Aircraft Design Company- Matsura's Planes Are Always Fastest!

[open_sketch]

​

Stress 0​

Office Stress 0​

XP 5​

Spoiler: Character Sheet

Matsura Asuka
Head Designer for Ohara Airworks
Age 24 (Legally 25)
Year 12 AF (After Flight)

Design Stats
Aerodynamics Engineering - +2
Structural Engineering - +2
Chemical Engineering - +1
Mechanical Engineering - +1
Ballistics Engineering - +1
Electrical Engineering - 0

Personal/Political Stats
Social Skills - 0
Politics Skills - 0
Importance - 2
Income - 1
Investments - Ohara

Resources
Power - 0
Wealth - 2

Designs
Type 1 Series - Military Variation (Designated T1M1)
Type 2 Racer (World Speed Record October 1910-April 1911, 180kph)
Model 2 Scout (Designated T1M2)
Navy Scout Prototype (Drowned Rat)
Dive Bomber B1M1 "Duck"
Machine Gun Carrier R1A "Dragonfly" (World Speed Record May-July 1911, 200kph)
Naval Rescue Water-Landing Supply Plane NR1M0 "Dolphin" (World speed record 240kph)
Rhino Demon Train Hunter
The world's first airliner
The world's first pulsejet airplane

Assets
Slide Rule
Computator (1 Reroll per Routine)

Languages
Albian
Gallian

Familiar Vices
Drinking
Prostitutes
Dancing

Family Life
- Engaged to Arita Yachi, formerly the leading Ace in the Imperial Army. Designated #1 Cutest Army Boy, he's having some serious problems with PTSD right now.
- Taking a second try at dating Mikami Kiho, ex-dockerwork from the south.

Upgrades
- 3 XP to upgrade a stat.

Spoiler: Ohara Airworks

Ohara Airworks
Start Up, Imperial Capital, Akitsukuni

Owner
- Mr. Ohara, Rich. Aircraft Enthusiast. Business guy.

Engineers

Kibe Koume, 26, Office Manager
Tiny & angry, Kibe went to school in Albia, picking up the language, the religion, and a fuckload of swear words. Speaks Albian.
Mechanical +2, Ballistics +1
Office Manager: If Kibe is not assigned to a team, the Office Stress is reduced by 1.

Sakane Jun, 26, Second Team Leader
A soured patriot, Sakane is married and has a young child being raised gender-neutrally. His two brothers who fought in the war.
Structural +2, Aerodynamics +1
Team Leader: If there are any additional projects, Sakane will lead them.
Joinery: Sakane has training in the traditional Akitsukuni carpentry art of joinery, creating complex self-supporting joints with no fasteners or glue. When working with non-monocoque wooden spars or ribs, +1 Structural.

Tezuka Kenji, ???
A stoner with occasional flashes of insight. Nobody really knows what he does, but he's probably useful?
Aerodynamics +2, Chemical +1
Flashes of Brilliance: Each natural 10 rolled by any team Tezuka is assigned to gives +1 forward to the next research roll.

Hasegawa Morio, 26
A hopeless nerd with a photography habit, mostly on account of developing his own film, Hasegawa seems to do nothing but work and stack card houses, but somehow has an incredible attractive boyfriend. Speaks Gallian.
Chemical +2, Ballistic +1
Silent Workhorse: Hasegawa can work on two different projects at once for no cost to Office Stress, providing they use different stats.

Kawamura Yosai, 25.
Serially successful womanizer and incredibly attractive, Kawamura doesn't seem to have much of a personality outside of seducing women. Well, except for that time he seduced Asuka, which nobody talks about. Speaks Dyske.
Structural +2, Electrical +1, Social +1
Easily Distracted: If Kawamura is working on the same team as a female or non-binary employee, the team is at -1d10.

Koide Hatsu, 24.
One of the few female graduates of an Akitsukuni engineering school, Koide is brilliant and incredibly driven, but her first job at Akibara was both humiliating and exposed her to an abusive coworker. Her father is a rich businessman with factories in Joseon, and she's engaged to Ken from Castles of Steel. Speaks Joseon.
Mechanical +2, Structural +1
No Sleep: If you let her, Koide will work herself to death. She can work a second project for no Office Stress, but all her stats will be reduced to 1 for the routine.

