The “Hurrie” was a dual role, atmo capable escort fighter, old bird by 2634.
A twin seat variant was used as a trainer at the Academy. Hard to handle, but most pilots who trained on them developed an attachment.
Action Stations, page 36:
[ensign Geoff Tolwyn] had a couple of dozen hours in the twin seat variant ………… considered to be a primary strike escort craft ………. On the rung of fighter pilots, flying a Hurrie was considered more than a few steps down from a Wildcat pure space interceptor, or even a heavy Falcon fighter-bomber. The Hurrie was a hybrid design, and like most hybrids trying to combine two functions into one, it did neither of them very well. Its original intent was to serve as a space-to-surface escort for the old Gladiator bombers and Sheridan marine landing craft. If jumped by a Wildcat equivalent, it was dead meat; and down in atmosphere, if it ran up against something like a Hawk it was dead as well.
In 2634, many were arrayed at Johnson Island station, McAuliffe.
Action Stations, page 39:
Geoff could not help but look in wide-eyed awe at the vast array of strike power lined up before him, entire squadrons of Hurricanes, Gladiators, Trident heavy bombers, and Hummer light recon and strike planes, arrayed wingtip to wingtip.
………………………
Further back in the rows he could see craft that should exist only in museums, even a few old Minotaurs which must be well over a hundred years old.
Even though old, Hurricanes are still in service. Admiral Long tried to reach the Concordia, from McAuliffe, aboard a Hurricane; and when Tolwyn, Vance Richards, Hawkins and others are attacking the kilrathi troop carriers and landers above McAuliffe (pages 312 and 313 of Action Stations), Geoff's radio picks up communications from a pair of Hurricanes down below.
The fact that it is atmo-capable and can reach space means it has to have high velocity aerodynamics: sharp leading edges, swept wings; but also must have larger engines and fuel capacity than a supersonic fighter: long body, long ramjet engines. There's one more detail to think about here, though: The fact that it is hard to handle. There's one case of a supersonic jet fighter that's pretty hard to handle, AFAIK, is the Eurofighter 2000, which has frontal stabilizers (little wings forward in the fuselage, like to the sides of the cockpit). It improves the speed of maneuverability but makes the craft less stable.
wc_info/ship_classes/confed/fighter/hurricane.txt · Last modified: 2007/10/31 08:49 by monkhouse
