History of flight (a very kerbal one)

[Dekko]

The president Kerman entered the room. Each of his steps were resonating until he sat at the briefing table with all the ministers.

He didn't said "hello". Instead the following went out of his mouth.

"Boys. And Girls. We need to learn to fly."

And then he left.

 

 

A few weeks later, the first test plane build by Jeb's Junkyard and Jebediah was ready to take off. 

Fig-1 Jebediah's Flyer I

The plane didn't leave the strip. And slightly get out of the runway ... when suddenly the plane, well .. the thing, exploded. 

Jebediah escaped unarmed the accident. 

A few weeks later, again, a second Flyer was ready. This plane benefited from the mistakes of the first one.

Fig-2 Jebediah's Flyer II

Jebediah get high, I mean he reached a high altitude, nobody knows really, we still haven't invented the altimeter at this time, but sure he got high. Too high and ran out of gas. He attempted a landing, a soft one but mostly failed. Mostly because the pilot seat and Jebediah were still intact after landing.

Fig-3 Jebediah in what's left of the Flyer II

 

But this day was the most important in the history of flight somebody went above ground without jumping or using a ladder.

 

New episode coming soon!

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2021 by Dekko

[Dekko]

The Jeb's Dekko P1 was the first plane to reach Nye Island.

Fig-4 the Jeb's Dekko P1

May be not the way expected. Jebediah survived

Fig-5 the Jeb's Dekko P1 crash.

 

It was clear at this moment Jeb's Junkyard team wasn't skilled enough to build a proper plane lasting more than 5 minutes. The Program needed a better builder. 

It was at this very moment Bill Kerman was hired. 

The mighty engineer was surprised by the amateurism of the program and decided to reorganize it.

Fig-6 Bill Kerman arrived at KSC and was horrified by what he saw

[Dekko]

Bill's infuence on the program was felt almost immediatly. He started to correct many mistakes made previously.

The torque of the turboshaft was compensated by a second engine running counterclockwise. Hence the engine generated a countertorque. Biplane wings were modified by monoplane structure. Why using 4 wings? Birds have only 2! And that's a plane, not a bi-plane!

The landing gear also got a bit of love !

The Albatross I was born and was the firs plane to reach  a recorded altitude of 4000m (Because Bill also added an altimeter of his own into the plane.)

Jebediah commented the plane has a flying anvil. But flying was what we were looking for.

Fig-7 the Albatross I in flight. But who took the picture?

 

That's the point where Pr Von Kerman was nominated by the president to lead the project. He has a very interesting concept for flying.

 

 

Fig-8 Pr. Von Kerman arrival at the KSC.

 

After being greeted and installed properly, the professor called a meeting with all the teams.

Bill asked a question. "Why the president wants us to build flying machines? " The whole room agreed it was an interesting question. Yes, why?

The professor answered. 

Tell me Bill Kerman, have you explored around the KSC? have you seen the black monolith outside the KSC? Do you believe that's a pure coincidence the KSC is built near this monolith?

Bill was confused. He never notived the monolith. Nobody actually did. And what's a monolith?  Is it the same as a monolight? He answered: " Idon't know what's a monolith ,sir"

The professor thought his mission might end being harder than expected. Anyway... he explained to Bill what was a monolith. Bill still didn't remembered seeing a black parallelepiped near the KSC. Nobody remembered. 

Some started to believe the professor was a liar. Others to think the professor was insane. 

The professor ended being annoyed by all the din of the room.

"Silence!" he requested.

Nobody ear him. he stood on the table and started to repeat "Silence, Silence all of you please!"

The room went quiet. 

"Tomorow will mount an expedition to allow all of you to admire the monolith. During this time you can still climb the control tower and look north. Bill?"

Bill woke up: "Nyeah sir?"

-Can you build me a car for tomorrow please?"

-Right away, but one question: How many passengers?

-Four. Tomorrow you'll meet 2 new members."

Jebediah risked one last question

-"Sir, may I ask why it is important for us to explore monolith and why doing it by flying?"

-"Excellent question Jebediah" answered Von Kerman.

"These monoliths are absorbing all energy. They are a mistery. The president want them studied. All of them. We don't know what they are but they are worth our attention. 

And why using planes? First,there is no roads on kerbin and there is also no harbors. And from height it is a lot easier to spot something. So flying might end being the most practical way to reach the monoliths on Kerbin. But more interesting astronomer Bob Kerman spotted a black rectangle on the Mun. To go to the mun we need to master some kind of flight and study what's between Kerbin and the Mun. "

Jebediah emited a "uh ok!". 

