United States Air Force Museum Replica Collection

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

"I, Lyndon Baines Johnson, do solemnly swear that I am up to no good... am a bully and a racist... benefited the most from my predecessor's murder... will faithfully execute all who oppose me.. the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, destroy... preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Those words were spoken on board SAM 26000, the fourth primary Air Force One, almost two hours after President John F. Kennedy was shot on November 22nd, 1963. 

 

• VC-137C, also nicknamed "SAM 26000," on display in the SPH.
  • This aircraft had the serial number 62-6000, which then evolved into the nickname "SAM 26000." 
• I included the aka in the craft name so people who know this plane under its civil (Boeing 707) or regular military designation (C-137 Stratoliner) can find it. After all, this particular aircraft - and then SAM 27000 afterwards - was a heavily modified Boeing 707 built specifically for transporting the President of the United States. The Boeing 707 frame was also used for the C-137 Stratoliner, which served as a passenger/VIP transport aircraft. I didn’t mention the E-3 Sentry at all because although its airframe was derived from the Boeing 707, this aircraft does not come with a rotodome.
• I actually started this replica a long time ago, but I had to put it on hiatus because of poor performance. The most notable problems were that the CoM and CoL were too far apart, causing it to be nose-heavy, and that moving the CoM back to a meaningful distance from the CoL would cause the plane to tip backwards.
• When I eventually got back to this project, I noticed that I had used engine nacelles and FL-T200 fuel tanks for the engines. In my defense; it was an attempt to mimic the Boeing 707 engine aesthetic. The performance on that first test flight was terrible, so I replaced them with Mk1 liquid fuel tanks to increase it.
• A pair of FAT-455 wings mostly overlap another pair which hold the engines. That certainly helped with moving the CoL forward, balancing the plane better.
• I made the nav lights and anti-collision lights separate action groups from the main light button. That way, you can fly with your interior lights off during the day (or night if you want a nap) while staying safe in the sky.
• I installed lander cans and ladders near the tail so that passengers can get in and out from the back.
• Since I didn’t have a flag for the Seal of the President of the United States, I had to use the Kerbin World Firsts logo in its place. Other than that, I can safely say that I nailed the logo scheme. Too bad I couldn’t paint it to Jackie Kennedy’s liking.

 

• SAM 26000 beginning its climb to cruising altitude after turning to its desired heading.
• It took a few tries to determine a solid cruising altitude and a procedure on how to get to said altitude. At least it was able to fly over mountains in the end.
• The only kerbal lore attached to this aircraft is that it’s an early jet airliner since it was based on the Boeing 707 and it has such a large crew capacity.
  • I already have an Air Force One equivalent built and tested, and it comes with its own assassination story too.

 

(SPOILER ALERT)

Spoiler

My Plane Prime V3 did way better than this replica. The only thing this aircraft beat PPV3 in is crew capacity, so this would do better as an airliner that eventually gets retired for better models.

 

Below are the ascent instructions for this Boeing 707, so PAY ATTENTION.

1. Point the aircraft at the desired heading after taking off.
2. Maintain the aircraft’s vertical speed at 25 m/s.
3. Stop at 5.5 km altitude.
4. Once your velocity reaches at least 200 m/s, climb to 6 km altitude at a vertical speed of 20 m/s.
5. After reaching 6 km, stop there and wait until your velocity reaches at least 200 m/s.
6. Climb to 6.5 km altitude at a vertical speed of 10 m/s, then resume your cruise once you get there.

 

• The plane settling at cruising altitude and speed (somewhat) as it flies north towards some mountains.

 

• SAM 26000 after flying over the north mountains.
  • At the same time, a range estimation was made in case the test cruise would cut too deep into my sleep schedule.
  • From my experience, assuming no hiccups in the cruise I get conservative estimates compared to what actually happens. I still would prefer to fly until my tanks are almost empty so that I could see how my landing would be affected by the weight change and distribution due to fuel consumption.

 

• Flying over Kerbin’s northern polar ice cap.

 

• POV: you’re a passenger on board a 707 airliner looking outside.
  • Shortly after this photograph was taken, the captain informed everyone that they were about to land.

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Altitude: 6.5 km (~21.3k ft; Class Alpha airspace)
• Average Velocity: 181 m/s (~404.9 mph)
  • If you’re using MJ aircraft autopilot, it’s best to set the speed to 190 m/s. For all the time the plane bounces up and down, 181 seems to be the middle of how fast the plane goes along the surface.
• Flight Time: 2 hours
• Expected Range: 1,300 km
  • This plane glided for an additional 30 km afterwards before touchdown in the latest test flight.

 

• SAM 26000 / Boeing 707 / C-137 / whatever after a long flight and a successful landing. Its ladders are deployed so kerbals can exit from both the nose and the tail doors.
• Unfortunately, this replica’s cruise stats were not impressive at all. At most, this plane brags a high crew capacity and the fact that it can (slowly) fly a third of the length of Kerbin’s circumference before it has to land.

 

Another iconic aircraft off the checklist; it's unfortunate that its ticket to fame was a national tragedy. I don't know if many kerbalnauts know this, but we have John F. Kennedy to thank for NASA's devotion to getting mankind to the moon's surface in the 1960s. Sure, Nixon was president during the Apollo 11 landing, but NASA wouldn't have gotten that far then had Kennedy not emphasized the importance of reaching the moon before the Soviets. "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard," is a quote we live by while playing Kerbal Space Program, whether we're starting our first Minmus landing or our seventh Jool-5 attempt in an SSTO. If only our real-life space programs had that kind of drive today, we could not only return to the moon's surface after 50 years, we could establish a solid permanent presence on there by the end of this decade. And who knows, we may even send people to the Martian surface before then too.

 

Replicas Remaining: 193

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

Mom: "Why won't you go fly in formation with the neighbor's plane?"

The neighbor's plane: (is an XB-70 Valkyrie)

Mom: "Never mind."

 

• The XB-70 Valkyrie on display in the SPH.
• I started with a Mk1 cockpit - and then a probe core for Kerbnet (which would come in handy later) - before beginning a long line of Mk1 liquid fuel tanks. For its unusually long nose, I placed a Type A Advanced Nose Cone facing backwards underneath the cockpit and then attached a Tail Connector B to the cone before moving them up. Unfortunately, that would mean the hatch was obstructed, which makes it ironic that I would put a parachute in the cockpit cargo slot.
• The control surfaces near the nose, which are supposed to mimic the real-life Valkyrie’s canards, ended up doing the complete opposite of what the rear control surfaces were doing during partial construction flight tests (as in incomplete versions were flown). After inverting the direction didn’t work, I thought setting the authority limiter to -20 would fix the problem; while it did get the front control surfaces to go along with the rear ones, the plane never got off the runway. So, I set the control surfaces back to what they were originally, since at least the plane was flying then.
  • On a side note, there was a discussion about this in the KSP Forums nine years ago. Turns out, there’s a good reason why control surfaces go in opposite directions if on opposite sides of the center of mass.
• I figured I would end up with two Adjustable Ramp Intakes to mimic the aesthetic underneath the fuselage, but that would not be enough for six Whiplash engines. So, I used an Engine Pre-cooler (and a battery) for each engine. Since they’re technically not in any cargo bays or stowed in a fairing, all six of them should get air just fine.
• To mimic the real-life Valkyrie’s ability to adjust its wingtip angle, I decided to include hinges with their symmetry removed; I had experience with such a mechanism when I made my XF-85 Goblin replica last year. At first, I tried G-01L Alligator Hinges since the larger ones would stick out through Structural Wing Type As. While the folding controls did work properly, the thin hinges were not strong enough to keep the wingtips steady when the plane broke Mach 2. I ended up the much wider G-32W Hinge - and had to use a Delta Wing or else I’ll get an awkwardly-shaped wing using the Structural Wing Type A. No reports of warping since then. As a bonus, the AG5 button resets the wings to the default orientation.
• Since the Valkyrie was used by NASA in a joint research program with the U.S. Air Force after the B-70 bomber program was cancelled, I included scientific instruments behind the cockpit.
• You would not believe how painful it was to arrange the wing parts underneath the main fuselage and the engines (with more fuel tanks) into something smooth. In the end, I got as close to a Valkyrie as I could while minimizing the number of parts involved.
  • If this was graded, I expect a B at most.

 

• Before the final test flight, this prototype was tested at checkpoints during the construction. 
  • In other words, this picture looks nothing like the final product (at least for the landing gear and what's underneath the fuselage).
• For this particular checkpoint, I wanted to see if the six engines - or at least the middle two - would get air just fine when the pre-coolers were surrounded on the sides. If all went well there, then I solved my intake air distribution problem and was clear to move on to the next checkpoint, which was the wing-folding mechanism.
  • While I was typing this, I had a flashback to my early childhood. I once had a singing Jay Jay the Jet Plane toy whose wings would flap. It would also sing, but apart from "Wing wigglin,'" I don't remember any of the song itself. Now as an adult kerbalnaut, I build aircraft that can wiggle its wings and actually fly.

 

• The completed Valkyrie beginning its test flight after turning north.
• For a minute, I thought the aircraft was doomed to not go faster than Mach 1 due to its acceleration dropping and the velocity starting to peak near 343 m/s. It also started to drop a little bit. Eventually, the plane picked up speed again.
• This reminded me of when I used to fly spaceplanes on a regular basis years ago. Depending on the pitch angle, the plane will experience a lull as it gets close to Mach 1, but give it time and it will resume accelerating.
• Which brings me to this critical piece of knowledge for when you begin to climb to cruise altitude:

 

CLIMB AT 10 DEGREES PITCH

 

• It didn’t take long for the Valkyrie to reach the mountain range 400 km north of the KSC.
• First order of business, I finally decided to name it Rangefinder Mountains since that was the point when I would find - or rather, calculate - how far I expect the plane to fly on one tank of gas.
• It was the early part of Labor Day and the plane was guzzling fuel quicker than most of my other aircraft thanks to having six Whiplash engines, so I figured that the test cruise would finish soon. Plus, I wanted to see how draining the tanks would affect the plane’s maneuverability and, by extension, how easy or hard it would be to land it.

