One Man Assault Fighter

Mondite special project prototype for a one-man assault fighter craft. The craft was designed and constructed by Doctor Durrell Zane, base engineer. The test pilot was Captain Perry Gavin of security section.

Technical specifications
It utilizes the hullsteel reinforced chassis of an 8700mc Retro Motors Dragonfly XL hovercycle and it is powered by a customized variant of a graviton absorbent/reflexive engine as utilized by the Phyxx of Daedalus. It is also outfitted with a completely airtight, pressurized, wind and heat resistant enclosed canopy.

The standard omnirotational pinion thruster system utilized for directional guidance by the Dragonfly has been augmented with a starship-capable velocity dampener and circumulator- albeit down-sized and radically rebuilt. It has a cruising speed many times the speed of sound.

History

 * TEST FLIGHT ONE
 * A fly-around along the interior of the Mount Sion crater. It lasted 8.1 seconds. Afterwards, Gavin reported a sluggishness in the pitch and roll of the aircraft. It was decided to move the alignment of the tilt directional stabilizers to full forward, and a second test run would see how well the problem had been corrected.


 * TEST FLIGHT TWO
 * Gavin ran the craft through a series of shimmies, rolls and aerial sideways skids. After 15 minutes, it was judged that the problem had been corrected. The flight continued for another 17 minutes. At one moment the craft broke out over the top of the Mount Sion crater and swung back down into it despite the orders not to stray from the crater. Gavin was severely reprimanded by Base Control.


 * TEST FLIGHT THREE
 * The craft was fitted with an early version of its canopy. During speed tests, at Mach .4, the canopy tore itself off. Miraculously, Gavin was able to stay onboard the craft and managed to safely slow it down and the remainder of the flight was called off. Gavin reported that he had not even revved the engine up to one quarter of its full power.


 * TEST FLIGHT FOUR
 * A specialized wind-resistant, airtight and pressurized version of the canopy was installed and it held. Gavin demonstrated that the craft is capable of achieving a speed many times the speed of sound.


 * Its exact top speed was not detected because of a guidance problem. At high speed, a massive vibration shook through the chassis of the vehicle and it hopelessly distorted the instrumentation readings. Based upon observations and examinations of the craft, it was postulated that it could reach escape velocity.


 * After the flight, the secondary velocity dampener and circumulator of the Kasenko were stripped down and installed into the craft and all of its instrumentation was hard calibrated. The exterior canopy was again reinforced and made heat resistant.


 * TEST FLIGHT FIVE
 * Gavin attempted to perform a full vertical take off to measure the functional ceiling of the craft. The one-man assault fighter was completely out of sight within a few seconds of take-off. Gavin got disoriented once he "completely lost planetface up there" and returned to the base 28 minutes later. Instrumentation confirmed the craft was completely beyond the outer atmosphere of Daedalus, but not at stable orbital distance. Gavin took more than three times the duration of the ascent in returning to the surface of Daedalus.


 * Heat resistance of the craft is one of the things which has not been severely tested yet.


 * TEST FLIGHT SIX:
 * The craft was prepped for its first orbital test flight. Technicians were aware of the astounding capabilities of its power source, and were anxious to see its limitations. Gavin hardsuited up and climbed aboard the vehicle. The craft would be out of radio contact for roughly half of the flight and the team were not equipped for a rescue or recovery mission of any sort.


 * 8 minutes later, a radio signal notified that the vehicle was malfunctioning and despite calculations, it did not have the power to achieve orbit. At that point, communications with the ship were broken. Minutes later, there was a light in the sky like the fiery tail of a comet heading straight for the Mount Sion crater.


 * No one knew how Gavin got the craft onto the landing platform. The sickening echo of it slamming into the metal rung on for long minutes afterward. It finally faded as the flames were extinguished. Then a noise rose up from the clouds of exhaust- the sound of the servo-mechanism opening the canopy. Remarkably, the craft came out of it almost as well as Gavin. The structural damage was all fairly superficial.


 * The Phyxx battery powering the engine, either completely drained or more likely decharged when the electrical system aboard the craft became superheated during re-entry. A replacement with another battery capable of holding at least 375 units of charge was needed and the project remained grounded.