Kobayashi Ayao, ???
Disowned heiress of the Kobayashi family, all Kobayashi wanted was a career and to be a modern woman. For her trouble, a cousin threw acid on her, scarring her face, neck, much of her torso, and her left arm. Despite appearing serene and above it all, she's actually an avowed communist activist and baseball player.
Aerodynamics +2, Social +2

Adachi Ren, 24
Adachi learned chemistry from her father, one of the most famous chemical engineers in the country, rather than through formal schooling. She's married, has a kid, and takes spirituality very seriously. Yes, you did the math right, she had Yuki when she was 17. It's 1912, folks.
Chemical +2, Electrical +1
Young Mother: Adachi will cause double Office Stress if she has to work multiple tasks.

Uyeno Sei, Ballistics Engineer, 31.
The oldest member of the crew, this is Uyeno's second career. Her first was as an officer in the Imperial Navy with specialized technical training: her very promising career was cut short by her transition. Her work in a naval arsenal on machine-guns landed her the job here. Briefly dated Satomi (the age range is a bit creepy but again, 1912), she's missing a piece of her ear and is deaf on that side, from an exploding cannon. Recently returned from Varnmark from experimental surgery, she's known for her skill navigating gendered bureaucracy.
Ballistic +3

Mi Kyung-Jae, 23
A recent graduate of the Imperial College of Heijo, Mi is from the recently annexed territory of Joseon. For those keeping track at home, that means he's a Korean national living in Imperial Japan in 1912. We haven't seen much of his personality because he's rightfully terrified of everything around him. He has a specialty in endurance engine design and modification. Speaks Joseon.
Mechanical +1, Chemical +1
Endurance Engines: Mi has an excellent understanding of metallurgy and tolerances. Any engine he works on gains +1 Reliability if a 16+ is rolled.
Pulsejet Wizard: Mi is now one of the world's leading experts on the pulsejet engine. He can be given his own project to custom-craft pulsejet engines, and he gives +1 to any pulsejet-related project.
Joseon National: Mi does not have security clearance to work on any top-secret projects.

Miyoshi Shigeri, 23.
A non-binary person and admirer of Asuka's work, they were in an support role in the Army before joining the company.
Structural +1, Mechanical +1, Aerodynamic +1
Mechanic: Miyoshi has some experience repairing and refurbishing aircraft. They get +1 if assigned on the clean-up phase.


Other Employees
- Ohara Satomi, 22, Mr. Ohara's niece and the company test pilot, Ohara is a general lesbian disaster. She's good at flying planes, driving cars, and kissing girls. She's bad at being patient, being respectable, and sticking to literally anyones conceptions of gender roles. Deeply in lesbians with Coralie D'Amboise.
- Fujkikawa Sotatsu, old, modelmaker. He's an old man and toymaker and we don't see much of him because he locks himself in his workshop a lot. He's friends with Kawamura?

Assets
- Engine Test Rig (Allows engine tweaking and optimization.
- Wind Tunnel (+1 Aerodynamics)
- Rapid Prototype Lab (+1 Clean Up)

Spoiler: Expanded Cast

Expanded Cast

Akitsukuni Industry
- Homura Mohoko: Head Engine Designer for Kobayashi. First female engineer in the country. A lot of sex appeal.
- Okumura: Head of Akibara aircraft design.
- Yamanaka Hajime: Kobayashi engineer. Young and eager.
- Igarashi Masazumi: Kobayashi engineer. Reserved and experienced.
- Admiral Akibara Toru: Imperial Navy Admiral. Maximum nepotism. Maximum douchebag.
- Lt.Cmnd Akibara Shinzo: The above's son. A hottie but very forward.



