.

But, the mounting points for the turrets are still there even tough they they are smoothened out on the real one to reduce drag.

The refueling probe doesn't actually work, but you can make it work with some IR magic.  Also it's not piped up to anything at the moment.

I also made the wing tip tanks out of structural fuselages to reduce wing flex.

 

There was always that one thing that bugged me about the B-17 replica i made, and that was the engines.

This time i think that they are pretty good, tough they are a bit dirty in some places.

I was thinking about using fairings, just like i did with the B-17. But, i couldn't really get a good shape, so i scrapped that and used decouplers instead to create the open section. I would have also had to make all the fairings for each engine one by one cause you can't copy nor mirror them.

Other than that and the cockpit, it was a pretty simple build.

Because Editor Extension hadn't been updated yet, i had to work with the offset limits witch made some parts a bit tricky, but it's nothing i can't handle.

So that's why the windshield has I-beams in it.

 

History of the "Freedom Fighter":

The Freedom fighter is a tanker aircraft with a very rich history. The Freedom fighter was originally known as the "Kermainian Killer" a regular B-29 that was used in KW-2 to bomb ships and ports of the enemy during the Fastific campaign.

The aircraft sunk two ships and did many bombing mission during the war while suffering minor damage overall.

After the war had ended and all troops had been put into reserve, our boys at KSC (known as the Kerbal Aerospace Research complex at the time) saw this as an opportunity to by some new shiny planes to experiment with. I mean it's not like the airforce needs them anymore.

So, our boys went trough some tough negosiations and ended up with a few aircraft in our hands, and "Kermainian Killer" was one of them.

Since we didn't have a need for heavy bombers, we started to think of other uses for a type like this. After some thinking one of our engineers said to us "wouldn't it be nice if we could find a way to extend the range of our cargo planes so we could ship our parts by air instead of by sea, witch takes forever. The airforce would also be happy to find a way of extending the range of their radar aircrafts and bombers".

From that, we got the idea of making an aerial tanker, that could refuel aircrafts in mid flight. The airforce also got interested in this idea and gave as some help during the project, but  It did take quite a lot of years before we got the system working.  After many fires and leaks and other accidents, there it was, a B-29 that could refuel aircrafts in flight.

To celebrate this, our engineers gave the aircraft a new name, it would be called the "Fueling Flyboy".

It served as one of our primary workhorses for about 16 years, before it was retired and sent to storage.

But now, after all these years, we felt like the old lady deserved to fly again, so, we fixed it up and polished it and gave it a new name, the "Freedom Fighter". The name would be given due to the aircraft type's contribution in preserving our freedom.

 

IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER:

There are some things you need to remember before you take off.

1. Don't fly this thing unmanned unless you want inverted roll and yaw.

2. When taking off, wait till you get to a speed of 85-90 m/s, then pull up gently or otherwise the refueling probe will hit the ground and explode.

 

Specs and picks:

NOTE: these are not the picks for the latest version, i have tweaked and added some bits after taking those picks. But not by much.

Top speed: 135 m/s.

Stall speed: 50 m/s

Fuel: 8320/10143

Length: 58.8m.

Wingspan: 65.4m.

Height: 14.6m.

Mass: 164 tons.

Parts: 903

Mod used: Firespitter.

Download link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/esef59fpzduxh7u/B-29 SuperFortress (tanker).craft?dl=0

 There it for you, another part eating super detailed monster. I hope you enjoy it

 

[Majorjim!]

Looks great man, I nice complex build to stretch those building skill muscles! 

 Editor extensions redux works perfectly now man. Try using that.

[kapteenipirk]

11 minutes ago, Majorjim said:

Looks great man, I nice complex build to stretch those building skill muscles! 

 Editor extensions redux works perfectly now man. Try using that.

Thanks . Yep, i will and would have, but i only found out after the build that Editor Extensions had been updated to work with the new version. Oh well, it's a bit late now.

But at least it's good to know that i can use it on future builds.

Edited July 16, 2016 by kapteenipirk

[pTrevTrevs]

Damn... it's more detailed than my U-boat, and unlike the boat, it actually does something.

[kapteenipirk]

10 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

Damn... it's more detailed than my U-boat, and unlike the boat, it actually does something.

Heh, thanks .