PLANES

The La-5 was a soviet-made fighter plane created in 1942. Its flight range was 765km and had a maximum speed of 583km/h. It was equipped with two 'ShVAK' 20mm cannons with 170 ammo's in each, and also had the option to load two 100kg bombs.

The P-51 Mustang was an American WW2 fighter plane which entered service in 1942. It was made to escort and protect bombers from enemy fighters. Originally made for the RAF, it was extensively used by the Allies and especially by the US. The P-51 could counter German fighters like the Bf 110 and the Bf 109. The Mustang had a very long range as it had auxiliary fuel tanks and had good high-altitude performance. The P51 had a top speed of 710km/h, and the D variant used 6 50 caliber Browning machine guns. 

Essential Info.

The P51D used a liquid-cooled Rolls-Royce Merlin V12, which produced 1490 horsepower. It had a service ceiling of 41,900 feet or 14,800 meters, which was around 2900 feet higher than the ceiling of the BF 109. The P-51 had a max range of 2660 kilometers with auxiliary fuel tanks. 

The Sukhoi Su-35 is a multirole air superiority fighter first designed as the Su-27M in 1988 in the Soviet Union. It was made as the modernized successor to the Su-27, with thrust vectoring, which allows supermaneuverability, basically it lets the plane be more agile. The Su-35 is also equipped with supercruise, which enables it to fly at over Mach 1 without afterburners. It can withstand 10 g's, rather than the 9 g 'sallowed by the Su-27

Essential Info.

The Su-35 uses a 30mm cannon as its armament, and has 12 hardpoints. It has 2 afterburning engines, which allows it to go a top speed of mach 2.25. It can be armed with various air to air and air to surface missiles, along with bombs. 

The Airbus A380 is a super-large airliner created by Airbus. It has a full-length double-deck design, meaning the plane has a first and second floor. 251 of these planes were produced between 2003 and 2020. Moreover, the A380 is the current biggest airliner in size.

The Junkers Ju-87 was a WW2 German dive bomber. Dive bombing is a tactic where an aircraft dives towards the target, drops the bomb close, and then pulls up to avoid hitting the target and to escape the explosion. This was done in WW2 because regular bombing was inaccurate, making hitting small targets nearly impossible. The Ju-87 is especially designed for this role, using dive brakes to slow down in the dive. The Ju-87 had inverted gull wings, which were used to improve the aerodynamic characteristics of the plane. Nowadays, dive bombing is not used at all since bombs can now guide themselves even more precisely than dive bombers while not risking an aircraft in the process. 

Essential Info.

The Ju-87 used an inverted V12 engine producing 1400 horsepower. It had 2 7.62mm guns and could carry many bombs under its wings. The Ju-87 has a dive brake, which is a flap under its wing used to control the speed and dive direction. Most Ju-87s had a siren fitted to the landing gear, which made an extremely loud and distinctive noise during dives. It was used to induce fear and decrease morale, but was later removed as it revealed the location of the bomber. 

The Concorde was a supersonic passenger airliner, one of only 2 that were ever put into service. The Concorde was a joint development between British and French aircraft companies; it could cruise at Mach 2, due to the four Olympus 593 afterburning turbofans fitted to the aircraft. These engines had incredible efficiency, with an 80:1 overall pressure ratio. One distinctive feature of the Concorde is the secondary nozzles fitted onto the engines, which allowed precise control over the nozzles and also served as a thrust reverser. The Concorde, however, had issues, the first of which was that it was expensive to ride in, to operate and to buy. This is one of the reasons the Concorde failed; another was that maintenance was expensive, and due to the fuselage expanding from the heat of travelling at Mach 2, it needed to be rigorous and expensive. In the end, the Concorde was replaced by slower by cheaper, and more economical planes. 

Essential Info.

The Concorde used 4 Olympus 593 engines with variable intakes to slow down supersonic air. The Concorde also had a system that would move fuel from the rear fuel tanks to the front ones as the center of lift shifts backward as a plane goes supersonic. The Concorde could carry 92-120 passengers, and used an ogival delta wing, which was designed for high speed and low speed efficiency. Despite that, the Concorde was very inefficient at low speeds, requiring a high angle of attack to maintain lift, which is why it has a “droop snoot,” a movable piece that acts as the nose cone but can also move down for better visibility. The Concorde required afterburners for takeoff, which were extremely loud and not very environmentally friendly. 

The Messerschmitt Me 163 “Komet” was a WW2 era rocket-powered interceptor/fighter plane, first introduced in 1944. It was both incredible and terrible, while it had incredible flight characteristics despite being a tailless aircraft. it was also the first plane to exceed 1000 km/h in level flight. The Komet used a rocket engine that lasted for 7 and a half minutes in combat, but this was also the worst part of the plane. The rocket engine used, “T-stoff,” which contained mostly hydrogen peroxide, and “C-stoff,” which contained mostly methanol and hydrazine. This mixture is very effective as fuel but also very corrosive, and since the tanks were placed all around the pilot, essentially, any leakage caused by damage could cause fuel to enter the cockpit and literally digest the pilot alive. This plane was arguably more deadly to the Germans than it was to the Allies, as many pilots and test pilots died during testing and development. Since this was towards the end of WW2, the Germans started to face supply issues for the Me163’s fuel, and this plane was retired.

Essential Info.

The Me 163 was originally equipped with 2 30mm cannons, but the plane was so much faster than other contemporary aircraft that actually hitting anything was extremely difficult. These cannons were also not very accurate at long range, which made their effectiveness even worse. There was a version with 10 50mm single-shot guns connected to a photocell on top of the plane, which made the guns shoot if it saw a change in light levels, which could be caused by flying the Komet under an enemy plane. It seems like this weapon was only used to shoot down a Lancaster bomber. 

The F-15 is known as one of the, if not the best, fighter jets of all time. It has an aerial KD ratio of 105:0. Meaning, out of 105 dogfights, it has not been shot down by the enemy fighter. This is one of the reasons why the F-15 has been in service for roughly 50 years. It has a built-in Gatling gun, a top speed of Mach 2.5 a thrust-to-weight ratio of almost 1:1 

Essential Info.

The F-15 was designed during the time around the Korean and Vietnam wars. As more and more jets appeared throughout the skies, radar systems began to improve; as such, the American Air Force and Navy thought that the approach to aerial warfare was going to change forever. So they developed the F-4 Phantom, a fast, bulky fighter that would blast enemies out of the sky from long range with radar-guided missiles. However, they were mistaken, as the radar systems were unreliable and could not distinguish friendly and enemy aircraft. So the pilots had to confirm whether the aircraft was friendly or not. This was disastrous, as the F-4 had no gun built into it, and the missiles, even if they could lock on, frequently missed. The US Navy had to change tactics. They gave the F-4 a gun pod and taught the pilots how to dogfight. But this would not last forever. They needed an Air Superiority fighter. And that is how the F-15 was created. Another reason was in response to the MiG-25 foxbat, which was thought to also be a air superiority fighter, however was only an interceptor.