Character Families
- Matsura(?) Mizuko: Asuka's sister. Was paralyzed in an accident in Asuka's first flight. Lives Elsewhere and is married now. Can't forgive Asuka, even though she's tried.
- Adachi Motoki: Adachi's husband, an accountant. Legally blind.
- Adachi Yuki: Adachi's 7 year old daughter and wannabe pilot. Very adorable.
- Yachi's Brother: Exists.
- Sakane's Wife: Exists. Drives him a bit crazy, but he loves her.
- Yachi's Brother's Wife: Exists. Is statistically likely to be pregnant.
- Lt. Coralie D'Amboise: Gallian pilot in exile. Satomi's girlfriend. 25. Accomplished bisexual duelist. She flew in the war for a single day, and for her troubles got a hole blown in her cheek and had her left arm paralyzed.

Akisukuni Army & Ex-Army
- Lt. Torio Tanaka: Yachi's former observer as an enlisted man. Was jumped up to fly Ducks and lost a leg on his first mission. A trained painter, married to Torio Saya.
- Captain Amari Shiro: A Dragonfly pilot who ended up flying as Yachi's partner. Kind of delightfully twinky. They sorta slept together at one point, which wasn't great. He lost his previous boyfriend in the April Offensive and turned his plane into a shrine. He was shot in the gut and is still recovering.
- Major Izuhara: Logistics officer, Imperial Army, this bespectled officer stood up to the Caspian Crown Prince and accidentally kicked off the Akitsikuni-Caspian War. The guilt was so much that, after almost a year of running Army procurement, he shot himself in a phone both.
- Captain Nakai Sekien: Army scout pilot. First person to drop a bomb from an airplane, later head of the Duck Squadrons.
- Captain Teshima: A Desk pilot that fought with Yachi. Lost an arm in the process, took over for Major Izuhara after his death. Seems cheery despite it all.
- Captain Nashio: A real piece of shit dude and probably a rapist, he's also a war hero as the second-highest scoring ace on the Akitsukuni side. He was a young shitty kid in way over his head but it's no excuse.
- Lt. Kinjo: Kind of a dumb lump and Nashio's friend, one of the desk pilots. Dead at 19.
- Lt. Okazaki: Yachi's friend from before the war and pilot, he died in a spin in his dragonfly. His death probably hit Yachi the hardest.

Westerners
- Rose & Antoinette Sears: Pioneers of flight. Sisters. Black in 1910s not!America. Yikes.
- Timina Guasti: Famous aircraft designer from Otrusia. Likes big planes and green.
- Prince Protasov Vasilyevich: Crown Prince of Great Caspia. Real dick. You gotta hand it to him though, a decent flier.
- Count von Zeppelin: Invented rigid airships. Runs a successful airline business. Damned impressive.
- Bennhold: Aircraft Engineer. Experimenting with metal aircraft.
- Aileen Middlemiss: Albian reporter for the Artimis Times. Well meaning and oblivious.

Spoiler: Technology

Available Tech

• Materials: Wood, Duralumin, Molded Wood, Wood & Silk Composite, etc
• All engine mounts
• All wing types
• Basic reinforcement
• Wing warping and ailerons
• Basic water radiators
• Flying Wings
• Semi-Monocoque design (requires at least half the slots have frame pieces)
• Valved pulsejets
• Basic weapon mounts and turrets

Tech not Yet Developed

• Custom engines
• Monocoque construction
• Cantilever Wings and associated tech
• V and T tails
• Tailless designs
• Aluminum and titanium
• Cellulose surfacing
• Any kind of radar
• Weapon accessability mods
• Interruptor gear
• Geared propellers
• And Maybe Other Stuff

Spoiler: Akitsukuni & World

Akitsukuni
Island Nation

Government
Constitutional Monarchy
- The democratic portions of the government are dubiously legitimate.
- The head of state is the Empress of Akitsukuni. She gives her blessing to newly formed governments.
- The Navy and a small number of families have undue influence on politics.

Economy
Developing Mixed Market
- Most industry is controlled by a small number of wealthy, family-owned companies.
- The state provides most contracts to industry. Consumer good market is anemic.
- Exports are few, mostly cultural.
- Imports are raw minerals, food, oil, and expertise.
- Currently suffering an economic crash after the last war.