 

• Entering the dark side of Kerbin after crossing over its northern polar ice cap.
• If you look closely at the wingtips, you'll notice that they're bent downward a bit in this shot.
  • If it changed the flight profile, it was not significant enough to notice.

 

• The pilot getting a beautiful view of the night sky while flying south.
• The wings are still bent downward here.

 

• When the aircraft had 100 fuel units left, the pilot was ordered to land immediately.
  • And just in time too.
• According to the aircraft’s Kerbnet-enabled GPS, it was about to fly over the ocean if it kept flying south. So, the pilot reduced power to 15% throttle while he turned around and cut the engines when he began gliding down. He also reset the wings to default orientation so that no surprise humps on the ground snap them off.
• Shores or grasslands were acceptable terrains to land on.

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Altitude: 22 km (~72.2k ft; Class Echo airspace)
  • First and foremost, CLIMB TO ALTITUDE AT 10 DEGREES PITCH!
  • FUN FACT: Class Alpha airspace goes from 18k ft ASL to 60k ft. Above that is Class Echo airspace - E for Everything Else.
• Velocity: 870 m/s (~1,946 mph)
• Expected Range: 2,325 km

 

• A successful landing for the XB-70 Valkyrie.
• Some were not surprised considering that it was flying alone.
• Others, however, were surprised that it landed in one piece since it was dark outside and this prototype didn’t have any drag chutes. While Kerbnet does reduce the risk of landing in water or crashing into mountains at night, the engineers decided to mount parachutes on the back of the aircraft - as well as a Spotlight Mk1 on the front end of the front landing gear - after it was brought back to the KSC.

 

While I was reading about how the XB-70 Valkyrie was developed and what happened to it, I couldn't help but notice some parallels between it and the XF-85's story. More specifically:

• They both were great ideas on paper, but testing proved them to be more trouble than they were worth.
  • And the B-70 project was terminated five years before the disaster on June 8, 1966.
• Soviet weapons posed a credible threat to them both.
  • GOBLIN: enemy fighters could outperform it.
  • VALKYRIE: Soviet surface-to-air missiles, which forced the Air Force to adjust their strategy and have the XB-70 fly low.
• They were pushed aside by emerging new technologies.
  • GOBLIN: new aerial refueling technology for escort fighters.
  • VALKYRIE: nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles.

 

However, after the B-70 bomber program was cancelled in 1961, the Valkyrie still proved useful in studying the effects of long-duration high-speed flight. Though the last remaining XB-70 was retired to the museum in 1969, the data obtained from its flights proved useful in developing large supersonic aircraft such as the B-1 Lancer and even the Concorde - and, via espionage, the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144. 

 

As I finish this post, I would like to pause for a moment of silence for NASA Chief Test Pilot Joseph Walker (F-104 pilot) and Air Force Major Carl Cross (XB-70 co-pilot), the victims of that fateful mid-air collision. Although North American Pilot Alvin White (XB-70 pilot) survived, he was badly injured.

• White eventually died in 2006 at age 87. 

 

Replicas Remaining: 192

[swjr-swis]

On 6/16/2024 at 11:12 PM, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

I don't know why this plane was put in the Global Reach Gallery  to begin with.

You're reading into 'global reach' too literally. It's not about literal flight range of individual planes, but about planes that play(ed) a part in achieving and maintaining the USAF airlift, special mission, aerial refueling, and aeromedical evacuation capabilities on a global theatre of operation. At the time of introduction the Learjet 35 / C-21 had one of the best combinations of handling, range and performance, which gained it part of the line-up of planes of Air Mobility Command and the 375th Air Mobility Wing.

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

23 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

You're reading into 'global reach' too literally. It's not about literal flight range of individual planes, but about planes that play(ed) a part in achieving and maintaining the USAF airlift, special mission, aerial refueling, and aeromedical evacuation capabilities on a global theatre of operation.

I suppose you're right. After all, you can't rely on large planes for everything - especially if the runway is not wide enough for them. Helicopters aren't really famous for range or speed either, so a small jet is your best bet. The C-21 may only carry one litter patient at a time, but some days you may only need to transport one litter patient or a few ambulatory patients, or even something as small as Air Tasking Orders. Using a large aircraft for these jobs would be a waste of time and gas money.

 

23 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

At the time of introduction the Learjet 35 / C-21 had one of the best combinations of handling, range and performance, which gained it part of the line-up of planes of Air Mobility Command and the 375th Air Mobility Wing.

After reading the Wikipedia page on the plane, it makes sense that the Air Force would use the C-21 for medium-haul tasks at the time. If I was a theater commander, I'd want my own jet too.

[TheKspEngineer]

I present: The happy boi, the flying vacuum cleaner, the X-32A!

 

I doesn't have a VTOL system because the 32A haven't had one too (and because of laziness).

In this picture you really see that the whole plane was a delta wing.

The whole plane has an outer shell of procedural wings and because of that it can't quite reach Mach-1.

 

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

For too long, those meddling NATO aircraft have hidden from our radar-guided missile lock systems while flying around glorious Soviet airspace. All they do is fly below the horizon and our radar pretends they do not exist.  To solve problem, we have equipped our new MiG-23 fighters with better lock systems and beyond-visual-range missiles. No longer will capitalist pigs be able to hide from us.

 

• The MiG-23 on display in the SPH.
• I included the NATO nickname Flogger in the craft name in case someone was looking for this plane but did not know the model number.
• Since I would be using Rotation Servo M-12s for the swept wings, like I did with Tim C’s jet, I realized that I would need to store more power than what’s in the cockpit since there’s a good chance the plane will be gliding without for a long time at the end of the test flight. At the same time, I didn’t want to ruin the aesthetic too much by adding a Z-1k Rechargeable Battery Bank - which is my go-to battery for aircraft - to the fuselage. So, I included a smaller Z-200 battery at the end of the tiny fuel tanks behind the cockpit window.
• Unlike my Fishbed replica, there’s a parachute in the cockpit cargo slot because at this point the Soviets realized they need to step up their combat game as well as cut back on waste - which might include pilots’ lives.
• Though the plane is decorated in Soviet stars, the craft’s flag is the classic hammer and sickle. That way, pilots can stake claims in the name of Soviet Russia on places they land.
• The wing-sweep mechanism was the hardest part of them all.
  • My primary concern was that they would wiggle, like during my first attempt at variable-sweep wing aircraft. I started with Rotation Servo M-12s moving two wings stacked on top of each other, like with Tim C’s car, and set the H and N buttons to control the sweep. As an additional feature, I programmed the AG5 button to reset the wings to the default (straight) angle.
  • To mimic the top of the real-life MiG-23, and since the wings themselves are apparently horrible lift surfaces, I included a lot of wing sections on the top. It took a lot of tries to make a smooth configuration that won’t end up looking ridiculous when the wings were swept all the way back, but I eventually found something. Of course, I had a bit of help examining KAC’s (aka @Blaze_154's) MiG-23 replica.
  • I also tried to keep the wings at a 5-degree angle of attack, but that ended up ruining the aesthetic when I swept the wings. So, I kept everything straight.

 

WARNING: wings will still flap at high speed/G turns.

• So far, this has not caused any snapping or resulted in a noticeable decrease in performance. You should still be careful while flying it, and I wouldn’t recommend dogfighting at full speed.
• Oddly enough, I encountered flapping variable-sweep wings when I flew other people’s planes as well - like that other MiG-23 I mentioned earlier, @swjr-swis’s Bell X-5 or his Mk2 41-F Blackwood.
  • On a related note, flapping wings is why I rarely make variable-sweep wing aircraft.

 

• After turning north for the test cruise, Marxan pilot Mihaly Kerman swept the Flogger’s wings all the way back and began ascent to altitude.
• Before it was his turn to fly, he got upset when some rookie pilots pitched up too high during takeoff and destroyed the engine.
• He noticed that as he was approaching Mach 1, his acceleration started to drop and soon did his velocity. Eventually, after maintaining a near-10-degree pitch, the Flogger picked up speed again.

 

• The MiG-23 Flogger settling (somewhat) at cruising altitude with its wings swept all the way back.

 

• Shortly before flying over Rangefinder Mountains, Mihaly launched a set of countermeasures. More specifically, a chaff and flare combination.
• This plane only has enough for eight launches, so use them wisely.
  • Ironically, if you’re flying fast enough to have your aircraft catch fire - or even if your afterburner’s on - enemy heat-seeking missiles will ignore the flares and still go after you.

 

• 60 fuel units left, and the Flogger was approaching Kerbin’s southern polar ice caps fast.
• And just in time too, since the sun was coming up where Mihaly was. Otherwise, without Kerbnet, he wouldn’t find a place to land. Worst-case scenario, he would have had to bail out to not risk crashing into a mountain.
• He reset the wings to the default angle and began gliding down with the engine off. It took quite a long time due to how high it was at first, but the plane was extremely agile. And that is why a battery is necessary.
• Perhaps the next northbound test cruise should take off when it’s night at the KSC so that there will be sunlight when the plane is ready to land after crossing the north pole.

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Altitude: 19.5 km (~64k ft; Class Echo airspace)
  • First and foremost, CLIMB TO ALTITUDE AT 10 DEGREES PITCH!
  • WARNING: Tends to bounce up and down in cruise while MJ aircraft autopilot is on.
  • FUN FACT: Class Alpha airspace goes from 18k ft ASL to 60k ft. Above that is Class Echo airspace - E for Everything Else
• Velocity: 1000 m/s (~2,237 mph)
• Wing Sweep: All the way back.
• Expected Range: 2,680 km
  • No weapons or auxiliary tanks.
  • This plane glided for almost 70 km afterwards before touchdown in the latest test flight. That’s what being so high up will do.

 

And this also performed way better than its real-life counterpart, although I never got the chance to test its dogfighting capabilities.

 

• Mihaly performing a short landing on the ice with the flaps deployed.
• Although he was coming in low and slow enough to do so without the parachute’s help, he was ordered to test it anyway.

