[gurps] [VEHICLE] of the week 670 – Anachronistic Utility Helicopter

[Onno Meyer]

  This is a weekly posting with GURPS vehicles (and the like) to the 
GURPSnet mailing list. I grant the permission for all non-commercial 
redistribution of my work, but I would like to know if you put it on 
a website or the like. My site is down for rebuilding, but sooner or 
later the old stuff should reappear at   omeyer.gmxhome.de
  Onno Meyer, 2007-08-26

Anachronistic Utility Helicopter v1.0 (TL6)
  Copyright 2007 by Onno Meyer

  In some alternate history stories, one side finds efficient uses for 
historical technologies. In other novels, genuine time travelers bring 
modern concepts with them. This helicopter might introduce air cavalry 
a few decades early, using internal combustion engines instead of gas
turbines.
  The helicopter is built around a liquid-cooled inline engine and the 
transmission in the center of the airframe, with troop seats on either 
side and a slightly elevated cockpit. The helicopter carries up to ten 
fully equipped infantrymen or an equivalent sling load, two pilots and 
two door gunners. It has an operational radius of over 100 miles and a 
ferry range of 300 miles. In an alternate history game, the helicopter 
could be used to accelerate the early blitzkrieg (until the Allies get 
effective air defenses) or to move in the trackless jungles of Burma 
or New Guinea.
  At routine travel speed, the engine burns 80 gallons of aviation gas 
per hour. A full load of fuel and 7.62mm ammunition is $118.

Subassemblies: Body +4, two Skids +1, Rotor +1. 
Powertrain: 1,600-kW top-and-tail rotor drivetrain; 1,600-kW aerial 
  turbocharged HP gas engine; 600-kWs lead-acid batteries.
Fuel: 240 gallons avgas (fire 14).
Occ: 2 NCS, 2 CCS, 10 CS.   Cargo: 20 cf.

Armor     F    RL     B     T     U
Body:    2/3   2/3   2/3   2/3   2/3
Skids:   3/5   3/5   3/5   3/5   3/5
Rotor:   3/5   3/5   3/5   3/5   3/5

Weaponry
7.62mm MG [Bod:R] (400 rounds).*
7.62mm MG [Bod:L] (400 rounds).*

Equipment
  Body: Door mounts for two MGs; two medium-range radios; intercom; 
navigation instruments; IFF. External: 2,400-lb. hardpoint.

Statistics
Size: 56'x48'x16'   Payload: 2.4 tons   Lwt.: 6 tons
Volume: 642 cf      Maint.: 27 hrs.     Price: $535,915

HT: 11.   HP: 375 Body, 23 each Skid, 180 Rotor

aSpeed: 150   aAccel: 4   aDecel: 10   aMR: 2.5   aSR: 1
Stall Speed 0. Ceiling 2,300 yards.

Design Notes
  Body is 600 cf. Skids are 30 cf. Rotor is 12 cf. Structure is light 
and expensive. Armor is advanced metal. Light, self-sealing tanks. 
Mechanical controls with duplicate maneuver controls. 11.23 cf empty 
space in body. 800 rounds of 7.62mm in the body. Empty weight is 
7,200 lbs.
  The vehicle uses the design rules from GURPS Vehicles [2nd edition, 
3rd printing, Dec 2004 errata], WWII (only the aerial engine and cruise 
speed/fuel consumption rules, not the entire modular system), VXii (the 
armor volume and ceiling rules), and the text format from Vehicles Lite. 


Next Week: A tankbuster variant.