[gurps] Planes for a TL6 sub carrier

[Roger Burton West]

On Thu, Jan 01, 2009 at 04:33:43PM +0100, Onno Meyer wrote:

>>From my initial numbers, I could get a TL6 sub-carrier with a 300' by 40'
>flight deck and 20 mph surface speed. The next step would be writing an
>aircraft, but perhaps some of you are interested instead :-)

That certainly sounds like a plausible sort of number.

>I allocated 10,000 cf and 100 tons for the planes. Considering the rather 
>low volume of hangars, folding wings are advisable, and arrestor hooks
>should be mandatory, too. I guess no single plane should exceed 10 tons 
>and 1,000 cf, unless the wing is built around very specialized bombers
>with just a few escorts and scouts.

Given the role into which the carrier is forced, I'd expect it to
concentrate on ground attack. However, there are plenty of historical
light bombers that make reasonable fighters and vice versa. (The Crimson
Skies universe has always concentrated on the one- and two-crew
aircraft, and the zeppelins, rather than on bigger bombers.)

>I wonder if the hangar could have two lifts, one in the rear for starting 
>planes and one near the center for landing planes. Arrestor wires keep
>the landing run shorter than the takeoff, so a landing plane could go 
>directly down into the hangar, where it is serviced and towed aft for 
>the next launch. Works like a charm as long as all planes are used all
>the time and nothing 'jams' in the hangar.

This is below the resolution of the vehicle design system, of course. My
feeling on this is that it means piercing the pressure hull twice, and
is therefore probably a bad idea...

Roger