 

• Marxan pilot Mihaly Kerman saluting in front of his MiG-23 Flogger after landing on Kerbin’s southern polar ice cap. Not long after he got back into the cockpit to sleep, recovery crews from a nearby Marxan outpost picked him up and refueled the plane for the trip back to Marx.
• Several high-ranking officials in Marx’s government were debating over whether to keep using the MiG-23 as a fighter or reassign it to long-range interdiction duties. On one hand, it had the advantages over the MiG-21 of utilizing look-down/shoot-down radar and beyond-visual-range missiles, meaning it could hit air targets from further away and enemy aircraft could not use the ground below to hide from radar-guided missiles. On the other hand, some were understandably bothered by the flapping wings when it came to high-G turns - even though Marx’s intelligence services did mention that other variable-sweep wing aircraft used by their geopolitical rivals had the same problem.
• In the end, although rarely used in dogfights, the MiG-23 was a formidable presence nevertheless.

 

The real-life MiG-23 was intended to be a replacement for the MiG-21. When I compared my replica's test cruise with that of my MiG-21 replica from last year, I noticed some similarities - especially the part where the plane ended up landing on Kerbin's southern polar ice cap after flying north from the KSC. Below is a table comparing the altitude, velocity, and range stats for my two fighters.

 

KSP REPLICA CRUISE PERFORMANCE COMPARISON
	MiG-21 “Fishbed”	MiG-23 “Flogger”
Altitude (km)	19	19.5 (W)
Velocity (m/s)	1,200 (W)	1,000
Range (km)	2,580	2,680 (W)

• Which one of these fighters would you fly into battle in?
  • Even if I remembered to include countermeasures in the MiG-21, which I apparently did not.

 

@TheKspEngineer, nice job on the supersonic Corsair... I mean the X-32. I was at the Air Force Museum last night for an after dark event and I got a picture of that plane.

 

• X-32A behind the exit ramp from the Space Shuttle crew compartment trainer.
• You have to admit that the resemblance between the X-32's air intake and the A-7 Corsair II's is uncanny.
• Photograph taken by me 9/7/2024.

 

If you want to earn the All Four Hangars Badge, you just need three more planes from the checklist - each one from Hangars One, Three, and Four (you already covered Hangar Two with your F-4 Phantom II and F-111 Aardvark). Have fun.

 

Replicas Remaining: 191

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

Look out, talking trees. Here comes the B-66 Destroyer, the U.S. Air Force's new low-level subsonic light bomber. Armed with pathfinder flares and fancy circuitry, this bad boy will fly in front of the cool fighters and mark the targets before they end up leveling the entire jungle anyway. Ooh, those photoflash bombs are making me scared. And don't bother launching guided missiles at it, because you'll only end up losing the lock although you might stand a chance if you used old-school dogfighting or unguided flak. Yep, I wouldn't go anywhere over North Vietnam without a not-really-a-Destroyer. 

Oh, I'm sorry, I take back that last part. The B-66 definitely destroys things, like my wallet.

 

• The B-66 Destroyer on display in the SPH.
• Mimicking the real-life nose was tricky; it shouldn’t be too long and yet it needed a pointier nose than the aerodynamic nose cone. So, just like my AT-9 Fledgling replica, I used a fairing. Only this time, I did it in multiple smaller sections so that it doesn’t look too much like a triangle. For the antenna on the nose, I used a lightstrip that’s disconnected from the lights button.
• This plane comes with a probe core and a Kerbnet button since the real-life B-66 was a photo reconnaissance and electronic warfare craft as well as a pathfinder for supersonic fighter-bombers in bad weather.
• I didn’t want a repeat of my B-58 replica’s dreadful performance from last year, especially since it was supposed to be supersonic. So, I doubled the Juno engines.
  • The real-life Allison J71 engines had twice the thrust of an individual Juno anyway.
• The AG4 button is for defensive countermeasures in the event the plane gets locked on by a guided missile.
• The AG5 button is for pathfinding flares so surface targets would be easier to find for low-level bombers.
• To mimic whatever the two bumps are in the back (I don’t know what they’re called), I used a long, pointed fairing and then a Tail Connector B inside it.
• For the finishing touch, I installed nav lights as a separate action group from the main light switch. That way, enemies won’t be able to see it so easily - at least with the naked eye or in bad weather.

 

That roast took a while to come up with. Although the real-life plane itself was lame in terms of what it was used for as well as its misleading name, I was impressed by this replica's performance. Then again, I wasn't expecting much; just that it wouldn't suck as bad as my B-58 model did.

 

• Shortly after taking off, the pilot launched a chaff-flare combination countermeasure.
• It was rumored in the air force that pilots who were unpopular were punished by being assigned to fly B-66s. Apart from acting as a shield during low-level bombing runs due to electronic countermeasures, regular countermeasures (chaffs and flares), or just simply being an extra target for enemy fire, it wasn’t much good for anything else.
• You’ll have to watch your pitch when taking off due to the long tail.

 

Below are the ascent instructions for the B-66. If you want the best cruise experience, PAY ATTENTION.

Spoiler

To Ascend to Cruising Altitude:

1. Point the aircraft at the desired heading after taking off. It is recommended that you lock the heading, if possible.
2. Maintain the aircraft’s pitch angle at 10 degrees until you reach 5.5 km altitude.
3. Once your velocity reaches approximately 240 m/s, climb to 7 km altitude at a vertical speed of 15 m/s.
4. Wait until your velocity reaches 260 m/s, then climb to 9 km altitude at a vertical speed of 15 m/s.

 

• The B-66 settling at cruise altitude while heading north.
• To increase the odds that the plane will land somewhere sunny, it took off from the Kerbal Space Center (very) late-afternoon to early-evening.

 

• As predicted, the Destroyer ended up on the sunny side of the planet after crossing its northern polar ice cap. This would make landing a lot easier, assuming the plane would be over relatively flat land.*
  • And by that, I mean not over water or surrounded by mountains.

 

• After crossing into the northern tundra on Kerbin’s sunny side, the B-66 fires a marker flare.
• The idea was that low-level bombers nearby would be able to see the glowing flare in bad weather - or at least conditions with terrible visibility - and hence know where to drop their ordinance.

 

• With how slow the Destroyer was flying and how late at night it was IRL, I had to do a range estimation soon. Since the plane was getting close to flying over nothing but ocean from here until past the equator, I needed to do a calculation immediately.
  • At least it was nowhere near as slow as my lame B-58 replica.
• While the tanks were over half full, I took the degrees latitude and used that - while accounting for going past the north pole - along with the cruise speed and fuel consumption rate to get a conservative estimation of the expected range.

 

Here's how I calculated the range for this replica:

Spoiler

• Range calculation with the B-66’s remaining fuel at the time the pilot decided to land.
  • The first half is for how many kilometers the plane had left given how much fuel was left in the tank, the fuel consumption rate, and its cruise velocity.
  • The second half is for kilometers already covered given the plane’s degrees latitude at the time and the planet’s circumference.
  • Put them together, and you should expect to cover at least three-quarters of the planet before you need to land.
• Odds are you can fly farther than that, but this range is still impressive nonetheless since you can cover anywhere on Kerbin.

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Altitude: 9 km (~29.5k ft; Class Alpha airspace)
• Velocity: 220 m/s (~492.1 mph)
  • If you’re using MJ aircraft autopilot, it’s best to set the speed to 225 m/s. For all the time the plane bounces up and down, 220 seems to be the middle of how fast the plane goes along the surface.
• Expected Range: 2,940 km
  • This is a conservative estimate, since I had to sleep IRL.

 

• After landing the B-66 Destroyer south of Kerbin’s northern tundra, an unnamed pilot is retrieving the film from the plane’s probe core.
• While it was not much use in combat outside of a shield - missile fodder if all else failed - it still proved useful as a photo reconnaissance aircraft. Later variants of the B-66 were designed for electronic reconnaissance as well as countermeasures.
• Even then, it was unpopular among Kerbin’s airmen since they could name better aircraft for such tasks. They also felt betrayed by its misleading name Destroyer, since nobody expected to destroy anything with it. It would not be long before it was retired from active service.

 

Why is even called "Destroyer" if it didn't do much destroying? Sure, it was made to replace the A-3 Skywarrior, but using that name feels like false advertising; plus, the Skywarrior was carrier-capable. With what the B-66 was used for, like pointing out anti-aircraft emplacements and jamming enemy missile locks, "Shield" seems more appropriate. If I had to pick one of the two for a bombing campaign, I'd go with the A-3 since at least I can finish the missions on land as well as on carriers and it had a longer career. 

 

Replicas Remaining: 190

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

Eh, Soviets! Get your knockoff superfortresses out of our Canadian airspace, buddy! We have CF-100 Canucks airborne, and we will use them!

 

• The CF-100 Canuck on display in the SPH.
• To start, I used a fairing to make a nose similar to that of the real-life CF-100; long but not too sharp at the end.
• Just like my F-94 Starfire replica, I put a second cockpit behind the first and moved it forward for a smooth window. However, in the process, I obstructed the hatches, so kerbals cannot get in and out of the plane. Not that they need to in the course of performing their patrol and interception duties.
• Behind the second cockpit rests a probe core. Since this is supposed to be an all-weather interceptor and patrol aircraft, it would make sense that pilots would want to see what’s below them in the dark - especially if they’re over mountains.
• After noticing this small detail on the real CF-100’s wingtip, I decided to include nav lights on the front of the wingtip fuel tanks.
• The hardest part was deciding what engines to use.
  • At first, I went with Panther engines since they looked the closest to the real-life counterpart’s due to their sleek design. During the initial ascent, I decided Hey, why not? and switched the afterburners on. Sure, the real-life Canuck was subsonic, but since this is Kerbal Space Program I wanted to add something cool to the performance. However, after settling at a good cruise altitude and deciding a suitable speed, the plane’s velocity dropped suddenly and started bouncing up and down a lot more than usual. I thought unlocking the gimbals would help, but that actually made things worse.
  • I still wanted a supersonic version, so I replaced the Panthers with Whiplash engines. While it provided an excellent acceleration during ascent, the plane was on fire and could not fly straight shortly after breaching 1,000 m/s. Believing that supersonic engines would be more trouble than what they were worth, I decided to go subsonic.
  • Due to the Panthers’ poor performance in this craft as well as other craft of mine this was used in, I went with Wheesley engines. I thought that it would provide a stable cruise, but a few minutes after settling at a good cruise setting, the speed suddenly dropped dramatically just like with my first time with the Panthers in wet mode. That was when I realized that the problem wasn’t the engine and more on the plane itself.
  • In the end, after tweaking the airframe design and fuel distribution, I returned to using Panther engines but I locked the gimbals. The default engine mode is still dry, but it’s best to switch it to wet (supersonic) mode once you’re airborne and ready for action.

