Your Nation's Air Force Mark III: Best Korea Edition

[Gallan Systems]

There is no real difference between YC-14 and YC-15 blown flaps, except YC-15 is more mechanically complex and thus worse.

[Maliku Caliphate]

So currently, my air force consists of 10 Messerschmitt Bf-109s, 12 Heinkel He 51s and 8 Heinkel He 50s. We're set in the 1940s, but would this small force be able to be efficiently used in battles against a mostly Infantry and cavalry force perhaps?

[Iltica]

All 3 of those planes can carry a small bomb load or rockets but that they could reliably hit (or even see) targets as small as infantry or horses seems dubious, particularly for the Bf-109s. You could hypothetically use any of them for close air support for your own troops but they will probably have to mark targets for them with flares or something similar unless it's in the middle of an open field.
Frankly I think you should save the 109s for later they're the only ones that have any chance of surviving if any wartime fighters show up.

[Allanea]

Well, they could maybe strafe a formation or hit someone's camp, but that's about it.

[Purpelia]

Recognizance, recognizance, recognizance. If your enemy has an air force worth its salt you are screwed as you just don't have enough aircraft. But if they don't (and that seems to be the implication here) you could make fantastic work using these things to scout both on a strategic and a tactical level. Who cares if your fighter can hit a horseman with its machine guns if the 155mm heavy artillery it has on speed dial can?

[Maliku Caliphate]

Thanks everyone!

And yeah, the enemy doesn't have much of an air force, it's more of rebellious desert tribes and warriors that need to be absorbed into our Empire. Thanks for the help, everyone!

[Austrasien]

yea and the simplest is put the engine on top. like An-72 did.

And the easiest to shoot 30mm rounds into. Bleeding air from inboard engines is more complicated but may have a greater effect since the exhaust is spread across the wing instead of just the area just behind the engine.
If you are dead set on external engines, it is also possible blow flaps externally from engines mounted under the wing with a series of slots like so:

Surviving 30mm fire is not a realistic requirement. It might be realistic for the pilot to live through it, but not the aircraft.

But generally a 30mm autocannon would not have trouble bringing down an A-10 or any comparable aircraft if it scores a few solid hits. The A-10s combat survivability it must be recalled is poor.

[Ban Pho]

Could the Sea Vixen be modernised?

[Laritaia]

Could the Sea Vixen be modernised?

no

[Ban Pho]

Could the Sea Vixen be modernised?

no

Oh, how unfortunate.

[Husseinarti]

So currently, my air force consists of 10 Messerschmitt Bf-109s, 12 Heinkel He 51s and 8 Heinkel He 50s. We're set in the 1940s, but would this small force be able to be efficiently used in battles against a mostly Infantry and cavalry force perhaps?

It'll be useful, but the most useful aircraft would be like the He 50. The He 51 might be better, but unless you use the fighter-bomber variant you'll have to improvise.

If you're using Bf-109s, I can assume you're using like Bf-109E3as, which were the export version of the Bf-109 E series. These aircraft could be fitted with a single 250kg~ bomb or four 50kg bombs. Along with the twin 8mm machine guns and centerline 20mm cannon.

All 3 of those planes can carry a small bomb load or rockets but that they could reliably hit (or even see) targets as small as infantry or horses seems dubious, particularly for the Bf-109s. You could hypothetically use any of them for close air support for your own troops but they will probably have to mark targets for them with flares or something similar unless it's in the middle of an open field.
Frankly I think you should save the 109s for later they're the only ones that have any chance of surviving if any wartime fighters show up.

Early 1940s air support worked allot differently that you think. If hes doing the early 1940s German school of air support, aircraft and ground forces are supposed to work in tandem under there own operational times which are agreed upon before hand. There was talks at like the divisional level and thats it. The Germans had allot of troubles in the invasion of France, Luftwaffe units or Heer units that moved to slow or moved to wrong areas would attack friendly targets. General Heinz Guderian himself was attacked more than once during the Invasion of France by his own air forces aircraft, at one point in time even shooting down a Bf110 and recovering the crew.

[Fordorsia]

Forget bombs. If you're only facing infantry just put as many machine guns as possible on them.

[Iltica]

*Flashback transition noise*

[Pavelania]

Finished my paint schemes for the SH-3 Sea Kings we operate:

Navy


Coast Guard


Air Force

(Didn't find any good CH-61R blueprints, so I used the SH-3H in Air Force scheme)

The Navy Operates the SH-3H Sea King in the CSAR and ASW role, while they also operate the CH-61R Pelican as their Medium lift helicopter as well as troop transport. The Coast Guard operates a mixed fleet of the SH-3H and the CH-61R, with the SH-3H mainly used for sea search and rescue (SAR/CSAR) while the CH-61R is mainly used for transport and Medevac. The Air Force only operates the CH-61R and uses it as their medium lift helicopter/troop transport. They also use the CH-61R for long range CSAR which has a refueling probe. Currently all our CH-61Rs and SH-3Hs are set to be replaced by the Leonardo AW101 Merlin.