Politics
The Diet is currently ruled by a Constitutional Nationalist government. It has a system of nonlocal proportional representation, with representatives appointed by the party in accordance to their share of the vote.
- Constitutional Nationalists: 50%
- Purity Club: 9%
- New Independents: 26%
- Fairness Association: 11%
- United Communist League: 2%
- Monarchists: 1%
- Assorted Fringe Parties: 5%

Demographics
Akitsukuni is mostly very ethnically homogeneous. Around 5% of the population are various minorities, most from nearby countries. Roughly .1% are westerners here for business or in advisory positions.
- Population: 55 Million
- Religion: Mostly Kodo. Roughly 2% of the population follows western religions.
- Wealth: Most wealth is concentrated in the top 5% of the country. Nearly 20% of the population lives in conditions indistinguishable from peasantry.
- Urbanization: Heavily urbanized for a small economy: 35% and rapidly growing.

Military
At Peace
- Imperial Akitsukuni Navy (IAN): The 6th largest in the world, and the most experienced.
- Imperial Akitsukuni Army (IAA): 150,000 highly experienced soldiers, and a considerable reserve.

Aspects
- Poor Resources: Aluminum costs +1.
- Damn Akitsukuni Engines!: Engines have -1 Reliability.

Spoiler: Old Map

The Main Character Of This Quest Is Nonbinary And Uses They/Them Pronouns.

I Am Putting This Here Because The Next Person To Misgender Them Is Getting Yeeted Into The Trash

Also here's the Gayaverse TV Tropes page, because why not.​

 

[Crusher Bob]

Hmm, I'd say that

Turn fighter need:
Excellent handling at or 'low' speed (and ideally, even near stall speed)
Ability to make radical maneuvers (which tend to greatly reduce speed)
Ability to easily go from low speed (after a radical maneuver) to medium speed (to be able to make another radical maneuver)

So turn fighters tend to be light, have 'low' or moderate structure, moderate engines, and high acceleration

When disadvantaged, a turn fighter would make a radical maneuver, or possibly try to drive the fight to low speed or cause the opponent to overshoot, to take advantage of their superior low speed handling and ability to quickly go back to 'moderate' speed

While the boom and zoom fighter would need
Heavy Structure for a high DNE speed
Adequate Handling at near DNE speed, to make the final adjustments to fire on the target
Excellent streamlining, to easily retain the speed gained from a dive, and then, after the zoom away, turn that speed back to altitude
Ideally, a powerful engine for a high sustained climb rate

And Boom and Zoom fighters tend to be heavy (because of high structure), have large engines, and want to still have good sustained climb speeds.

When disadvantaged, a BnZ fighter would tend to dive, or preform series of dives and climbs, to take advantage of the fact that it's good at turning high speed back into altitude (ideally, the other plane isn't as good at doing that, so you end up with an altitude or speed advantage).

---------------

Note that Boom and Zoom is merely an application of 'energy fighting', not the whole of 'energy fighting' For example, my description of the turn fighter attempting to force the fight to a lower speed is a form of 'energy fighting' where the turn fighter seeks to place the fight in a place where he has an energy advantage over his opponent.

In theory, we'd want the game to account for the something like the 'maximum speed' for control surfaces. Where if that speed gets exceeded, they are much less effective a turning the plane. So BnZ fighters would pay more weight/money for control surfaces that were still (mostly) effective at high speed.

 

[brmj]

In theory, we'd want the game to account for the something like the 'maximum speed' for control surfaces. Where if that speed gets exceeded, they are much less effective a turning the plane. So BnZ fighters would pay more weight/money for control surfaces that were still (mostly) effective at high speed.

Click to shrink...

Well, we've got wing warping's bonus at low speeds, so we can at least see some of that sort of thing.

 

[Crusher Bob]

There's also, um, paradoxical responses from control surfaces at trans-sonic speeds. IIRC, that why early P-38s near irrecoverably become nose down if they went too fast, and why a dive recovery flaps was installed in later versions.