 

To reiterate, KEEP THE GIMBALS LOCKED.

 

• Airframe test of the CF-100 at night at the KSC.
• Test flights pointed north are taking off at night now to increase the odds of the aircraft ending up on the sunny side of Kerbin once it’s time to land.
• After confirming that the plane could take off and climb with no problems, the plane returned to the SPH for its nav lights and paint job.
  • Of course, that was all before the series of ascents which led to engine replacements - only to go back to Panthers.

 

• The Canuck ascending to cruising altitude with its afterburners on.
• Just like with my MiG-21, my MiG-23, and Martin NBS-1 replicas, I noticed that this plane performed better than its Earth counterpart - despite the occasional slip-up in the initial test flights.
  • Of course, this particular replica has a buff; a pair of afterburning engines.

 

• As predicted, the CF-100 ended up somewhere with daylight after passing over Kerbin’s north pole.
  • O Canada was playing in the background as the aircraft crossed into the northern tundra.
• Years after after the Second Imperial Wars ended, Maples commissioned CF-100 Canucks to act as patrol and interceptor aircraft in the event Marx attempted to fly bombers over them. At the time, this role was important since Maples was not too far away from Marxan territory and the threat of enemy bomber attacks was credible.

 

• Crossing the equator again with plenty of fuel to spare, confirming that the CF-100 can reach anywhere on Kerbin.
• Although a preliminary calculation was made after flying over Rangefinder Mountains, it would not account for how draining all the tanks would affect landing.
  • Or how stable the landing gear would keep the plane after touchdown.
• Another piece of good news from this shot was that odds are from there to the south pole (for the most part) the pilot should expect to fly over land when it’s time to come down.

 

• POV: you’re approaching Kerbin’s southern polar ice cap after over an hour of flight in the CF-100 Canuck.
  • The aircraft had 60 fuel units left when it was time to land.

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Altitude: 18 km (~59.1k ft; Class Alpha airspace)
• Velocity: 750 m/s (~1,678 mph)
• Afterburners: ON
• Expected Range: 2,900 km
  • This plane glided for almost 95 km afterwards before touchdown in the latest test flight. That’s what being so high up will do.

 

• Smooth and easy landing on Kerbin’s south pole after approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes of flight from the KSC starting north.
  • And since the absolute value of degrees latitude was dropping, the engineers confirmed that the Canuck is able to cover three-quarters of Kerbin (by a hair) before needing to land.

 

Not enough credit goes to Canada for its role in the Cold War. While Canada's military was nowhere near as strong as the United States', it was still its ally north of the border and could act as a barrier from the Soviets. At the very least, it could warn America about incoming enemy attacks from the north. In the early days of the Cold War, the Royal Canadian Air Force's interceptors strengthened that barrier against Soviet bombers crossing the North Pole. Though the CF-100 was eventually phased out, it was useful in its time and still remains the only Canadian-designed fighter to have entered mass production.

 

As I finish this showcase entry, I realize that this aircraft will mark one-quarter of the checklist down. Two years and five months since I started this thread, and although it's nowhere near completion we still made good progress. To everyone who contributed, I'd like to thank you for your help. If anyone has replicas of craft in the museum they'd like to show off, I'm sure we all would love to see them.

• And if anyone gets at least one replica from each of the four hangars, the All Four Hangars Badge is theirs.

 

Replicas Remaining: 189

25.3% OF CHECKLIST COMPLETED

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

Strength, speed, and stealth. Those are the three skills that the United States Air Force's three strategic bombers specialize in. We already covered the B-52 Stratofortress, the Strength Bomber, in this showcase last year. And now, Naruto-running into action, here comes our Speed Bomber the B-1 Lancer.

 

• The B-1 Lancer on display in the SPH.
• Since there are only two useful angles for the wings, straight and swept, I decided to program the AG3 button to switch between them. The motors are faster that way, and I don’t have to worry about the wings not being angled all the way in either direction.
  • WARNING: wings will still flap at high speed/G turns.
    • So far, this has not caused any snapping or resulted in a noticeable decrease in performance. You should still be careful while flying it, and I wouldn’t recommend dogfighting; not that this aircraft was designed to anyway.
• The cockpit was too far off the ground for regular Kelus ladder to reach, so I had to use a longer one and angle it so that it wouldn’t stick out of the cockpit through the other end.
• For the engines, I started with Panther engines since I want to leave the option of a quick deceleration when it’s time to drop its ordinance. However, it came at a cost of some serious deceleration during the cruise. So, I used Whiplash engines since they have a more consistent history of letting their aircraft go fast.
• The hardest part was loading the missile into the cargo bay.
  • I wanted to add an air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) as an accessory. Of course, once deployed, you’ll have seconds to decide if you’re going to sacrifice either the plane or the missile.
  • I started with something sleek with two Mk0 liquid fuel fuselages in hopes of getting an air-breathing missile with a longer range. However, during the test runs (the airframe was incomplete, by the way), parts kept snapping off during deployment. So, I made an ALCM with a smaller fuselage.
  • After some minor adjustments to the ALCM Mk. II, the airframe - specifically, how far the wings clipped into the cargo bay - the finishing touch was adding solid rockets to the missile so that it wouldn’t stay stuck inside the cargo bay after deployment (and to decrease the chances of the Juno engine snapping off. However, even though I was able to deploy the missile safely, the worst was yet to come.
  • Upon deployment, the missile would always end up oriented backwards and sideways on the navball. I tried rotating the front fuel tank - and then reattaching the rest of the missile and the probe core and nose cone - but that didn’t work. So, I rebuilt the ALCM from scratch while technically editing the B-1 itself, but that didn’t work either.
  • After searching the KSP forums for answers to similar problems, I set the AG0 button to control the missile from the probe core; I chose AG0 to reduce the risk of accidental pressing while operating the B-1 with the missile still inside. Unfortunately, that was partially successful; while I got the missile to point forward on the navball, it was still sideways.
  • Finally, I realized that I had the probe core rotated incorrectly. After fixing that, I did some more test deployments and just like that the problem was solved.
• To sum it up, press AG0 AFTER DEPLOYMENT to activate the missile.

 

• ALCM hitting one of the hangars on the Island Airfield.
• Even though the missile performed well on its own, I didn't know how to fix the post-deployment orientation problem at the time. After several failed attempts, I said "Screw this," and proceeded to finish the aircraft itself.

 

• The B-1 Lancer climbing at a pitch angle of 20 degrees ascending to cruise altitude at full throttle early in the morning.
• This aircraft is not very maneuverable, which is to be expected of a bomber - even a supersonic one.

 

• Flying over Rangefinder Mountains shortly after settling at a good cruise altitude and speed.
• Keeping the plane straight, or at least keeping it on the same heading the entire time, might be a bit of a problem due to how fast it’s going. Just keep an eye on it, and you should be okay.

 

• The Lancer flying at cruise altitude and speed with its cargo doors open, ready to deploy the ALCM.
• The missile’s orientation was really annoying me that night, so I set up a quicksave and decided to test the deployment mechanism alone. Once I confirmed that nothing snapped off, I reverted back to the cruise and resumed the flight (with the missile inside).

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Status: ARMED: LIGHT AIR-TO-GROUND ORDINANCE
  • 1 x Air-Launched Cruise Missile Mk. II
• Altitude: 20.5 km (~67.2k ft; Class Echo airspace)
  • WARNING: Tends to bounce up and down in cruise while MJ aircraft autopilot is on.
  • FUN FACT: Class Alpha airspace goes from 18k ft ASL to 60k ft. Above that is Class Echo airspace - E for Everything Else.
• Velocity: 1065 m/s (~2,382 mph)
• Wing Sweep: All the way back.
• Expected Range: 2,100 km
  • With ALCM still loaded.

 

• A somewhat smooth landing in Kerbin’s southern hemisphere.
• Taking off from the KSC early in the morning was a bad idea since I’d still end up in the dark. That’s what Kerbnet is for.
• The Lancer had 60 fuel units left when it was time to land, so the pilot cut the engines and set the wings straight.

 

• The pilot checking the cargo bay to make sure the ALCM is still secured inside.
  • The engineers who designed the missile were still having trouble with the control orientation, and the B-1’s manufacturer was on a tightening schedule. So, they loaded a dead prototype in the bomb bay to see how it would affect aircraft performance.

 

Now that the B-1 Lancer was confirmed to be working properly, it was back to that missile.

 

• Once the missile’s control orientation problem was solved, a loaded B-1 was launched during the day and deployed its missile shortly after reaching cruising altitude.
• At 20.5 km, the ALCM was too high up to use its Juno engine. As one may guess by the fire, it was gliding at supersonic speeds.
• Test runs of the ACLM itself proved that it is capable of supersonic speeds on its own, but it’s saving a lot of fuel with that launch.

 

• After some time gliding fast, it was time to see how far the ALCM could fly on its own engine.
• For this test run, the cruise performance stats were as follows:
  • Altitude: 10 km (~32.8k ft)
  • Velocity: 320 m/s (715.8 mph)
  • Distance Covered: ~555 km (~344.9 miles) from initial mid-air deployment to fuel depletion.
    • I don’t remember where I started the engine, but the first glide is not something to overlook.
• If you have a multiplayer mod, you could have one person pilot the missile while the other flies the plane.
• And one more thing:
  • HIT AG0 TO ACTIVATE MISSILE AFTER DEPLOYMENT

 

As if building a stable supersonic replica of the B-1 with variable-geometry wings wasn't hard enough, getting that ALCM to straighten up and fly right was a nightmare. At least I managed to pull it off, and now you all have a supersonic bomber that can carry a remote-controlled missile. Even better, if you watch which direction the probe core is pointed and remember to activate "Control from here" after deployment, you could load something like that in or on other aircraft like the B-52, the B-2 when you're attempting to nuke a giant alien spaceship, or even a Do 335 when conducting a secret extraction mission.