NOTE: SH-3H blueprints are originally drawn by Bagera3005. I simply repainted them.

[Urran]

I've noticed many navies are choosing the MH-60R over the NFH version of the NH-90. Some, like Australia, chose it even though they are phasing out their land based UH-60s and replacing them with the TTH version of the NH-90. What makes the MH-60R/S so good that Denmark, Australia, India, and Saudi Arabia skipped over the NH-90 for it? Isn't the 90 a bigger and better machine more suited to the ASW role?

[New Vihenia]

And the easiest to shoot 30mm rounds into. Bleeding air from inboard engines is more complicated but may have a greater effect since the exhaust is spread across the wing instead of just the area just behind the engine.
If you are dead set on external engines, it is also possible blow flaps externally from engines mounted under the wing with a series of slots

err.. i think any planes would die with good burst of 30mm rounds. You can't realistically protect or armor whole plane. It's the cockpit that need most of the protection compared to engines and such.

[Iltica]

Yous guys are being too literal, not "into" as in penetrating but into as in hitting. 30mm just seemed like a realistic size for an AA gun.

[Gallia-]

A 30mm shell of any nature would probably penetrate the maybe 2-3mm of aluminum that constitutes the typical ground attack aircraft's skin without much fuss.

Even an AKM can do it.

[Iltica]

I get that, I'm just saying that if you mount the engines externally out in front of the wings they're probably gonna get shot up more than if they were, say buried in the rear fuselage or mounted learjet style. What type of rounds are coming at you isn't the point but where they are coming at you from.

If you want to keep the flaps blown via external exhaust, you might find some way to diffuse the exhaust from a single engine mounted on top of the fuselage (around where an He-163's is) but there could be issues when ejecting...

[Gallia-]

It really doesn't matter. Any decent CAS jet will be cruising above the range of AAA or MPADS anyway.

YC-15 was worse than YC-14, too. Boeing made a plane that was exceptional for its mass. McDonnell-Douglas made one that needed to grow a bit more meat on its spars before it could perform well. Unfortunately AMST ended up being shoehorned into making C-17 instead of actually replacing C-130. RIP.

Blown flaps are worse than putting the engine above the wing if you want big lift. They're second only to lift jets in the big book of "stupid STOL ideas". Which is why no one used blown flaps unless they really, really had to for whatever reason. You get inferior performance for greater maintenance requirements and complexity.

The only problem is that direct blowing al a An-72 and YC-14 scales poorly. The Boeing C-X was pretty insane.

[Iltica]

Scales poorly up or down? That thing didn't look all that large.

It's a pity internal blowing is so clunky, I was gonna try and make some kind of low aspect-ratio tailless... thing with all of it's exhaust blown through the wing but it'd probably be too slow and heavy :/

[Gallia-]

In C-X's case, up.

AMST evolved into the C-17 when the Air Force found out they didn't have enough money for both planes. McDonnell-Douglas made a poor performer in the AMST trials, but it turns out YC-15 scaled up into C-17 just fine. Better than Boeing's hideous trijet monstrosity.

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/j0f1n0r49mc3nt ... e.png?dl=0

I drew a picture of Boeing's C-X competitor that lost.

I imagine it scales poorly downwards too, since you start getting to the point where simply having high pitch authority (read: big wing, big ailerons) or TVC, and a high thrust engine, works just as good.

[Pavelania]

I've noticed many navies are choosing the MH-60R over the NFH version of the NH-90. Some, like Australia, chose it even though they are phasing out their land based UH-60s and replacing them with the TTH version of the NH-90. What makes the MH-60R/S so good that Denmark, Australia, India, and Saudi Arabia skipped over the NH-90 for it? Isn't the 90 a bigger and better machine more suited to the ASW role?

For our sea king replacement competition, we originally had the NH-90, H-92, SH-60, and the AW101. We dropped the NH-90 because it had lots of teething issues especially with the rear ramp. The H-92 was dropped afterward because it wasn't built for military service, it was a good civilian helicopter. The SH-60 was then dropped afterward because it had a smaller cabin then the sea king. We finally chose the AW101 because it had 3 engines which could be rolls Royce or GE T700s, had a large roomy cabin, almost larger than the sea king/pelican, was fast and agile, and best of all it could maintain a steady hover in high winds, which was a big plus for our CSAR role, which greatly attracts our coast guard.

[Gallia-]

I've noticed many navies are choosing the MH-60R over the NFH version of the NH-90. Some, like Australia, chose it even though they are phasing out their land based UH-60s and replacing them with the TTH version of the NH-90. What makes the MH-60R/S so good that Denmark, Australia, India, and Saudi Arabia skipped over the NH-90 for it?

CIA gold.

[Kusini Commune]

Could I possibly create an improvised gunship using a gyrocopter by mounting a grenade launcher on the back?