Atmosphere capable?

H

Hobbie

Spaceman
When a fighter is referred to as "atmosphere capable" is that meaning that they can fight, bomb, launch missiles, etc. or does it simply mean that a ship can travel through the atmosphere? I was thinking about this cause we know there are some fighters that engage other ships in atmosphere (we see Lances, Hellcats, Excals, etc. doing it), but it would make sense that a Broadsword or Longbow could at least travel in the atmosphere to land on the surface, yet I don't think they do in Wing Commander (I might be wrong about that).
 
I think all the wing commander universe aircraft are capable of being based off of a planet. Its just some carry weapons that can only be used in space or some of the characteristics in flight would make in so unstable in an atmosphere that it would be impossible to fly except maybe boosting it up into the atmosphere.

Its entirely possible that something like a vampire that have great maneuverability in space would be like a flying pig in an atmosphere because of all the different factors that effect the plane. Hell even modern day aircraft's maneuverability can be severely affected by such things as altitude and speed
 
Although the fighters do have some kind of repulsor technology, or even something like modern day harriers, this wouldn't be enough to get some of them very high into the air on a planet, like an Arrow or Longbow. Others have wings and with some simple modifications, can actually fly, like the Hellcat, Dragon, and Excal.

Please keep in mind that this is just from my understanding of things, and may not be the exact answer. =)
 
But I bet if any of the planes were being launched from a planet they would have some kind of rocket assisted takeoff so they could get out of the planets atmosphere in a hurry so they wouldn't be hit on the ground and turned into expensive pieces of twisted metal. This would allow you to launch just about anything into space. Of course landing would really suck in an arrow or something but it could probobly be done with that kind of technology
 
Rocket assisted take off would be really expensive and a huge hassel. im sure its a combination of tractor beams and afterburners if they have to take off so fast that normal takeoff isnt possible.
 
i once asked this question. i think that some ships that can fight in atmosphere might have some sort of air breathing engine
 
I think that fighters have some sort of inertial damper field that negates gravity around them in addition to an anti-gravity field. And I don't think they need to worry about air-breathing engines since if they don't need air in space why would the need air in atmosphere?
 
Well... only certain ships were atmosphere capable... I'd think the Longbow and Arrow would drop like a rock (which brings the question: Why the tail fin on the arrow? It doesn't have any real wings)...
 
I dunno if rocket assisted takeoff would be greatly expensive. The germans did it a lot during world war two with a lot of their bombers and the wasp uses something similar to a rocket pod and they could always use a reusable one. As for the longbow and arrow dropping like a rock you are probobly right unless they could use somekind of thrust vectoring
 
Why any wings on any wing commander ship at all? No atmosphere in space, so very little use for wings. they don't provide lift. THe only thing that would be useful for is so that you can attach thrusters farther out for more manueverabilitiy. Kind of like on the vampire.
 
Asthetics (sp?). The wings are there to make the fighters look cool. They serve no other purpose, ececpt for the Vampire's wings which provide a pivot for the nacels (sp?).
 
And the Dragons's which keep the fission guns out from the main body (interference?), the Bearcat's (same), the Arrow's (which may house thrustvector units), the Hellcat's (missile space), the Thud's (engines and fuel pods)......

IIRC wings became much more functional as we left the early era craft and entered WC3/4 eras...
 
Originally posted by Manic
(...) I'd think the Longbow and Arrow would drop like a rock (...)
Click to expand...

I think we see an Arrow flying in atmosphere in the first episode of WCATV (the traitor uses one IIRC).
 
How about a list then (from what I know and what people have said so far) of all the atmosphere capable fighters-

Arrow (WCATV)
Hellcat (WC4)
Longbow (WCATV)
Ferret (WC2, End Run)
Sabre (ER)
Excalibur (WC3)
Lance/Dragon (WC4)
Vindicator (WC4)
Rapier (ER)

I'm sure I missed a few so speak up people ;).
 
Originally posted by Arcadian15
Why any wings on any wing commander ship at all? No atmosphere in space, so very little use for wings. they don't provide lift.
Click to expand...

Ya know, a wise-ass named Roger Ebert asked the same question to Leonard Nimoy immediately after the showing of Star Trek IV, except about the Klingon Bird-of-Prey. Nimoy gave two reasons:

A.) Aesthetic value.
B.) Atmospheric use.

Remember, Space shuttles have wings and even Rapier-Bs do (which aren't suppose to go into the atmosphere, but Blair chances it in Pilgrim Truth).
 
There's one way that you can rationalize starfighters having wings, but it's gonna sound really Tolwyn-ish: budget. Why would you want to have two completely different rosters of ships (one atmospheric, one space-only), when you can combine both aspects in one craft?

It appears that nearly all of the WC 1 & 2 fighters would be atmosphere-capable, with their large wings, but the blocky ships in WC 3 and up really do raise some questions. The Hellcat has visible vents or airscoops on the fronts of its wings and on the top of the rear fuselage; the Excal does too. The Longbow is probably the closest fighter-size ship to space-only, with its thick stub-wings (which probably have missile or torp. tubes) and extreme un-aero-dynamics.

But you've gotta agree with Mr. Spock: the wings do make the ships look damn cool. :D Without the wings, the ships would look like flying green turds--take the Tacon in Priv 2; well, what do YOU think it looks like?!? ;)
 
Most of the WCI and II fighters have some sort of wings...its interesting, I was playing the WCI conversion for Prophecy the other day, and compared to, say, a Hellcat, Hornets look especially flimsy...
 
Well here is a realistic example: the NASA space shuttle has two wings and a tail fin. So it does make sense to have wings on a spaceship. And I believe the wings are used to help steer the shuttle when it is gliding in for landing.
 
The wings in a spaceship are only useful if have some atmospheric capability.... if not is only aesthetic.
But i like the Tacon of P2 too easy to kill.
 
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