 

[brmj]

There's also, um, paradoxical responses from control surfaces at trans-sonic speeds. IIRC, that why early P-38s near irrecoverably become nose down if they went too fast, and why a dive recovery flaps was installed in later versions.

Click to shrink...

Since this is a rule system developed first and foremost for WWI to interwar era aircraft, I suspect building something fast enough for that to become an issue may take some real doing.

 

[open_sketch]

The current setup can be summarized with the two ways of fighting being to max Control or to max your Energy.

The Control maxer takes everything that makes their plane light, then a lot of modifications that add drag but give more control and a low stall speed. The ideal turn-fighter archetype looks like a rotary engine with a lot of wings and big control surfaces. It doesn't need to do much climbing or diving: it gets into a scrap and then just keeps rolling Gain Advantage, using the bonus and burning speed to always stay on the enemy's tail, witting them down with a light weapon, and firing the engine when they need to stay just above their stall speed.

The Energy maxer optimizes their plane for speed. They take a big engine which is heavy but has the power to make up for it. They have fewer and sleeker wings. They cut drag wherever they can to take advantage of the scaling when you keep your drag really low. They build with stronger, heavier materials to sustain maneuvers. Ideally, they drop onto an enemy, shoot them, and then use the energy to climb back up to where they are untouchable before repeating. Instead of using their pitiful engine boosts in combat, they use the Extend move instead to go straight to their high max speed by leaving the combat and coming back.

If the energy fighter gets their way, they beat the turn fighter without ever putting themselves as risk, by diving on them over and over until they are dead. However, as a consequence of a bad roll and an over commitment, they can wind up burning off that energy, at which point the turn fighter has them dead to rights because they can sustain a series of energy-burning maneuvers over and over. Either the energy fighter stalls, and is shot, tries to extend out with no speed (and is shot), tries to dive away and is probably shot, or is just turned inside and shot.

Ideally. Math needs testing forever of course.

 

[samdamandias]

There is the third option: build a really expensive plane that can do both.

More design studies in the morning, including using an extended driveshaft to have the rotary canon fire through the center of the prop, and the "Spaghetti Western" which will abuse the fact that for one mass and 14 Thaler, you can have a turret with full coverage and eight SMGs.

 

[brmj]

There is the third option: build a really expensive plane that can do both.

More design studies in the morning, including using an extended driveshaft to have the rotary canon fire through the center of the prop, and the "Spaghetti Western" which will abuse the fact that for one mass and 14 Thaler, you can have a turret with full coverage and eight SMGs.

Click to shrink...

Are you working these out by hand, or do you have a spreadsheet for the up to date rules? If the latter, mind sharing it?

 

[Crusher Bob]

It looks like the drag reducing skins for wings and body are always a loss, because your drag from landing gear increases for every point of mass, and the drag reducing skins increase mass.

The apparent best way to reduce drag on your aircraft is to make it out of paper, because that reduces mass, which means your landing gear has less drag.

Example:
A hypothetical 5 section canvas skinned plane was a pre-wing mass of 21.

This means it has to have at least 5 wing area, which seem to have no mass, by default?

So our landing gear takes up 21 drag (the mass of the frame, fuel, and other gribbly bits).

If we skinned our body and wings in plywood. We'd have -10 drag, +10 mass, and +10 cost. But our landing gear would now take up 31 drag, since our plane got 10 heavier. So we really just increased our cost and mass by 10, for no benefit.

But if the skinned our wings and frame in paper, we'd lose 10 mass, so our landing gear would only need 11 drag.

 

[open_sketch]

Landing Gear uses your Mass Penalty (1/5th your Mass) not your mass raw. So it's not that bad.

 

[Crusher Bob]

Landing Gear uses your Mass Penalty (1/5th your Mass) not your mass raw. So it's not that bad.

Click to shrink...

OK, so it's not that bad. Adding plywood skin would be +10 cost +10 mass, effectively -8 Drag.

The paper airplane would be -10 mass, and effective -2 drag.

But, then, if we wanted to streamline the paper airplane, 2 levels of streamlining (-10 drag) would cost 3 + 2 + 4 = 9. So the paper airplane wins again! It has a 1 cost, 4 drag, 10 mass advantage over the plywood plane.

