Aircraft of the Republic

[Logi]

This shall be the thread where I post aircraft I intend to build (and put in my database) but I figure I might as well run it through the community first.

Random Name 1916 Torpedo Bomber

General characteristics

   * Crew: one, pilot
   * Length: 30 ft
   * Wingspan: 50 ft
   * Height: 11 ft
   * Empty weight: 2400 lb (1089 kg)
   * Loaded weight: 4000 lb (1814 kg)
   * Powerplant: 1× Inline Water-Cooled 300 hp Engine

Wet-Heater Torpedo  500lb TNT - 1500lb Total - 1,500 yds @ 40 kts - 1913 Tech Downgraded

Performance

   * Maximum speed: 185 km/h (100 knots, 115 mph)
   * Range: 556 km (300 nm, 345 mi)
   * Service ceiling: 3,048 m (10,000 ft)
   
Armament

   * 1 × 10mm HMG
   * 1 x 18 inch Torpedo

The airplane is based on: Sopwith Cuckoo, Sopwith Pup, SPAD S.VII

It was hard to real a historical plane as most opted for multi-engined bombers and single-engine fighters. Trying to get it to single-engined.

What would be feasible in this time period?

[TexanCowboy]

I think I would be ok with that if that said 1,000 yards at 35 knots. After all, the real life Japanese torpedoes only did 2,000 yards at 40 knots.

[Logi]

I don't know consider that the UK 21" (53.3 cm) Mark I "Short" and "Long" Torpedoes could reach 50kts at a total weight of 2,100lb.

[Sachmle]

I'm more impressed with the 300hp engine on 1916 tech. The most powerful one I've found so far was the  Maybach Mb.IVa of 1917: 260 hp (190 kW).

[Valles]

Maori airships usually have only a single, highly reliable engine delivering power to several props via shaft-drive, so they're probably bigger than that by at least a bit...

...but then, those are baby steam plants, not large IC engines.

[TexanCowboy]

Hey, did you use a program to create that?

[miketr]

Bristol F.2b had a 270 HP engine

Now a few years later much more powerful engines become possible.  Such as the Breguet 17 with a 450HP engine.

Michael

[Logi]

I used what Walter found, the Breguet 14's engine which is 300hp at 1916.

And no, this is just the format I use while fiddling with the numbers. A program which gave numbers so simply would be nice though.

[Sachmle]

I stand corrected. The Renault 12Fe was in fact a 300hp engine. Of course it was a V-12 and quite heavy I'd presume.

If Tan would ever sign into MSN I'd have him take a crack with his plane builder software, if it made the trip to base with him.

[Kaiser Kirk]

I've tried to sim mid 1920s Fokker designs with planebuilder and had a horrid time. Probably in part since I was new to it, but I also think the very light bi-plane construction wasn't translating well. 1930s on, much easier.

[Desertfox]

Tan uses X-Plane. It's a very nice program, that can give accurate results, but you can also get flying Grand Pianos, and Snoopy's Doghouse (complete with Snoopy). Usually, its just best to compare the plane to other period aircraft and see how it stacks up.

[Kaiser Kirk]

I've had some very good results simming historic aircraft with Planebuilder, but there isn't a great deal of guidance built into the sheet so you can tweak it to get unreasonable results. 

Historic aircraft work reasonably well, particularly with the tech limits here. The one real advantage of a plane-sim is range/payload tailoring. However, here it doesn't really matter if your modeled Zippee-do 3000 can hit 400knots with 500kg in 1920...your 1920 planes are just as good or as bad as everyone else and have the same combat performance as everyone else :)

[miketr]

Anyone got a link Planebuilder and or X Plane?

Michael

[Sachmle]

Anyone got a link Planebuilder and or X Plane?

Michael

I don't know about Planebuilder, but Tan explained to me once that X-Plane is a rather expensive program.

[Logi]

I have X-Plane but I am terrible at using it :-\