KerbalX

The Ju 88 on display in the SPH.

• The plane’s only battery is a Z-200 that’s at the rear end of the ventral (belly) turret pod, located underneath the main cockpit and behind the front guns.
• For the engines, just like with my VC-54C and B-10, I kept the motor size and output at 100% BUT I set the main throttle torque limit to 1%. As I found out during the test flight, the minimum throttle percent required to cruise was quite low.
• The tail was harder than it looked, as I had to get the stabilizers to line up with the fuselage despite working with a Tail Connector A. I forgot how I did it before, so I cut the tail from my TG-3A replica and made it a separate craft file before merging it with the Ju 88 WIP. Then, I redesigned the rudder and repositioned the rear stabilizers accordingly.
• With its long fuselage and low mass, I had expected it to have a long range - albeit not nearly as long as my Mosquito replica’s.

Historic photograph of a Ju 88 Schnellbomber heading west soon after takeoff. You can see the Island Airfield under the aircraft.

• Though the Island Airfield started under Allied control during the Second Imperial Wars, this was not always the case. One night, a Heinkelian sneak attack comprised of submarines and Schnellbombers with a light fighter escort destroyed the island’s naval defenses, leaving it free for Heinkel’s taking. They knew it was a matter of time before Allied reinforcements arrived to retake the island, so they carried out bombing raids against Krakopolis while they could do so uninterrupted.
• The Ju 88s did not have a lot of ordinance, so they were used on smaller targets like anti-aircraft emplacements to make the raids easier for the heavy bombers. Their speed made it harder for the surface guns to hit them.
• Allied naval and air forces eventually retook the Island Airfield, but the Ju 88s - especially the ones with torpedoes - made it a costly effort. They alone sank half the Allied ships involved and destroyed all but two troop transports, not to mention they proved troublesome for the fighters. After the Island Airfield was secured (again), Allied pilots unofficially prioritized shooting down Schnellbombers over Heinkel’s heavier bombers due to them being harder targets to hit.

A Ju 88 replica flying over Kerbin’s desert.

• Back in the Second Imperial Wars, (actual) Ju 88s were used on Allied tanks in that same desert.

The Ju 88 flying over some mountains before hitting the ocean.

When the Ju 88 had only 10 units left, it had covered 1,640 km and was flying over the ocean.

• And so began the most nail-biting moment of the test cruise.

THE NAIL-BITING LANDING

• Since there was some land on the horizon, I decided to go for something I honestly shouldn’t have in hindsight: landing straight ahead.
• I started by cutting off the engines and gliding down toward the ocean. I figured that if I got too low, I’d use whatever energy I built up to gain some altitude and then glide down again when I reached the top. However, I soon realized that such a strategy wasn’t enough.
• When I was less than 400 meters above the ocean, I started the engines at 9% and kept it low. For a while, I thought I would run out of fuel and the plane would end up in the water. At last, by the skin of my teeth, I managed to land on the ground safely with only 1.48 fuel units left.

I only felt that way in KSP once before, and that was when I was doing the Jool-5 in my T-6 Cannonball four IRL years ago.

HAIL HEINKEL