 

Replicas Remaining: 188

Edited September 21 by Mars-Bound Hokie
Cleanup after multiple site crashes

[TheKspEngineer]

I'm currently working on a B 45c but it's severely underperforming, I might try engine clipping. In a few weeks I may be posting it.

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

In an alternate universe, the YF-23 Black Widow II became America's prime fifth-generation fighter while his cousin, the F-22 Raptor, was cast aside to collect dust in some museums.

 

• The YF-23 Black Widow II on display in the SPH.
• I started with the nose to make it look as close to the real-life YF-23’s as possible, and the Advanced Nose Cones and the NCS Adapter didn’t seem to cut it. So, I made my own with the fairing.
• After completing the nose - and making it pointier later - I saw an opportunity to include a probe core without interrupting the overall aesthetic. More specifically, I added a Probodobodyne OKTO2 in the fairing and set the AG4 button to turn on Kerbnet so that the pilot can see what’s underneath him/her.
  • As a bonus feature, anybody can fly this thing now.
  • Lastly, I added a Z-400 Rechargeable Battery inside the fairing so that the aircraft can have plenty of power while it’s gliding.
• For the air intake, I used two radially-attached adjustable ramp intakes right next to each other and underneath the wings per engine. Unfortunately, the regular-sized adjustable ramp intakes were too big for a smooth aesthetic.
• At first, I used Panther engines for the air intakes. Since the real-life YF-23 did not have thrust vectoring, I locked the gimbals and set the AG0 button to toggle them in case the pilot needed to use them as well as reduce the risk of hitting that button by mistake when going for another action group. However, just like with a lot of my other replicas that used them - most recently, my B-1 Lancer replica - it came at a price of some serious deceleration after settling at cruising altitude. So, I switched to Panther engines and moved them forward a bit so that they look smoother.
  • Normally, I'd add Z-1k Rechargeable Battery Banks right before the engines. However, they interrupted the aesthetic when I moved the Whiplash engines forward.

 

• The YF-23 breaking the sound barrier several seconds after takeoff. This should come as no surprise since this aircraft has Whiplash engines.
  • That was the same case for the Panthers with the afterburners on, but with the speed drop after settling at cruising altitude a replacement was necessary.
  • Also, the Whiplash engines have a better acceleration.
• The Black Widow II is extremely agile, even with the gimbals locked.

 

• After climbing at a pitch angle of between 20 and 25 degrees, the YF-23 is finally settled at a cruising altitude.
  • WARNING: plane will catch fire at high speeds.
• A preliminary range calculation made at Rangefinder Mountains indicated that the Black Widow II would make at least one full flight around Kerbin’s circumference, and that the MET would almost be at the 1-hour mark when it was time to land.

 

• Flying over the southern tundra right before the polar ice cap.
• Over time, the plane didn’t need as much throttle to maintain cruising speed.

 

• As expected, the YF-23 was able to fly a full circumference around Kerbin with plenty of fuel to spare.
• The aircraft was to be flown until depletion not only for a more accurate range reading, but to see how draining the fuel tanks would affect landing.

 

• When it was time to land (with a little less than 60 fuel units left), Kerbnet detected a nearby anomaly. The pilot reduced the throttle to under 10% maximum and circled around, hoping to mark it before touching the ground.
• It was too dark to check it out, so a second mission would have to take place during the day.
• Once a marker was placed near the question mark on Kerbnet, the pilot checked for some flat terrain and resumed landing.

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Altitude: 22.5 km (~73.8k ft; Class Echo airspace)
  • WARNING: Tends to bounce up and down in cruise while MJ aircraft autopilot is on.
  • FUN FACT: Class Alpha airspace goes from 18k ft ASL to 60k ft. Above that is Class Echo airspace - E for Everything Else.
• Velocity: 1230 m/s (~2,751.5 mph)
• Expected Range: 4,400 km

 

• Unnamed pilot standing outside the YF-23 after landing it on Kerbin’s highlands.
• He reported that he had no problems orienting the aircraft during the landing phase.
  • He also mentioned being grateful that the prototype had Kerbnet access, or else he would have crashed in total darkness into the mountains.
• Now that the anomaly was marked, whoever would be sent to investigate it would know which way to go.

 

After checking the estimated coordinates for the marker and cross-referencing that with the list of known bases on Kerbin, it was determined that the so-called anomaly was most likely the North Station One Commnet station. Regardless, a recon flight was launched around midday from the KSC, which means that there should be daylight at the anomaly.

 

• Given the coordinates of the KSC and the target while taking into account takeoff and braking, it should take nearly 10 minutes to reach North Station One at the recommended cruising speed of 1230 m/s.
• Once the pilot saw what looked like a large communications dish on the mountains, he slowed down and circled around for a better look. After this shot was taken (the text and circle were added afterwards), he made another perfect landing.
  • The coordinates are listed on this picture so anyone who’s looking for it will know where it is.

 

For an experimental fifth-generation fighter prototype that got rejected (IRL), this aircraft did very well. Unless someone beats me to it, I expect any F-22 replicas I build to go way faster at the same cruising altitude as this prototype. I don't really expect it to have greater maneuverability or range than the YF-23, however, since that was the case in real-life. I also cannot compare aircraft stealth,  at least not without mods. Either way, as long as it looks as close to its namesake as possible and can actually fly, it can go in the showcase.

 

I'm also glad to have made this calculator on Excel so I can better determine my craft's range, U.S. and metric conversions, and the distance to specific waypoints without having to get on MathPapa all the time. Although I mainly set it up for flight tests, it can also be used for land and sea navigation on Kerbin as well as other planets. Feel free to use it for yourself and tell me what you think.

 

Replicas Remaining: 187

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.

They cannot be understood, for they speak Vietnamese.

Wait a minute, Vietnamese? Oh no, burn down the jungle!

With an F-4 Phantom II, this job we can't bungle.

 

• The F-4 Phantom II on display in the SPH.
• Since the real-life F-4 Phantom was an all-weather aircraft and had onboard radar (and since I needed Kerbnet to see where I am if flying in the dark), I originally installed a Probodobodyne OKTO2 - along with some reaction wheels and batteries - in a cargo bay behind the cockpit. I then removed the bay when I later learned that the CH-J3 Fly-By-Wire Avionics Hub had Kerbnet too.
  • Of course, it could only do terrain mode, but at least a positive altitude reading meant I wasn’t over the ocean.
• There was no way I was going to use Panther engines for a supersonic plane ever again, given their history of inconsistent performance.
• At first, the fuel tanks along the top of the fuselage was one long line. However, when it was time to launch, they bounced up and down even with autostrut. So, I cut them into sections and attached them to the fuselage so that they won’t be as bouncy - especially the section with the tail.
• I knew the F-4 Phantom II had a drag chute in the back based on my experience in War Thunder and checking pictures of real Phantoms with their chutes deployed, so I installed a Mk16 Parachute at the end of the row of small fuel tanks. That was also why I sacrificed a second crewmember for the ability of the kerbal to get in and out of the craft, so engineers can repack the chute.
• The small pylons under the wings are to attach weapons, even though this plane is unarmed - except for countermeasures hidden in the fuselage. If you want to add ordinance afterwards, go nuts.
• The wings are translated up a tiny bit to allow access to the fuselage fuel tanks. In turn, this would allow fuel distribution to be adjusted in order to move the CoM forward or backward.
• You’ll notice that the fronts of the wingtips are not in line with the rest of the wing (and I don’t mean pointed slightly upward). Don’t worry, that was for aesthetic purposes.
• I thought about adding hinges to the wings so that the tips can fold in, hence mimicking the real-life Phantom’s ability so that it could have less storage space - which is crucial if you’re on a carrier. I then decided against it since it was simpler to leave it as it was and so people who do not have the Breaking Ground DLC can use it.

 

• Shortly after taking off and turning north for the test cruise, the F-4 Phantom II releases a chaff-flare combination countermeasure.
  • How else is it supposed to protect itself against air-to-air missiles launched by MiGs?

 

• An unarmed F-4 Phantom settling at cruising altitude and speed. As expected, the plane’s speed and/or altitude didn’t go in a downward spiral with Whiplash engines.
  • And that is exactly why I swore off Panthers for supersonic aircraft.
• A preliminary calculation at Rangefinder Mountains predicted that this plane would cover a little over half of the planet’s circumference. Since I launched during the day at the KSC, I realized that I would be in darkness when it was time to land. On the other hand, odds were I would be over dry land by that time.

 

• POV: You’re looking at both the Mun and Minmus after flying over Kerbin’s north pole.
  • Minmus is pointed out in this picture since it’s just a speck to the naked eye.
• Shortly after this picture was taken, an anomaly was detected on Kerbnet. But that’s another mission.

 

• Historic photograph of the The F-4 Phantom II cruising in the dark at supersonic speeds.
• Like the A-7 Corsair II, it was nominated for a carrier-borne aircraft that Kerbin’s military could use on Laythe. However, despite more modern plane models being available, the F-4 was selected for its role as a fighter-bomber.
  • It could carry more air-to-ground ordinance than a B-17 from the Second Imperial Wars and was supersonic, and rapid responses were warranted when Native Laythans were a credible threat to any kerbals on that moon.
• Supporters and critics alike voiced concerns that air-to-air missiles seemed like overkill against Native Laythans, but Kerbin’s military and some administrators in the Kerbal Space Program wanted to be ready in case the enemy had their own aircraft.
  • Besides, the F-4 had already proven itself capable of at least going toe-to-toe with Marxan interceptors while in its heavy bombing configuration.

 

Indeed, the F-4 was used in combat on Laythe soon after arriving.