If we don't want easy access to Blazing Phoenix Mode our cloth skinned, steamlined airplane is still has a 1 cost, 2 drag, 10 mass advantage over out plywood skinned plane.

Of course, if we get access to Monocoque construction, is plywood supposed to be -15 drag and +2 mass, +2 structure per frame section?

Does this mean a Monocoque sheet steel plane is 3 armor, -9 drag and +3 mass, +4 structure per section? The Soviets were right, flying tank is possible!

 

[open_sketch]

Monocoque is a bit experimental right now and will need a rebalancing pass.

 

[Crusher Bob]

Monocoque is a bit experimental right now and will need a rebalancing pass.

Click to shrink...

How about something like this:
Instead of the frame having a fixed mass/structure bonus per section, you instead can pay for as much internal bracing as you want; it's strictly a mass/structure trade off. Canvas and paper skinned planes will obviously want some amount of internal bracing, because they'll need the structure.

Then, the stiffer skin materials all start adding structure. So if you want a fully monocoque plane, you just don't pay for any frame bracing, and just have whatever structure is provided by your skin. If you want a semi-monocoque plane, you just pay for 'some' amount of structure bracing. This also seems to get around the Naked/monocoque oddness. with no frame bracing and no skin, you just have the base 6 structure you get for free. But you could build what's effectively a flying wing by skinning your wings in something stiff, and getting your needed structure there.

So, something like:
Frame:
Every frame section costs 1 mass and provides 1 structure (or should this just be 0 and 0)?
You can add bracing members to the frame, by paying mass
Wood: 1 mass, 3 structure, cost 1
Steel: 1 mass, 4 structure, cost 2
Aluminium: 1 mass, 5 structure, cost 4

Then the skins go something like:
Canvas, 0 mass, 0 structure, 0 cost
Plywood 1 mass, 1 structure, 1 cost
[...]

So you pay as much or as little for internal frame bracing (made out of whatever combination of materials you have) as you want, and let (semi)monocoque construction occur 'naturally' as you get access (or want to pay for) stiffer skin materials (that start giving their own structure bonuses).

 

[open_sketch]

Oh that's actually really clever! I could even treat the sections the way wings are treated, with penalties instead of bonuses that you use the internal framework to overcome.

So like, if you have a paper plane with three sections, it'll hit you with enough structural penalty that you'll want to buy X amount of internal framework and...

Holy shit this could replace a lot of the reinforcement stuff and be a lot more flexible. Brilliant.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Why do people still repeat this total nonsense?

Click to shrink...

Because the Voyage of the Damned is evocative. The story of the voyage unto disaster sticks in the minds, as does the sheer... I'm speaking in informal poetic terms to capture the memetic effect... the sheer brilliance of the victory at Tsushima that closed the naval campaign.

It's much like how people chronically underestimate the Age of Sail French navy because it was stacked up against the British, and because the legend of Nelson and the fictional heroics of Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey are so compelling in English-language literature.

Weeeeell, that depends. I've heard 1910-ish floated as an equivalent year, so it really depends on whether this is Russo-Japanese War Russia or World War I post-humiliation Russia.

Given Word of God I think we are looking at a relatively peace time navy where the Pacific squadron seems to be "alright" but any reinforcements might be... Questionable, due to Caspias crumbling economy forcing prioritization on the part of their lead staff.

Click to shrink...

That's pretty much the Russo-Japanese War era Russian navy right there then.

Their Pacific squadron inflicted at least one significant defeat on our navy in a cruiser action, and the Navy's run screaming to us because of the truism "when the going gets tough, the tough call for air support." So we can be reasonably sure the Caspian fleet immediately facing us knows what they're doing.

It looks like the drag reducing skins for wings and body are always a loss, because your drag from landing gear increases for every point of mass, and the drag reducing skins increase mass.

The apparent best way to reduce drag on your aircraft is to make it out of paper, because that reduces mass, which means your landing gear has less drag.

Click to shrink...

