Weekly Aircraft Development Competition

[MiffedStarfish]

What?

Timezones are tricky. For me, I've just had a lie-in and been up half an hour.

Here's the poll: http://www.strawpoll.me/13475179

 

[Joseph Kerman]

29 minutes ago, MiffedStarfish said:

@Joseph Kerman can't you make the poll? It takes less than five minutes.

I will do the comparison for better judging.

[MiffedStarfish]

That's still not really how scoring works... maybe we could have too catergories. "Voted Best" and "Most Functional"

[Vexnium]

It's only Wednesday guys! Someone may willing to join the competition, give them some time.

[Ozelui]

1 minute ago, Vexnium said:

It's only Wednesday guys! Someone may willing to join the competition, give them some time.

This.  Relax and keep creating crazy flying contraptions while the week advances.

[MiffedStarfish]

Ok. I'll put it up late tomorrow.

[MostExcellent]

Are we allowed to post craft after the three have been submitted? Just for fun.

[MiffedStarfish]

I was confused by the 3 craft as well, it was a minimum, not a maximum number of crafts. Go ahead. 

[Joseph Kerman]

It's Friday, and I need the craft files to evaluate.

[MiffedStarfish]

Here is the poll: http://www.strawpoll.me/13475179/r

[MiffedStarfish]

Apologies for the delay, I had a big barbecue which completely disrupted my sleep schedule. The winner of the rocket plane competition is @Vexnium, take it away!

[Vexnium]

On 2017/7/24 at 6:00 PM, MiffedStarfish said:

Apologies for the delay, I had a big barbecue which completely disrupted my sleep schedule. The winner of the rocket plane competition is @Vexnium, take it away!

So umm, what is the topic of this week?

[MiffedStarfish]

you choose!

[Vexnium]

Sorry but I have to refuse this time, can not think of a good topic.

We need someone with a good idea!

[Guest]

Supersonic nuclear bomber! Needs to carry at least 15t of bombs

[MiffedStarfish]

Good idea DunDun92, can you write it?

[no_intelligence]

1 hour ago, dundun92 said:

Supersonic nuclear bomber! Needs to carry at least 15t of bombs

Sounds great. I accidently built one today without knowing about the challenge... If you will define the specs more I will take a look if my craft suits them and put it on here.

[Guest]

Week 9.

Supersoinc  Nuclear Bomber

Requirements:

Payload: at least 15 t of internal, droppable payload.

Weight: Max, 20t Empty of every resource.

Speed: at least 500 m/s

Range: To desert continent and back.

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by Guest

[Guest]

1 hour ago, no_intelligence said:

Sounds great. I accidently built one today without knowing about the challenge... If you will define the specs more I will take a look if my craft suits them and put it on here.

 

1 hour ago, dundun92 said:

Week 9.

Supersoinc  Nuclear Bomber

Requirements:

Payload: at least 15 t of internal, droppable payload.

Weight: Max, 20t Empty

Speed: at least 500 m/s

Range: To desert continent and back.

 

 

[Vexnium]

Long range supersonic bomber carries 15t payload but only weight 20t? Sounds good to me.

[MiffedStarfish]

It says 20t empty, but it still does seem like very little, I remember we had empty military transports in the 50 ton range. 

Edited July 26, 2017 by MiffedStarfish

[no_intelligence]

Yeah. 20t empty is a real challenge, especially with the given minimum range. Maybe @dundun92 should clarify if empty means including or excluding fuel. My current build weights 17t including fuel, got also 16.25t payload but only reaches the desert continent and cannot fly back. Therefore it hits 1200+ m/s. 

My build i mentioned yesterday would suit all requirements but is a lot heavier. About 130t with 40 or 50t payload and a range of bit more than 1/2 Kerbin at a max speed of 1350+ m/s.

Edited July 26, 2017 by no_intelligence

[Ozelui]

Narrow weight limits, it's going to be challenging

I had a flying wing style bomber under construction, but without engines and part of the fusselage still missing it's already 43 tons... i will try to build a smaller version and see how it handles supersonic flight.

[no_intelligence]

So then, seems I am the first one to enter a craft for this weeks challenge. It is called the "Koeing BK-02", with "BK" standing for "Bomber Kerbini" i guess 

It weights a total of 35.99 tonnes fully loaded with 3*FLT800 each 4.5t and 1*FLT400 2.25t tanks as bombs. Taking them out of the mass results in an empty weight of 20.24 tonnes including fuel. Yes i overran the limit by 0.24 tonnes, but if you change the large landing gear with medium ones it will result in 19.94 tonnes  So I assume this will count.

It flies really great and can reach the desert continent at ease and even is able to fly back without dropping the bombs. If they are dropped it may even have an more increased range. Optimum speed is about 800m/s at 11,000 to 12,000 metres height. With this parametres it burns around 0.9 to 1u/s. The max speed I have not tested, just reached arount 1100m/s or so before aborted.

The craft can be found here: https://kerbalx.com/no_intelligence/Koeing-BK-02

Btw.: It is build completely with stock parts, I even haven't got any mods installed...

Here are some pictures and a short story of the flight:

Spoiler

 

Just started at the KSC, made the 180° turn and now climbing.

Over the ocean at cruise altitude and speed, the desert continent already in sight.

Performing the tur around with opened loading bay to show the bombs. It actually cost me loads of speed and altitude to turn it aorund which wasted a lot of fuel...

Set course back to the KSC, climbing an regaining altitude.

Yep. That's a long way home, Jeb.

Land in sight! Let's pray the fuel will be sufficient.

Reached the mountains again. And yay, the KSC is in sight.

Last correction turn to get on a good approach.

Bombs still inside. Opened the cargo bay to reduce speed but still looks really high and fast for a landing 

Half the runway behind, still very fasst. This is not going to end well, Jeb. Abort! Abort!

Gone around. Oh crap. The tanks are near empty.

Dropping the bombs to loose some weight for the second try.

Yep. That looks a lot more stable.

Nearly there. You can do it, Jeb!

Uff. Done it. The baby is on the ground, let's see how much fuel is left...

Mh. Is there any fuel left? Wouldn't possibly be enough to get back to the hangar 

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by no_intelligence

[Guest]

The reason for the low wieght limit was to reduce size, and radar signature.

@MiffedStarfish, am I allowed to enter?