WC Fighters on Atmospheric Missions

It does seem that many of the "atmospheric" fighters do have fairly aerodynamic shapes (Hellcat, Excalibur, Dralthi), but others have decidedly non-aerodynamic shapes (Ferret, Ekapsi), so I don't think one can conclusively argue that fighter shape is the deciding factor.

Scimitars are flown in atmosphere in the WCA cartoon, but I remember it being mentioned in one episode that they don't glide if you're unlucky enough to lose your engines.
 
When Tolwyn reads what Kilrathi planes they got with the Karga, it is mentioned that there are Darkets on the planet, otherwise I don't remember any.
 
During the final battle in the book, the Karga's Hornet squadron intercepts a group of Darket that are taking off from a planet - that's probably what Dundradal is thinking of. Good catch on the Jalthi, though! The list of fighters that *aren't* seen fighting in the atmosphere is a lot shorter than the list of ones that are...
 
During the final battle in the book, the Karga's Hornet squadron intercepts a group of Darket that are taking off from a planet - that's probably what Dundradal is thinking of. Good catch on the Jalthi, though! The list of fighters that *aren't* seen fighting in the atmosphere is a lot shorter than the list of ones that are...

That would be exactly what I was thinking of. It does appear that the list of non-atmospheric fighters is pretty short when compared to those we've seen flying around inside. We can thank the novels for providing us with those nice tidbits.
 
When Tolwyn reads what Kilrathi planes they got with the Karga, it is mentioned that there are Darkets on the planet, otherwise I don't remember any.

I remember the Darkets being on Narghast, were there Drathli as well? Been a while since I've read FC.

I do remember that they have Darkets, Strakha, Paktahns and Drathli on the Karga, I don't recall if there were Vakoths as well though.
 
I don't think there were any Dralthi on Nargrast - all sixteen were found onboard the Karga. There were seven surviving Vaktoths, which went on to form VF-489 ("Black Leopards")... an extra Strakha rounded out the full squadron.
 
I don't have my copies of the books infront me at the moment but on the subject of atmospheric combat and weapons I think it mentions in Action Staion and End Run that fighters and bombers had special ordanance loadouts for atmospheric missions. For example I think remember Bear taking out a number of ground targets using a missiles that homed in on enemy radars (IFF?) and enemy targets using comms similar to HARM missiles. Also I think these missiles had MIRV warheards that worked with his Rapiers onboard computer to prioritse targets and switch targets to any that might be destroyed before the warheads destroyed thier original targets. Also some Kilrathi ground stations and defences stopped broadcasting or using radar to avoid being taken out by these missiles on Vukar Tag. What missiles were these?

I think I also remember reading somewher that anti-matter bombs were used by bombers/fighters in the atmosphere aswell. So fighters don't just have to rely on the weapons that they would use in space to fight in the atmosphere against other airbourne targets or during ground support and bombing missions on a planet.

Another thing. In End Run. Wasn't the major reason that the attack on the Kilrathi fleet was such a major success was beacause the majority of the Kilrathi fleet was commited to ground ops to retake the planet with the Kilrathi fighters loadouts set up for ground attack and ground support so that when the confed fleet came through they weren't realy in a position to either defend against confed fighters or launch a strike against the confed fleet because they were armed with bombs instead of torpedoes.

As I said though I haven't got the books infront of me and its been a while since I have read them so my memory is bit sketchy so let me know if im wrong or way off base :)
 
As I recall, they have lots of special ammunitions in the novels, in space fights as well.

I think you're right about your thoughts on the Kilrathi's bad ordonnanc in End Run, I recall a mention of something like that as well.
 
I don't have my copies of the books infront me at the moment but on the subject of atmospheric combat and weapons I think it mentions in Action Staion and End Run that fighters and bombers had special ordanance loadouts for atmospheric missions. For example I think remember Bear taking out a number of ground targets using a missiles that homed in on enemy radars (IFF?) and enemy targets using comms similar to HARM missiles. Also I think these missiles had MIRV warheards that worked with his Rapiers onboard computer to prioritse targets and switch targets to any that might be destroyed before the warheads destroyed thier original targets. Also some Kilrathi ground stations and defences stopped broadcasting or using radar to avoid being taken out by these missiles on Vukar Tag. What missiles were these?

I think I also remember reading somewher that anti-matter bombs were used by bombers/fighters in the atmosphere aswell. So fighters don't just have to rely on the weapons that they would use in space to fight in the atmosphere against other airbourne targets or during ground support and bombing missions on a planet.

Another thing. In End Run. Wasn't the major reason that the attack on the Kilrathi fleet was such a major success was beacause the majority of the Kilrathi fleet was commited to ground ops to retake the planet with the Kilrathi fighters loadouts set up for ground attack and ground support so that when the confed fleet came through they weren't realy in a position to either defend against confed fighters or launch a strike against the confed fleet because they were armed with bombs instead of torpedoes.

As I said though I haven't got the books infront of me and its been a while since I have read them so my memory is bit sketchy so let me know if im wrong or way off base :)

I think that would be like a reference to the battle of Midway, when the Japanese crews loaded their airplanes with bombs for a second attack on the island when the first USN bombers showed up... (Devastators, Avengers and Dauntless)
 
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