Forums » Art & Creativity » Type 44 LD/Banshee-class Strike Fighter

Heyyyy guys I made another plane- I hope at least one person on this forum actually likes planes... eheh. Anyways heres the dossier:

Type 44 LD/Banshee-class Strike Fighter

Aeronautics:
Wingspan: 13 Meters
Length: 11 Meters
Height (Fuselage): 1.5 meters
Height (total): 4 Meters
Airfoil: Wings: NACA 64A010 (Same as Saab 32 Lansen), Modified laminar airflow airfoil body (Lifting body)
Ceiling: 13,000 meters

Equipment:
Engines: 2x Type 44 LD/Wraith Jet-prop Engine (1000KW/10Kn)
Weaponry: Type 44 SF/5St Rotary Cannon (22.5mm)
Additional equipment: Type 44 SF/Compact Radar Search, up to 1000 Kilograms of ordnance (Here pictured with ten Type 42 28St Aircraft Rockets)

Performance (Take with a grain of salt, I just compare it to real life planes to get a general feeling of this):
Maximum speed: 965 KM/h
Empty weight: 4200 Kilograms
Range: 1600 KM
Climb rate: 25 m/s

Role: Strike Fighter/Dive Bomber/Attacker

Crew: 1 (Pilot)



Design: The Banshee has a striking design with an inverted gull blended W-wing which it shares with the Eagle-class superiority fighter. The fuselage of the Banshee is made up of a complex and expensive monocoque, sandwich-panel honeycomb structure composite incorporating cermet, cobalt steel, and polyurethane into its construction, giving it a highly durable but lightweight airframe. The liquid methane fuel on the banshee is stored in the wet wings, which extends into the fuselage as well. The honeycomb structure of the wings insulates them sufficiently to hold this fuel, though the tanks are usually kept empty when not flying, which can significantly increase the time it takes to prepare the Banshee for flight.

The twin jet-prop engines are buried in the wings at their lowest and rearmost point with the landing gear just slightly inboard. Compared to the jet-prop engines used on the contemporary Type 44 Lunar Dawn or Astral Twilight, the Banshee's were more heavily optimized for high-speed flight. The landing gear is somewhat unusual as the relatively thin wings had little room for thick landing gear and Sylflan adamantly refused to accept even a slight reduction in flight performance; the solution settled on was an innovative airless tire which would be sturdy enough for landing while still fitting in the wing, as well as a composite landing gear strut to absorb the impact of hitting the ground.

There are two major variants of the Banshee, the A-1 and B-3. The A-1 is the standard strike fighter variant, equipped with a specially designed lightweight 5St, three-barrel rotary cannon capable of a fire rate of 2500 RPM. Additional armament in the form of rockets and bombs can be equipped, typically either 28St Aircraft Rockets for ground attack, 20St air-to-air rockets, or a thousand kilogram rocket-assisted bomb. The B-3 is equipped with additional fuel tanks on the wingtips, pyrotechnic devices which can leave a trail of fire in the air as the Banshee flies, and removes the 5Stmm rotary cannon for a semi-automatic 12St tank-busting chaingun.

All variants of the Banshee are equipped with a special airbrake which serves as the namesake of the plane, the "Banshee's Wail". When deployed, the airbrake generates sound as it rapidly moves through the air, emitting an earsplitting, high-pitched wail as it dives on its targets. RATO pods are also often attached to the Banshee to assist it in takeoff.


History: The Banshee is the brainchild of one Sylflan Ruthia, a Loremaster in the citadel of Kharsis- a major industrial center in Cyril Aldyrax. Following interrogation of American POW's, Sylflan became convinced that they could develop a design which would win battles not through firepower but merely intimidation. As a result, they set out on a project of developing a plane combining numerous characteristics intended to cause fear and awe in enemy combatants. The Banshee's characteristics followed this train of thought; it was developed to use pyrotechnic and incendiary weapons which would burn brightly and loudly, equipped with noisy Jet-prop engines, and given the signature w-wing of the Eagle to give it an aggressive, modern appearance. Finally, it was equipped with pyrotechnic and sonic devices, most notably the Banshee's Wail airbrake which created an earsplitting screech as it dived through the sky- a sound often accompanied by the howling of a rocket salvo launched at its target.

Quite by coincidence, this combination of features made the Banshee the fastest plane in the Cytaari armed forces, and well armed to boot. It was simultaneously one of the most effective fighters, dive bombers, and interceptors, and as a result competition for the production line was fierce. Nominally, the Banshee was a Legion of the Dead design; painted with the striking black, white, and blood-red Legion of the Dead camo (intended to add to its fearsome image), and designed for intimidation in line with Legion tactics. In practice, the extremely high cost of the Banshee meant that Cytaari high command were loathe to give the plane to the generally expendable and always fanatically bloodthirsty Legion. In fact, even those Banshee's that did end up in Legion hands were piloted by organically integrated Temple Regiment pilots rather than Legion of the Dead members.

Instead, many Banshee's ended up in the hands of ace Temple Regiment pilots, a fact that only added to the planes legendary reputation. While Cytaari High Command was uncertain about pushing such a prohibitively expensive design into production, they were suitably impressed by the extreme speed and maneuverability the design possessed.

The Banshee's first appearance in combat was during the closing stages of Operation Dead Light, when a squadron of Banshee's descended upon the American forces during the final Legion offensive, tracing burning lines in the sky as they dove with an earsplitting screech and the howling sound of dozens of thermobaric rockets being unleashed, before disappearing back into the night sky long before they could be effectively intercepted. Banshee's continued to serve during all of Operation Shadowfall, including in the particularly notable propaganda bombing flight when Banshee's dispatched from Hudson Bay dropped propaganda leaflets in New York City, the inability of American fighters to intercept them strongly damping the morale of the American public. These Banshee's flew in aerobatic maneuvers, making a point of out-flying the Mustang's sent to intercept them.