Spoiler

Aircraft carriers designed for Laythe were still on the drawing board by the time Kerbin first sent its military to Laythe, so whatever aircraft they brought for close air support would have to take off and land off-road. Fortunately, one of the requirements for aircraft that were considered for the role was that it could do so smoothly while fully armed (the landing part was in case the pilot had to return or was low on fuel before dropping his ordinance), and the F-4 Phantom II checked that box. The engineers at the Kerbal Space Program had previously discussed swapping the F-4L's (L for Laythe) Whiplash engines with R.A.P.I.E.R.s and giving them oxidizer tanks so that it could fly itself to the surface after deployment from the "mother" carrier spacecraft and do suborbital flights afterwards, but the R.A.P.I.E.R.s lack of alternators made power generation a problem. Between a secured RTG for each F-4L and disposable re-entry rockets, it was more efficient to go with the RTGs, so now Kerbin's military had a F-4 Phantom variant that can go into space, or at least fly itself through space to Laythe after being sent to its orbit. 

When Commander Victor Kerman gathered his strike force on Laythe's surface, he ordered an F-4L crew to perform a reconnaissance flight of any islands within 1,000 kilometers of them. Although Kerbin did put a spy satellite in polar orbit before Victor landed, a recon flight could look get better-resolution photographs. This mission proved fruitful, as Native Laythan establishments were found around them. After some scouting missions and an encounter with the Ryagii tribe, Victor's men had discovered that the Clivar tribe was the most likely culprit for the murder of the first Kerbal explorers since they were witnessed killing another Laythan on a shrine. On top of that, the Clivar's symbol on their tribal flag was a close match to the one found on the photograph Kerbin's second wave of explorers transmitted before Mission Control lost contact.

Victor knew the Clivar were not to be underestimated, so he needed the element of surprise. For all he knew, the primitive village was a cover or at least were able to fend off air attacks. When night fell over the Clivar, Victor ordered two fully-loaded F-4Ls to attack their village. Amid the chaos, Victor and his men rushed in on foot and opened fire. The Kerbals eventually won the battle, with only two dead and five injured on their side. Almost immediately after victory was established, the strike force found the remains of the first kerbal explorers in a pit full of sacrifice victims. Until Irpond Kerman's killing spree, no Kerbals have died due to violence on Laythe since then.

Spoiler

Victor then ordered his men to kill what remained of the Clivar tribe - men, women, and even the children. When that was over, they hid the bodies and burned what was left of the village to the ground. Kerbin's military released a statement that the Clivar tribe was driven from their lands and died of starvation, and they made the battle site a restricted area. The lack of transparency gave birth to numerous conspiracy theories, which were eventually proven true when Irpond Kerman leaked their files to the public in hopes of discrediting Admiral Valentina "Val" Kerman, who she saw as a love rival and also happened to be then-Major Victor Kerman's sister. Some of the files included an x-ray of a Laythan infant with a bullet in his skull, another of a Laythan child that was stabbed in the back with Strike Force knife, an elderly Laythan beaten to death by a Kerbal weapon, and a report of a Laythan woman burned to death that had traces of liquid fuel on her body. Although Irpond's plan to frame Val for several murders (unrelated to the Clivar Genocide) fell apart, it did get Victor dishonorably discharged and sent to prison on Kerbin. 

Many Kerbals started comparing the Clivar Genocide to the infamous Volksburg Massacre from the Second Imperial Wars , in which a single B-17 dropped incendiary bombs on a town recently liberated from Heinkelian control. While some historians saw it as misguided retaliation against Heinkelian civilians, just like with the Clivar, others speculated that it was a false flag operation commenced by Heinkelian agents meant to discredit Allied military. One difference that was highlighted, apart from the number perpetrators involved and survivors afterwards, was that Kerbin's military ordered the Clivar genocide and did everything in their power to keep it a secret whereas Allied Command scrambled for answers after Volksburg and sought to bring the perpetrator to justice. One could argue that it was because someone stole a bomber from under their noses, but at least they were upfront about what happened and made sure the guilty party was punished. When it was discovered after the war that the accused pilot was actually innocent, however, Allied Command acknowledged their mistake - and were still met with allegations of wrongdoing. Unfortunately, in order to appease the angry mob of Volksburg survivors, Allied Command had handed the suspect over to them and they had already killed him.

It would be a long time later when police would raid Creep Island and stumble upon the truth; Elsa Kerman perpetrated the Volksburg Massacre as revenge for her crush getting wounded in action. Not only that, she was Irpond Kerman's great-great grandmother. A good chunk of Kerbin's population was still mad at Victor and his men for the Clivar Genocide, but Irpond alone did worse by rigging Poseidon's Palace to leak radioactive fallout after she left Laythe. She also had a long family history of committing similar acts at least on Kerbin.

• Some have theorized that Victor (and/or his sister, Val) was somehow related to Elsa, though this has yet to be confirmed.

 

To read about what happened on Laythe, check out my KSP fanwork "A Mystery Beyond Science." It's still unfinished as of 10/5/2024, but it's nearing the end. The Laythe stuff starts in Chapter Three, but please don't skip the chapters before that.

 

• 60 fuel units left, and Kerbnet warned the pilot that it was seconds away from the ocean. So, the pilot ended the cruise and did a hard left so it can get deeper into land. This shot was taken seconds before touchdown with its landing gear down and lights on.
  • The first priority was that the altitude indicated on Kerbnet was not a a negative number, which would otherwise mean that it was over water.
  • The second priority was that the landing zone was relatively flat, or at least not jagged mountains. Fortunately, it didn’t look like they were near the coastline.

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Status: UNARMED: MAXIMAL COUNTERMEASURES
  • 32 x Flares
  • 32 x Chaffs
    • ONE LAUNCH: (1 x Flare) and (1 x Chaff)
• Altitude: 18.5 km (~60.7k ft; Class Echo airspace)
  • FUN FACT: Class Alpha airspace goes from 18k ft ASL to 60k ft. Above that is (technically) Class Echo airspace - E for Everything Else.
• Velocity: 1250 m/s (~2,796.3 mph)
• Expected Range: 2,160 km

 

• As part of the landing test, the drag chute was deployed after all three wheels touched the ground. It didn’t slow down the craft as much as originally predicted, though, but at least an engineer was free to exit the craft and repack it if necessary.
  • That’s another reason a probe core or fly-by-wire was necessary for this craft, so that non-pilots can use it.

 

After checking the estimated coordinates for the marker and cross-referencing that with the list of known bases on Kerbin, it was determined that the so-called anomaly was most likely the Glacier Launch Site. If the anomaly was to be reached while there was daylight out, that meant the F-4 would have to be launched from the KSC at night.

 

• At the recommended cruising speed of 1250 m/s, it should take almost 15 minutes to get there.
• After the pilot circled around and flew close to the launch site, he got a warning on his radio to either land immediately or be blown out of the sky. With Marxan MiG-23 Floggers heading right for him, the pilot turned around and made an impromptu landing in Maples. Later analysis of the recon photos uncovered a Marxan missile site.
  • The coordinates are listed on this picture so anyone who’s looking for it will know where it is.

 

That's two F-4 Phantom IIs off the checklist, and @TheKspEngineer made the second one six months ago for the Southeast Asia War Gallery of Hangar Two. To everyone else who either already has an F-4 or wants to build one, there's one slot left available on the list if you feel like showing it off here. It should come as no surprise that the museum has three of those, since it's a famous combat aircraft from the Cold War.

 

Replicas Remaining: 186

[TheKspEngineer]

On 10/5/2024 at 8:26 AM, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

To read about what happened on Laythe, check out my KSP fanwork "A Mystery Beyond Science." It's still unfinished as of 10/5/2024, but it's nearing the end. The Laythe stuff starts in Chapter Three, but please don't skip the chapters before that.

Are you planning on continuing it?

[swjr-swis]

On 10/5/2024 at 8:26 AM, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

That's two F-4 Phantom IIs off the checklist, and @TheKspEngineer made the second one six months ago for the Southeast Asia War Gallery of Hangar Two. To everyone else who either already has an F-4 or wants to build one, there's one slot left available on the list if you feel like showing it off here.

I had plans this weekend, you know. There was a ToDo list and all. I prepared mentally and was all ready to feel accomplished before monday arrived. Mutter.

A third Phantom II, you say. In Hangar 3 even. An RF-4C reconnaissance model. Ok, let's do this. I present the SWiS RF-4C Casper II (Casper, because it's the friendly ghost. Get it? Oh never mind):

There is a bit of artistic license and some practical reasons for small deviations, but otherwise I kept very close to the configuration as displayed on the museum's photo's (aside from the usual part and size limitations of stock+ KSP).  I think I managed the overall image of the airframe, even the cumbersome tail. No payload other than the cameras and fuel pods.

 

On 10/5/2024 at 8:26 AM, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

There was no way I was going to use Panther engines for a supersonic plane ever again, given their history of inconsistent performance.

So they send them all to me. That's fine, I can work with them.

No trouble with STOL/carrier style departures or fast climbing with a full fuel load.

It does need afterburners to punch through the sound barrier, but once there it can cruise supersonic without, for better fuel efficiency and a lower heat signature.

When speed is required, we can punch the throttle and stay high and fast for the picture runs.

 

On 10/5/2024 at 8:26 AM, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

Shortly after taking off and turning north for the test cruise, the F-4 Phantom II releases a chaff-flare combination countermeasure.

• How else is it supposed to protect itself against air-to-air missiles launched by MiGs?

At SWiS, we feel that pelting MiGs with sparkly snack packages does the job too. Since this was the most-requested missing feature in the early F-4 line, we included one in this model too, granting the crew 32 shots at building international relations with our airspace-invading neighbours.

 

And it has enough range to go right around the planet, so there's no place we can't get a few good snaps of.

The SWiS RF-4C Casper II. Because it's the season to spook your neighbours.

 

And now officially, finally, truly, I also have a hangar 3 plane in. All hangars done, without needing the Missile Gallery wildcard.

Edited October 7 by swjr-swis

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

Bloons Tower Defense just got a major upgrade with the release of the new F-22 Raptor Update. Not even the largest zeppelins will stand a chance with this bad boy in the air.