Von Kerman continued. 

"Our mission is to find every monolith or feature worth our attention and study them."  

Edited September 11, 2021 by Dekko

[Maria Sirona]

Wow. Lovely. Followed. But ya english. Can ya please proofread future chapters?

[Dekko]

Bill worked hard all night to build the vehicle that would take him and three other Kerbals to see the famous monolith.

 

In the early morning, exhausted, he could present the GEV1a "Sable". A 4-seater buggy. The appearance remained rustic. Bill hadn't had time to put walnut brambles on the dashboard.

 

The sun was beginning to dawn when two new kerbonauts arrived at the Administration. Bill went to greet them by telling them that before 11:30 9:00 the building was not open.

Valentina and Bob introduced themselves. Bill leads them to the astronaut building where Jebediah was snoring on the couch, his cup of coffee still hot in front of him. Bill shook him to wake him up.

Eyes still misted with his dreams, he saw Valentina.

At first he did not understand. Makeup, long hair tied in a ponytail. What was this kerbal?

He asked her, "What kind of Kerbal are you?" She replied, "Uh... the feminine kind"

Jebediah didn't understand. What was the feminine kind?

-"What is the feminine kind?"

Dismayed by the answer, Valentina dared herself to a question:

"Have you ever seen a girl?"

"A girl? What's that? »

"It's me. But your mother must be a girl as normally. »

"Everyone knows that the Kerbals have no mother. They have only one father, the all-mighty and all-powerful Harvester."

-"ok.... I think we are going a long way. We'll see that later. " she concludes, uncomfortable.

 

Von Kerman opened the door at that moment and invited everyone to go see the monolith.

 

Everyone boarded the GEV1a and the vehicle set sail for the black rectangle in the distance.

Fig-9 The GEV1a and the Kerbonauts

The rectangle grows to the point of becoming gigantic. The buggy stopped a few meters away.

Fig-10 The first Monolith discovered.

Bill, Bob, Jebediah and Valentina stayed at the foot of the monolith for long minutes. So it was true. Monoliths existed.

Bill concludes this discovery with

"Good! I'm going to bed. »

[Dekko]

Chapter I: Big Firecrackers

Professor Von Kerman was sure of this. The only way to spot the monoliths was from Kerbin's orbit. And to access the orbit planes are not enough. In any case, not yet.

The teacher has a solution. His area of expertise, rockets. However, it will be necessary to work on the concept to place a kerbal or a satellite in orbit.

After several weeks of intense labor, the first VK-1 rocket (Von Kerman-1) is on the launch pad.

 

Fig-11 VK-1 rocket

The launch is not a boundless success. But the rocket works and, after a few adventures, it stabilizes and ends up crashing away from the KSC, well west of the mountain range adjoining it.

The second rocket model, the VK-2, a deeply improved and augmented VK-1, it broke all records. It reached an altitude of 14,000 m, made a superb parabolic trajectory, exceeded 1200m/s. For 955 kilograms of powder, metal and gyroscopes.

 

Fig-12 VK-2 rocket

The VK-3 is a very different liquid propellant model and uses a nole specially developed for it, the LV-T30. With a mass of 11 tons, it was without comparison with the two previous models.

 

Fig-13 VK-3 rocket

It was the first craft to pass the 70km altitude mark. The KSC radars lost track of the rocket at an altitude of 250km but by calculating between its speed, mass and re-entry point, it was determined that it had exceeded 6300km altitude. It took him a whole day to get back into the atmosphere.

 

The VK-4a is an improved version of the VK-3 whose purpose was to test the separation of a payload (named Stuff That Will Orbit Kerbin At Some Point-1; STWOKASP-1)and the rocket. Photographs sent from the rocket during the separation showed that the decoupler worked perfectly.

Fig-14 VK-4a Rocket with the STWOKASP-1

 

Fig-15 Somewhere on this photograph lies the payload. 

The VK-4b is a very different rocket from the VK-4a. Still of a single-stage design, it uses an LV-T45 engine to allow it to control its trajectory during the flight.

 

Fig-16 VK-4b Rocket fitted with STWOKASP-2. A different design.

This invention allowed Professor Von Kerman to almost place an artificial satellite by chance. Indeed the VK-4b detached its payload which had only the defect of having its perigee at 11 km altitude.

 

Fig-17 Payload Estimated orbit

Fig-18 Artist view of STWOKASP-2 above Kerbin

Edited September 12, 2021 by Dekko