That, or invent retractable landing gear? And/or build the plane as a flying boat as we are doing?

 

[FlyingScanian]

"when the going gets tough, the tough call for air support."

Click to shrink...

Maxim 36. Let's hope we can avoid maxim 5: "Close Air Support and Friendly Fire should be easier to tell apart." Considering how people go on about perverting the pure and innocent poor airplanes with not just machine guns, but what looks an awful lot like fully automatic 37mm cannons...

 

[DaLintyGuy]

...What's wrong with putting 1950s armament on 1910 airplanes?

Although at that bore size you'd probably want it to be a giant shotgun...

 

[khang]

Mostly unnecessary weight and cost. When a smaller mg can do the job just as well as an auto-cannon why bother with one cannon when you can have 2 mgs and weight to spare?

 

[Dwergar]

Mostly unnecessary weight and cost. When a smaller mg can do the job just as well as an auto-cannon why bother with one cannon when you can have 2 mgs and weight to spare?

Click to shrink...

Considering how people go on about perverting the pure and innocent poor airplanes with not just machine guns, but what looks an awful lot like fully automatic 37mm cannons...

Click to shrink...

Well, the current idea is to use guns with externally-powered action (ITTL - by crank), for example - Gatlings and Hordenfeldts.

By that time ITTL they go out of favor, but they are interesting for us, because in fighters the pilot generally can't aim forward-facing (or any other) guns independently - thus they're fixed, and pilot aims the plane.
The best effect is achieved with one-engine tractor with an MG fixed forward before pilot. But there is a problem - you can literally saw off your airscrew.
Typical synchronisation system of the time is not that reliable, and it further limits already limited ROF of MGs available (up to 500 per minute).

So, externally-driven guns. Pilot cannot aim (fly) and operate the crank at once - but we have an engine conveniently nearby; Action would be engaged all the time, trigger pull loads ammunition. As they're driven by the engine, synchronising is a trivial matter, no harder than aligning 2 shafts.
And this mode of operation allows us safe ROF of up to twice the airscrew's RPM - a 4-digit number.
As a bonus, we save money by not building gas recoil systems for guns.

You might see why someone like me might find it attractive.

 

[FlyingScanian]

Well, the current idea is to use guns with externally-powered action (ITTL - by crank), for example - Gatlings and Hordenfeldts.

By that time ITTL they go out of favor, but they are interesting for us, because in fighters the pilot generally can't aim forward-facing (or any other) guns independently - thus they're fixed, and pilot aims the plane.
The best effect is achieved with one-engine tractor with an MG fixed forward before pilot. But there is a problem - you can literally saw off your airscrew.
Typical synchronisation system of the time is not that reliable, and it further limits already limited ROF of MGs available (up to 500 per minute).

So, externally-driven guns. Pilot cannot aim (fly) and operate the crank at once - but we have an engine conveniently nearby; Action would be engaged all the time, trigger pull loads ammunition. As they're driven by the engine, synchronising is a trivial matter, no harder than aligning 2 shafts.
And this mode of operation allows us safe ROF of up to twice the airscrew's RPM - a 4-digit number.
As a bonus, we save money by not building gas recoil systems for guns.

You might see why someone like me might find it attractive.

Click to shrink...

Oh, I can certainly see how and why it's interresting. I would just personally prefer to dally a bit longer in the period before the whole "let's try to make each other plummet to the ground burning"-thing.

And since I know that any such idea will get outvoted in the thread, I can safely do so without affecting the actual performance of the quest (doubly so since I rarely vote for the design parts... it's fun to read, but I don't have the time to understand it, and I would prefer to understand it before voting).

 

[khang]

Well, the current idea is to use guns with externally-powered action (ITTL - by crank), for example - Gatlings and Hordenfeldts.

By that time ITTL they go out of favor, but they are interesting for us, because in fighters the pilot generally can't aim forward-facing (or any other) guns independently - thus they're fixed, and pilot aims the plane.
The best effect is achieved with one-engine tractor with an MG fixed forward before pilot. But there is a problem - you can literally saw off your airscrew.
Typical synchronisation system of the time is not that reliable, and it further limits already limited ROF of MGs available (up to 500 per minute).