 

• The F-22 Raptor on display in the SPH.
• I needed a part with Kerbnet access so that I can see where I’m flying in case I end up having to land in the dark, and the NCS Adapter was closer to the real-life F-22’s nose cone than the fairing I used for my YF-23 Black Widow II replica. My original plan was a Probodobodyne OKTO2 - and a couple of reaction wheels and batteries - in a service bay, but then I switched to a Mk2 Drone Core when I decided to use a Mk2 fuselage.
• The engines initially got their oxygen from radially-attached adjustable ramp intakes arranged in 2x2 squares at the front of the fuselage. However, with the plane losing speed at the beginning, I thought that they were affecting the plane’s overall aerodynamic profile. So, I switched to an XM-G50 radial air intake per engine at the front, but it took away from the aesthetic a bit. Fortunately, after taking a look at KBNT90‘s own F-22 model from eight years ago, I decided to use wing connectors to give the air intakes a more square shape and make the bottom half of the fuselage look smoother like the actual F-22’s.
• However, during the ascent that followed that modification, one of the engines flamed out. In hopes of adding some more oxygen per engine, I placed radially-attached adjustable ramp intakes on the outer sides of the Whiplash engines. This was also an opportunity to move the elevators back further.
• Even with a new airframe and air intakes, the plane was still losing speed when trying to fly at 22.5 km altitude - just like with my YF-23’s test. After some trial and error, I had to settle for 20 km for stable flight; at least I could (barely) go faster. Unfortunately, preliminary range calculations at each test flight that made it to Rangefinder Mountains showed that could not go past 75% of Kerbin’s circumference while the YF-23 can do a full circumnavigation with plenty to spare.
• And if I thought the plane would fly smoothly then, I was in for a HUGE surprise.
  • I was over the ocean and a few minutes away from the equator when the F-22 started to lose speed again. Then, it started to fly all over the place while losing altitude. To make matters worse, one of my engines kept flaming out. Long story short, I was lucky to only lose my left elevator during the emergency landing - even though it would have been more prudent just to bail out.
  • When I drained all the liquid fuel from the tanks, I saw the problem: the CoM was moving behind the CoL as fuel was being spent. It all makes sense, seeing as how the plane started acting funny minutes before the fuel tanks would have been depleted otherwise.
  • The middle tank draining first would not impact the CoM placement as much, so I set that to drain first. Then, the Mk2 Bicoupler and the NCS Adapter (and the small fuel tanks behind the cockpit window for aesthetic purposes) would drain next.
  • Lastly, not only did I set the Mk2 to 1.25m Adapter to drain last, but I filled its oxidizer tank all the way so that the CoM would still remain forward once all the liquid fuel was gone.
  • In the end, it all worked out great.

 

• Jebediah "Jeb" Kerman launching a chaff-flare combination countermeasure seconds after pitching the F-22 up 20 degrees to the desired heading.
• It only has eight, so use them wisely. Better yet, don’t get locked on by enemy missiles in the first place.
  • That’s kind of the whole purpose of the F-22 being a stealth aircraft.
• Jeb was the first to volunteer for flying the Raptor, since it is his favorite fighter jet.

 

• Settling at cruising altitude and deciding on a good speed.
  • Although the recommended average speed is 1250 m/s, the variation between the low and high points while maintaining cruising altitude is greater at the beginning of the flight than it is near the end.
• This picture was taken after the fuel flow problem was dealt with. As a result, the plane was not spinning out of control or bleeding speed this time.
  • Except for one hiccup in which the pilot deployed the landing gear mid-cruise by mistake, but another test was done afterwards.

 

• There’s a beautiful blue ring over Kerbin as the Raptor approaches the sunny side.
• The entire reason for the aircraft having any kind of probe core was to allow Kerbnet access in case a night landing was necessary.
  • That doesn’t mean you have to finish your test cruise in the dark, which is why the plane was launched at night from the Kerbal Space Center.

 

• After passing the equator, Jeb launched some more countermeasures as part of the test flight.
• Around that time, he had to gain permission to fly near Nye Island since he was approaching their airspace.
  • As usual, he complained about their thick accents on the radio - although the occasional static due to the thunderstorm over Nye Island itself didn’t do anyone any favors.

 

• 60 fuel units left and 30 minutes of flying time, and Jeb was starting to fly over another ocean. He did a hard right before gliding down to land.
  • And no spiraling out of control this time.

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Status: UNARMED: MINIMAL COUNTERMEASURES
  • 8 x Flares
  • 8 x Chaffs
    • ONE LAUNCH: (1 x Flare) and (1 x Chaff)
• Altitude: 20 km (~65.6k ft; Class Echo airspace)
  • FUN FACT: Class Alpha airspace goes from 18k ft ASL to 60k ft. Above that is (technically) Class Echo airspace - E for Everything Else.
• Average Velocity: 1250 m/s (~2,796.3 mph)
  • If using MJ aircraft autopilot to maintain altitude and roll/heading, expect the fluctuation to be greater at the beginning of the cruise than at the end.
  • On average, expect the plane to cruise well at this speed.
• Flight Time: 30 minutes
• Expected Range: 2,370 km

 

• Not one scratch on the F-22 raptor as Jeb landed it.
• Bill was disappointed that it did not fly as high or as far as the YF-23, and that it was barely faster.
  • On the other hand, this F-22 had greater stealth potential and Kerbin’s military realized that it could conceal weapons inside the airframe without increasing the chances of detection by enemy radar - whereas the YF-23 had no room to hide anything.

 

Kerbnet detected two anomalies during the test cruise, which were later found to be Nye Island's Commnet station and a monolith inside Rangefinder Mountains. A flyover wasn't done this time because it was deemed too dangerous to try and look for a small monolith in the mountains using a supersonic jet, and a trip to Nye Island would be like repeating most of the test cruise all over again.

 

• Years later, at the annual Kerbal AeroSpace Demonstration taking place at the KSC, Jeb is seen performing some stunts in an F-22.
  • In this picture, he is doing a 90-degree climb before pulling back while corkscrewing so that he would get right-side up.
  • After that, he flew low over the runway and launched some flares.

 

When comparing the performance stats to those from the YF-23 replica I recently made, and assuming that I loaded countermeasures into the YF-23 as well (it didn't have any because it was just an experimental plane then), which one would you fly into battle?

 

KSP REPLICA CRUISE PERFORMANCE COMPARISON
	YF-23 Black Widow II	F-22 Raptor
Altitude (km)	22.5 (W)	20
Velocity (m/s)	1,230	1,250 (W – barely)
Range (km)	4,400 (W)	2,370
Thrust Vectoring	NO	YES
Charge Capacity	455	2300 (W)

• Both planes were extremely agile during the test flights, even with the F-22's fuel flow problem solved. I didn't know a way to quantify agility for comparison, though.
  • I'd lean towards giving the F-22 that point, since it has the advantage of thrust vectoring whereas the YF-23 did not.
• Unfortunately, there was no way I could compare stealth.
• I included charge capacity for when you have to cut the engines for long periods of time, like when gliding to land or you need to reduce your engine noise or heat signature. 
  • YF-23: (1 x OKTO2 = 5) + (1 x Mk1 Inline Cockpit = 50) + (1 x Z-400 Battery = 400) = 455
  • F-22: (1 x Mk1 Inline Cockpit = 50) + (Mk2 Drone Core = 250) + (2 x Z-1k Battery = 2 x 1000 = 2000) = 2300

 

And now, some bloopers from the failed test flights.

Spoiler

• After spinning out of control and repeated engine flameouts, the pilot's only hope for a stable flight was to glide downward for several seconds before even thinking about using the engine at a very low throttle setting at most before landing.

 

 

• Jeb throwing up after getting out of the Raptor. 
  • He was lucky to only lose the left elevator during this unstable landing. Nye ATC advised him to bail out before he crashed, but either he was too stubborn or he couldn't understand them.

 

When he was brought back to the KSC on the opposite side of the planet, the engineers realized that the CoM was moving somewhere it shouldn't due to fuel consumption.

 

• This test cruise was stable after the fuel flow problem was addressed, but there was a hiccup in the middle when the landing gear was deployed mid-flight by mistake.
  • It cost the Raptor 170 km in expected range, which is why another test cruise was done after this.
• At least Jeb landed the plane in one piece both times and there were no flameouts.

 

To anyone who laughed at me for flying until depletion instead of sticking with a preliminary range estimation, the CoM moving behind the CoL is the NUMBER-ONE problem I'm hoping to catch before I record its performance stats. The Number-Two problem is the plane being too nose-heavy during the landing sequence, as I've experienced when I made my Plane Prime V1 last year, but that gets noticed during takeoff and initial ascent most of the time. Either way, WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!

 

Seriously, America's prime air superiority fighter since 2005, and its first air-to-air kill was a Chinese balloon off Myrtle Beach in 2023. If our leaders actually took threats to our nation seriously, that balloon would not have made it that far into the U.S. in the first place. Anyway, with the lack of air combat going on along with the high price tag, it's no wonder the F-22 program was scaled back from 750 to 195. To make matters worse for our wallets, we're already pouring money into the F-35 Lightning II. I understand the importance of staying ahead of our enemies when it comes to weapons technology, and I understand placing an export ban on the F-22 to reduce the risk of enemy agents stealing the technology and/or the planes themselves in allied territory - or worse, said allies becoming enemies later - but at least give the F-22 a chance to prove its air combat capabilities before deciding to replace it. Escorting Russian bombers out of Alaska doesn't count since there was no actual fighting (which honestly isn't a bad thing in the grand scheme of things), and neither does popping that balloon since that target was so easy a U-2 with a rifle strapped to it could do the job just as well. You wouldn't have had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an AIM-9X either. F-35s used by Israel already shot down Iranian drones and a Houthi cruise missile, which aren't nearly as hard to fight as a remote-controlled fighter or manned aircraft but still better to brag about than a high-altitude balloon. The Raptor needs to see some real air-to-air combat, which is the very thing it was designed for, and not just in videogames. Otherwise, the entire Advanced Tactical Fighter program would have been a big fat waste of time and our money.

• And yes, that would mean the YF-23 would have also been a waste of time and money as well.

 

 

Replicas Remaining: 184

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

Hi, I'm the C-17 Globemaster III. You may remember me from such action movies as "Transformers," "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," "Man of Steel," and the first two Iron Man movies. But today, I'm going to discuss my day job as a transport aircraft on Kerbin and the process behind my construction.

