[STOCK] AV-8B Harrier II

[Servo]

McDonnell-Douglas AV-8B Harrier II

The AV-8B Harrier II was a continuation by McDonnell Douglas (later Boeing) of the less successful Hawker Siddley Harrier. The original Harrier was a technological marvel but a military failure. It had less range and less payload than the A-4 Skyhawk that it was designed to replace. The McDonnell redesign replaced the engine with an improved Pegasus engine, redone cockpit avionics, and added night attack capabilities.

The AV-8B retained the advantages of the original Harrier, most importantly its S/VTOL capability. This distinctive feature is afforded by the four swiveling lift jets which redirect the exhaust from the Pegasus engine. 
This flexibility makes the Harrier an extremely useful aircraft, especially for the Marine Corps. In the Gulf War, they proved invaluable, with their ability to support ground troops in roles where conventional aircraft couldn't. Additionally, Harriers often operate on smaller aircraft carriers alongside attack helicopters. This allows them to operate much closer to land than conventional fixed wing airplanes, which need to take off from large carriers far offshore.

This is a rebuild of my previous AV-8B (https://kerbalx.com/servo/AV-8B-Harrier), and features a rebuild of the swiveling jets, as well as a much more accurate exterior.
As usual, the jets use airbrakes to move the engines (3x Juno each) 90 degrees, where they dock to allow throttle control while hovering. The hinge is a pair of RCS balls inside a cage of solar panels, allowing smooth transitions between vertical and horizontal flight.

This Harrier is quite fun to fly. I increased the number of engines to 12, nearly doubling the top speed, and allowing the Harrier to hover at 60% power. Use action groups 1 and 2 to toggle between lift modes.

For vertical takeoff, throttle to full and wait until you have ~100m altitude and 40m/s horizontal velocity. Then switch to horizontal flight. Wait for the engines to redock, and throttle back to 100%.

This Harrier is a little different than most other VTOLs to learn, but with a little practice, it's an extremely fun plane to fly.

Download:

https://kerbalx.com/servo/AV-8B-Harrier-II

[Matuchkin]

To call this overkill would be a bit of an understatement- it's absolutely crazy in comparison to replicas that just use stock plane parts. I'm thinking you should make the cockpit more bulbous- in the actual Harrier the bubble canopy also extends behind the pilot and kind-of dips down along the sides, so that the pilot can see below him by leaning to the side (better than on a conventional jet, anyway).

Also, very, very good attention to detail, especially with the hinged engines. You know what would be cool? Say when you activate VTOL mode, the jet engines shut down and a rocket/ monoprop engine takes over (hidden alongside the hinged jet engines). On the actual Harrier, distilled water is used to augment the cooling system of the engines when they are in VTOL mode, and this water is stored in a small tank, with a low supply (the AV-8 is really meant to fly like a normal jet, the VTOL option is for takeoff/landing only). You will be able to simulate this.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Matuchkin

[selfish_meme]

Absolutely love it, did you include the RCS?

Quote

They also have to deal with the reaction control system, a series of nozzles used to keep the plane level. The nozzle in the nose blows air down, the two in the wingtips blow up and down, and the one in the tail blows down and side to side.

 

[Bubbadevlin]

Cool plane! Its amazing how small you can make your tilt engines.. Great detail too!

 

This is inspiring me to work on my tilt-engine replica again... (different plane though)

Edited December 6, 2017 by Bubbadevlin