KerbalX

DESCRIPTION:

The Swordfish is a 6th gen uni reactor fighter made for the same missions as the SR-71. Even though it looks like a very classical plane, It features highly swept delta wings as well as canards, and some nuclear shit. Oh and it’s very low part count ;)

POWERPLANT:

The engine here is the same as the one used on the O-Athena: a nuclear fusion powered turbofan beast (go see the O-Athena page if you want more details). The difference is that this engine is much more efficient than the 1st version, at the cost of less power. However, the needs in air and fuel are drastically reduced at high speed and high altitude, letting the Swordfish reach 1300 m/s at the edge of space, near 18 km of altitude, for half an hour before running out of fuel. Some drop tanks can be added if needed to increase range. The air comes from 2 variables air intakes near the cockpit. You can notice that each intakes have it’s own set of compressor, which means if a compressor stall occurs, the other one can “replace” it, but I won’t explain it here because it is private and just pure bullshit.

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: aircraft
• Part Count: 77
• Pure Stock

WINGS:

The engineers wanted a plane with very high stability at high speed, which leads to a radical 69° (¬‿¬) sweep (the SR-71 has 61° for comparison). This wing has a pretty small area, so don’t expect too much of it at low speeds. To overcome this problem the Swordfish comes with canards to add stability and control at these low speeds.

FUSELAGE:

The fuselage of the Swordfish is composed by both titanium and composite materials, leading to a very high resistance, at both thermal level and High-G load. The fuselage itself is pretty narrow, to reduce drag as much as possible, thanks to some fairing abuse. The little air intake near the vertical stabilizer is here to cool off the enormous heat generated by the nuclear engine. The air is then released with the exhaust gas.

LANDING GEAR:

it’s wheel with rubber around it, quite simple. The rear ones are pointing outside; because we don’t have the tech to make them bend… but we have the tech to make nuclear propulsion, I know it sounds stupid but it’s like that…

HOTEL:

Trivago

PERSONAL NOTES:

I know it’s been a while, like… 4 MONTHS?! damn… This plane was waiting in my hangar for quite a while, and I only finished it yesterday. This is mostly because I don’t play a lot of KSP these days, but don’t worry I won’t stop that early :)
Oh and this craft can roll during negative pitch maneuvers, as well as pitching up slowly without SAS so be aware when flying it!