 

TOTAL ECLIPSE

• Shot taken: Y54D78 – 0H49M
  • Seems fitting to have this shot as the craft thumbnail on KerbalX, given that the United States had a total eclipse six months ago.
  • UT given so people can know when to expect a total solar eclipse over the Kerbal Space Center.
• Before taking off, Jeb opened the cargo door and he, Bill, and Val scrambled out of the cockpit to look at the eclipse.
  • Bob was at the Astronaut Complex viewing the eclipse with his brother, Rob, so he wasn’t part of this test.

 

• The C-17 Globemaster III on display in the SPH.
• My C-141 Starlifter replica from last year worked so well, I decided to use that as the airframe. It also saved me a bit of work on setting up action groups, and I thought it would look nice to include the American flag over the interior cockpit hatch.
• I started changing the aircraft by switching the C-141’s Wheesley engines with the larger, more powerful Goliath engines. Of course, the Goliath guzzles fuel at nearly 2.5 times that of the Wheesley engine and each Goliath weighs more than 1 x (Wheesley + liquid fuel tank + air intake + battery). Based on that as well as my experience with Plane Prime V4, while I should expect the C-17 to fly faster and/or higher than the C-141, I should not expect to beat its range.
• The nose has a probe core for Kerbnet clipped a tiny bit into the Mk3 Cockpit for a smoother look.
• Unlike my C-141, I only have 16 seats in the cargo bay - 8 on each side facing the center of the fuselage - near the front of the plane. Apart from four empty SEQ-3C Conformal Storage Units, the rest of the cargo bay is empty. If you want to modify the interior to carry more passengers and/or cargo, feel free to do so.
  • Please don’t touch the Mk2 tanks or batteries, since they’re important to aircraft operation. Even if you leave the interior as-is, you should still be able to squeeze in a small surface vehicle along with several kerbalnauts; and do you really need 16 different kerbals for a surface exploration mission on Kerbin?
• After one test cruise ended in two out of four engines snapping off, I moved the wings upward on the fuselage and moved each of the engines up on the wings to reduce the chances of ground collisions happening again. That landing was also quite nose-heavy, so I removed the oxidizer from the front adapter tank.
  • However, I ran into some more problems.
• The C-17 was going supersonic for a couple of test runs after that, so I jumped at the chance to improve my cruise stats. In the process, I saw that my FAT-455 wings were overheating, so I installed radiators on the wings inside the cargo bay. Unfortunately, even with them turned on, the left wing and at least one of its engines exploded 20 minutes after takeoff. To address this problem, I installed a some more radiators - and not just on the wings, but on the engines. I also decided not to try to cruise at supersonic speeds again.
• The following test flight worked so well until the landing, when the plane was stuck in a sharp nosedive despite attempting to pull up. So, to move the CoM back a little bit, I filled the rear adapter tanks with oxidizer, and everything worked like a charm at the end of the next test flight.

 

• POV: you’re looking at a total eclipse from the cockpit of a C-17 Globemaster III.
• Immediately after getting airborne, Jeb turned the plane around and he and his friends were able to get a good view of the eclipse from the cockpit.

 

• Looks like Jeb and his friends took their totality pictures in the nick of time.
• This shot was taken 3.5 minutes after the plane got off the ground. Jeb couldn’t watch the partial eclipse himself since he was flying the plane, but Bill shared the pictures he took with his camera.

 

That's the last of the eclipse shots, now back to the test cruise.

 

• The C-17 flying past Rangefinder Mountains with its nav and beacon lights on.
• Unfortunately, the preliminary range calculation showed that the C-17 would cover less than 50% of Kerbin’s circumference.

 

• Bill Kerman and Valentina "Val" Kerman sitting next to each other in the cargo bay.

 

• Jeb releasing some countermeasures mid-flight as part of the test cruise.
• Although air superiority should have already been established in the C-17’s flight path and all enemy surface-to-air emplacements should have been destroyed by then, Kerbin’s military wanted to be prepared for sneak attacks.
• At the time of Poseidon’s Palace getting irradiated on Laythe, only two C-17s were attacked by hostile forces; both over Kerbin. One was hit by a Krakenite surface-to-air missile hidden inside a village hut, and another was shot down by hostile planes.
  • Because the mission commander forgot to put Suppress enemy airfields within combat range of transport flight paths, on the to-do list.

 

• The C-17 passing over Kerbin’s northern polar ice cap.
• This plane is by no means fast (if flown properly), so one should expect at least some daylight on the other side if s/he took off from the KSC in the evening (as opposed to in the middle of the night).

 

• After passing over Kerbin’s northern tundra, Bill called his friends at AltF12 Services Inc. and asked for a mid-air refueling tanker to fly close to him.
  • Bill had predicted that the plane would be over the ocean by the time the plane needed to land and too far away to glide to a safe spot. So, he called for help to at least get the C-17 within gliding range of dry land.
• Val took over flying the plane since she had significantly better aerial refueling scores than Jeb did for large aircraft. Jeb wanted to take a nap anyway.

 

• Almost 1 hour and 30 minutes of flying time, and the C-17 had 100 fuel units left.
  • That was when the tanker from AltF12 gave it a small fuel boost before both aircraft turned west, then it gave the C-17 some more fuel to get close enough to glide to dry land. Once Bill gave them the okay, the tanker released them and they reduced the throttle.
• In the final revision, the C-17 had way better control during the landing sequence.

 

The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:

• Cargo Status: UNLOADED: FACTORY CONFIGURATION
  • EMPTY: 16 x (EAS-1 External Command Seat)
  • EMPTY:  4 x (SEQ-3C Conformal Storage Unit)
    • None of them have anything inside.
  • EMPTY: Cargo Bay
• Weapons Status: UNARMED: MAXIMAL COUNTERMEASURES
  • 32 x Flares
  • 32 x Chaffs
    • ONE LAUNCH: (1 x Flare) and (1 x Chaff)
• Altitude: 10 km (~32.8k ft; Class Alpha airspace)
• Average Velocity: 300 m/s (~671 mph)
• Flight time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
• Expected Range: 1,520 km
  • That’s almost 40% of the length of Kerbin’s circumference.
  • This plane glided for an additional 50 km afterwards before touchdown in the latest test flight.

 

• Bill and Val looking outside from the cargo ramp after a smooth landing. Although the terrain was a little bumpy, a slow approach combined with reverse thrusters upon touchdown helped a lot.
  • This time, nothing broke off and all four engines were working properly.
• Jeb forgot to raise the flaps and turn off the reverse thrusters, although the engines were cut and the plane had already come to a complete stop.

 

Eclipses are such a rare moment that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take pictures before taking off. Is there a chart or calculator that can tell me when and where in-game eclipses are supposed to take place?

 

As for the C-17 itself, it sure was agonizing waiting for hours (since the game clock is slower than real-life) for this plane to almost run out of fuel only to fail the landings miserably - even with F5. At least I spotted the heating and supersonic cruise problems early in the cruise, but in hindsight I probably should have known better than to try and make a C-17 fly at supersonic speeds in the first place. Even though I took care of the heating and stability problems in the end, I was disappointed by this aircraft's inability to go only 40% of Kerbin's circumference. Then again, the real-life C-17 could only fly 28.79% of Earth's circumference unloaded and unrefueled, not to mention this replica did a way better job than my Boeing 707 replica (which isn't saying much, to be honest). Just arrange several dozen more command seats into the cargo bay, and you got an airliner* that can defend itself against incoming missiles. Likewise, if you have enough space in the cargo bay, you can bring one or two rovers with you for a surface survey mission within range of the KSC. At least with an empty cargo bay, this C-17 barely has enough range to take off from the KSC and fly over Baikerbanur and then Woomerang before needing to land; and yes, I did the math. 

• Maybe that should be included in my KSP lore; retired transport planes converted into airliners with no class division. It may not attract high-paying customers with luxurious tastes, but it would probably attract more military veterans, aviation enthusiasts (civilians flying on a military transport is not nearly as commonplace as them flying on commercial airliners), and/or passengers on a budget.
  • I should also include AltF12 Services Inc., which is famous for sending aerial refueling tankers.

 

Replicas Remaining: 183

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane

• I prefer the real invisible jet

Batwing

• I said the REAL invisible jet

B-2 Spirit

• Perfection

 

• Iconic photograph of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber in flight.

 

I made this plane for my Ace Combat replica collection on the KSP1 spacecraft exchange earlier today. For more details on how well it did, feel free to check out the post linked below. 

 

There's one more thing you must know before you decide to take it out for a spin. Whatever you do, DO NOT WARP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

• THIS AIRCRAFT WILL BREAK APART IF YOU DO

 

At last, I have completed the triumvirate of the U.S. Air Force's strategic bombers: the B-52 Stratofortress for strength, the B-1 Lancer for speed, and now the B-2 Spirit for stealth. What's next, the B-something Helen for elasticity? 

 

It's honestly a mix of sadness and relief that the B-2 was developed too late to perform the very thing it was designed for.

• On one hand, most people would prefer that an all-out thermonuclear war not break out. Even if the Soviet Union didn't see the aircraft itself coming, it wouldn't really matter since the Soviets would undoubtedly target the U.S. and its allies in retaliation regardless. Just like the B-36 Peacemaker for WWII, it did not see action in what it was intended for, but at least it served as a nuclear deterrent afterwards; in the B-2's case, it still is. 
• On the other hand, billions of taxpayer dollars were spent on a stealth bomber that could fly deep into Soviet territory without being seen, yet it came out too late to do that. At least it got to see combat in the Middle East. 
  • Which makes me question why there is a need to replace it with the B-21 Raider.  For that matter, even if the B-2s were starting to perform badly due to age, why did the U.S. government announce that they were getting replaced in 2032 in the first place? That just gives our adversaries time to infiltrate our military contract workforce and steal secrets, like how to hide from air defenses.
  • I get making it public if you have a working prototype and you want to convey the message "Stay back, or you won't see us coming when we retaliate!" but that's kind of pointless now that everybody knows of the B-2's existence. If they really do need replacement, you don't want to advertise that fact or else our enemies could exploit that weakness.

 

Have fun with the B-2 Spirit, if you can find it.

 

Replicas Remaining: 182