[Beowolff]

okay... how about a 'what-if'...? say I take one of my old DC-3/C-47 mods ( I made several back in the day, floaters piston engine, floaters jets, piston and jet engine and so on) and say I was back in time right after WW2 (or maybe during the last days of WW2) and the Allied military approached me and said, 'look, Beowolff, we have a ton of excess C-47 transports...what we really need is some sort of powerful, long range patrol (Land or Sea) aircraft with LOTS of firepower to attack ground targets, and or small ship targets, etc... can you make something like that using existing C-47 fuselages?)

and I mulled it over and said back to them, 'sure thing! I can do it! 8)

so... okay gents... what would YOU recommend for such a craft? help me figure it out with your suggestions and I 'will' build it just for the heck and fun of it.



Beowolff

[Deutschmark]

A 4 engine DC3 with a 4 barrel turret on top and bottom and a tail stinger also 4 barrel, a bomb bay that carry's 2 times that of a B-17... And rockets under the wings and a tricycle landing gear with a nose wheel.

That should do it... :)

Deutschmark

[Jambo]

:lol: Not bad, Deutschmark!

But - about what time we're talking? Nowadays or like 194x..?

[caldrail]

so... okay gents... what would YOU recommend for such a craft? help me figure it out with your suggestions and I 'will' build it just for the heck and fun of it.

On a strictly historical and practical viewpoint, that would never happen. Excess airframes would either be re-assigned, sold, or given to other air forces for political favour, or perhaps merely scrapped for raw material. Designing a refreshed airframe for a different purpose did sometimes occur in WW2, but always within scope of the original designs parameters, for obvious reasons.

However, as a fantasy project, the worlds your oyster. A stretched DC3 perhaps (actually, that more or less did happen with the more powerful and bigger DC4, but there you go). How about a DC3 with twin tail fins and upgraded defenses for all important and difficult long range transport missions (or for that matter, the potential to adapt that to maritime reconnaisance which is an obvious route).

I have this image in my head all of a sudden (without practicality clouding it) of a serious gull winged or delta design for a low speed jet (the fuselage design rather limits performance potential I'm afraid, or was that practicailty creeping in? )

[Beowolff]

as I said right off the bat this is a pure fantasy 'what if' so of course it's just for fun. :lol: there are (of course) limits to what can be done with a C-47 frame in the game just as there are in real life... so giving it more bomb loads than a B-17 is pretty unlikely without doing something Star War-ish which is beyond my expectation of the mod. now, I can give it the sheer 'firepower' of a B-17...or even more, simply by using more modern type more powerful weapons... for instance long range stand off torpedos/rockets and the like. (hmmmm... not a bad idea.)

stretching it's fuselage, hmmm, I tried that before and was only marginally successful. the complication of it's 3D makes stretching hard in without showing faults. I might look at it again though and get a 'wee' bit of a stretch...dunno. don't know about a tri or dual tail either but I can likely add additional rudders. you have to remember that my forte is 'not' 3D but rather getting 3D into the game thru import and making the FM and java work.

any other ideas?

[madcat]

Well the Russians did produce license-built version's of the Douglas DC-3 designated "Lisunov Li-2" and some where converted to bombers (Li-2VV) but I don't know any more then that.

Some photo's I googled of the Li-2VV; http://www.wunderwaffe.narod.ru/Magazin ... age_01.htm , http://wp.scn.ru/en/ww2/t/2005/1/1

But as a fantasy project and going with the WW2 maritime patrol / anti-ship aircraft role

Replace engines with 2x Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone
Beef up landing gear to cope with extra weight
Lengthen fuselage to adjust for off set center of gravity
Stretch tail to cope with extra power
Add 2x Remote Control Turret System with 2x .50 Browning Machine Gun each
3x viewing ports for Remote Control Turret System
4x 20 mm Hispano cannon's in side gun-pods on fuselage with loads of ammo
6x Hardpoints; 4x inner wing / under fuselage for bombs and Mk24 homing torpedo, 2x outer wing for bombs and rockets
Radar in external teardrop housing under nose

Probably a bit OT and maxed the thing out, but meh 8)



quick photoshop but you get the idea

[Deutschmark]

Dam, :OO they did trick out a DC3... hock: 8) :lol:

Deutschmark

[Beowolff]

hey yeah, thanks, Madcat... exactly like what I was thinking... doubt I can add (or want to go to the trouble of adding) ALL of that, but hey it's a good start on supping the old bird up for a more 'warrior' type attitude.

i'll kick this around for a day or two. I could add turbo-props or even jets (for a Korean War what-if) too. as I've already got a jet-engine C-47.

who knows?

if any more suggestions keep 'em coming and i'll pick the ones that seem the best for it.

you WILL see this bird flying shortly in the game.

:wink:

[skyomish]

Boy oh Boy!! I hope it has a wet bar. :wink:

[Beowolff]

well, here's an early WIP of it with a nose dome type radar and winglets added to the stabs... lol... this was just a few minutes work and is in NO WAY indicative of a final version...merely fooling around and taking a casual look at it to get a few ideas straight in my head. a sort of start at a concept version. this is the old jet float version I started on who knows how it'll end up.

(sorry...no wet bar is planned though.) :mrgreen:

[Deutschmark]

You got to have a ( wet bar ) and stewardess...
We need stewardess... :wink:




Deutschmark :mrgreen:

[Beowolff]

here's a thought by adding some wingtip tanks for extended range (first gen jets were 'hungry' after all.)

[Beowolff]

here we go with a 'refuel' probe and a MAD tail stinger...

[Deutschmark]

I have to say, that looks to cool

Deutschmark

[caldrail]

It does, but how would you stop spray getting into the engines? Jet seaplanes normally mount engines in protected locations for that very reason - above high wings for instance.

Another way to look at fantasy aeroplanes is the subsitution method and scaling. One example I thought of many years ago (and never did more more than sketch the idea on paper) was to scale up up something like an F15 and replace the cockpit with the forward fuselage of an airliner. One plastic model I made as a youngster was a hybrid, where the rear section of an F4 Phantom was mated to the cockpit of a DH Heron (they were very close in size and shape) and make it a sort of delta winged affair - it so impressed one of my friends that he insisted I gave it to him when I no longer wanted it. Or again, is it possible to take an He162 and replace the cockpit with a DC3 version? The wheels would have to be revised because otherwise they'd be ridiculously large, and the engine also might be downsized for the same reason, but that would be a cool plane to fly.