So, externally-driven guns. Pilot cannot aim (fly) and operate the crank at once - but we have an engine conveniently nearby; Action would be engaged all the time, trigger pull loads ammunition. As they're driven by the engine, synchronising is a trivial matter, no harder than aligning 2 shafts.
And this mode of operation allows us safe ROF of up to twice the airscrew's RPM - a 4-digit number.
As a bonus, we save money by not building gas recoil systems for guns.

You might see why someone like me might find it attractive.

Click to shrink...

Something like a gattling is perfectly fine i was of the assumption this was about mounting somthing like the pom pom.

 

[Gnarker]

Here's those plane design rules.

Click to shrink...

No Geodesical Wood Construction anymore? Because that and Tense Silk Skin seem like a serviceable low-budget alternative to more expensive (for us) metal. Especially if we can use stressed-member construction, with the wood being compressed by tense silk sheets and chords - wood is far stronger under compression, silk is even better than steel at resisting tension.

 

[open_sketch]

No Geodesical Wood Construction anymore? Because that and Tense Silk Skin seem like a serviceable low-budget alternative to more expensive (for us) metal. Especially if we can use stressed-member construction, with the wood being compressed by tense silk sheets and chords - wood is far stronger under compression, silk is even better than steel at resisting tension.

Click to shrink...

I'm gonna try to come up with a universal system to allow geodesic construction with different materials.

Also, if anyone wants to see the mechanics of air conbat in action, it's about to go down in my other Flying Circus quest.

 

[brmj]

Something like a gattling is perfectly fine i was of the assumption this was about mounting somthing like the pom pom.

Click to shrink...

A 1-inch nortdenfelt gun is the heaviest that is really being talked about. Something like that, with a mechanical drive and a bit of lightening, should be reasonably serviceable as an early auto-cannon for our purposes.

 

[Gnarker]

So, externally-driven guns. Pilot cannot aim (fly) and operate the crank at once - but we have an engine conveniently nearby; Action would be engaged all the time, trigger pull loads ammunition.

Click to shrink...

Wouldn't that wear out the action? Considering just how often a propeller spins per flight.

 

[Simon_Jester]

...What's wrong with putting 1950s armament on 1910 airplanes?

Click to shrink...

You may be joking, I know, but...

Because these guns are far too heavy and the recoil will rip the plane to pieces.

Well, the current idea is to use guns with externally-powered action (ITTL - by crank), for example - Gatlings and Hordenfeldts.

By that time ITTL they go out of favor, but they are interesting for us, because in fighters the pilot generally can't aim forward-facing (or any other) guns independently - thus they're fixed, and pilot aims the plane.
The best effect is achieved with one-engine tractor with an MG fixed forward before pilot. But there is a problem - you can literally saw off your airscrew.
Typical synchronisation system of the time is not that reliable, and it further limits already limited ROF of MGs available (up to 500 per minute).

So, externally-driven guns. Pilot cannot aim (fly) and operate the crank at once - but we have an engine conveniently nearby; Action would be engaged all the time, trigger pull loads ammunition. As they're driven by the engine, synchronising is a trivial matter, no harder than aligning 2 shafts.
And this mode of operation allows us safe ROF of up to twice the airscrew's RPM - a 4-digit number.
As a bonus, we save money by not building gas recoil systems for guns.

You might see why someone like me might find it attractive.

Click to shrink...

The problem with this approach is:

1) Very rapid burnthrough of ammunition if you actually try to exploit the full potential rate of fire allowed by the propeller's RPM. If the plane's ammunition can be exhausted in fifteen seconds of continuous firing, it won't score many kills except in the hands of the most skillful natural shots among the aces who can reliably hit with the first (and only) burst.

2) Very high likelihood of mechanical problems that have the potential to damage the engine if the machine guns jam, which they will do not infrequently.

3) Gnarker is probably right about the small moving parts of the action getting worn out by wear if they are dry-firing thousands of times per minute throughout the flight.