The Orky Aircraft Research Thread

[puddingwrestler]

So I went to Morrabbin Air Museum on the weekend, and beheld this:

A Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation CA-28 Ceres cropduster, a sort of super heavily modified Wirraway trainer turned into a cropduster. And I was struck by two things: first, it was hella orky, and second I was in love. There's just something about the really ungainly cockpit shape, the way it sits so high on the fuselage and then drops away sharply at the back.

So anyway, this got me thinking. I mean, OBVIOUSLY I have to build an Ork plane inspired by this machine. My new 40K ork army could do with some sort of Dakkajet or one of the other orky fliers (there are four to choose from now, all with ded orky names like 'wazzboom blastjet'), and CAC Ceres is such a great shape.


Fig.1: the official Dakkajet model. Which everyone has, and which, therefore I am required to despise and plan to build my own from junk (it's also $110, and I am cheap enough to have built all the vehicles in my army from scratch...)

And that got me thinking even further. What other stupendously orky looking shapes exist in real world aviation which I could use for inspiration? What other odd-shaped planes could I pay tribute to?

The obvious answers were:
The mighty Transavia Airtruk!

This has already been imortalised by Goerge Miller in Mad Max 3, in which Bruce Spence flies it while wearing a pith helmet. (In Australia we call such behaviour 'tuesday') but it's such an orky shape. It looks like it shouldn't fly, but somehow it does. All Orky-o-tech looks like that. Most of it WON'T fly if it's piloted by anything BUT an Ork - Orks believe so strongly that their technology will work that it actually does work. They used to even get a movement bonus for painting vehicles red (the new edition has not had a full Ork list release yet, so the options for kustom jobs on vehicles are limited, but I am sure the red paint job rule will come back when the full book us released).

The Pzl M15 Belphegor!

It's a jet powered biplane. How orky is that? It's orky enough that there's a heavy metal band named after it! Or with the same name anyway. I like to think they're named after the plane, but I doubt it.

The Gee Bee racer

It's very short, very fat, and very fast. It's got the biggest engine you can shoehorn into the space provided. This is the orky way - except Orks would fit a bigger engine and never mind about the space provided. Of course, I am less likely to use this plane as inspiration because there are already several Ork armies using planes based on it...

Anyway, what I am looking for are other orky planes.
To qualify they should:

• Be strangely shaped
• Look like they shouldn't work
• Look sort of angry and shooty
• Look like they were bolted together by a few guys in a shed using hammers over a few too many beers on a slow weekend

This is not meant to be a place to vent about how ugly a plane is - we are not judging here! Go elsewhere should you want to pontificate on the worst of planes. I love all of the planes mentioned here and will not hear a word against them! I am aware they are not amazing, world beating planes, but they have such great character! And when Orks build replicas of them, fit them with more weapons than sense, strap on several extra engines, a few more guns just in case, and possibly a portable force filed generator, they WILL beat the world! Okay, so maybe only a small one, but we all have to start somewhere.
I plan to start by making something based on the Ceres...

[zenrat]

Blackburn Cubaroo

[JayBee]

How about the Short Seamew.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Short_Seamew_landing_on_HMS_Bulwark_%28R08%29_1955.jpg/1200px-Short_Seamew_landing_on_HMS_Bulwark_%28R08%29_1955.jpg

It is reputed that the high cockpit position was because their Lordships at the Admiralty required that the Helmsman should be able to stand at the wheel.

[loupgarou]

You could have a look at some Farman aircraft from the ternties-thirties, like the Jabiru, for example. 

https://www.google.fr/search?q=farman+f.170+jabiru&dcr=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQ7IaPrdTWAhVBXhoKHWwQAeoQsAQILw&biw=1366&bih=636#imgrc=NZIQgTdtHd8OoM:

Pre-war french aircraft could offer many worthy examples, (and many have been modelled by Heller, easy to find)

[loupgarou]

Or the Blackburn Blackburn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Blackburn
Blackburn will rarely disappoint you!

Or the Potez 75, unjustly forgotten!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potez_75

[NARSES2]

Someone does a 1/72 model of the Potez 75. Darned if I can remember who though 

Did Blackburn have a special department in the 20/30's specifically tasked with designing ugly/ungainly aircraft and then blaming the Admiralty ? 

French aircraft of the same period, especially the bombers/bomber-transports always look agricultural to me, in complete contrast to the art and sculpture of the period which had so much style. I do have a soft spot for them though 

[puddingwrestler]

How did I forget French pre-war aviation? The Farman Jabiru is everything you could want from an orky transport plane (regretably, 40K has no rules at present for an Orky transport plane, although there are semi-official rules for a Chinork helicopter).
I have drawn a mental blank as to name, but France had an amazingly blunt-prowed bomber between the wars which would be just right. Anyone recall the name?

Also, it really does not matter if kits exist - 40K is made to an odd scale so kits rarely fit in well. Also, I'm not planning on making anything faithful to a proto-type, I'm just using them as inspiration for scratch building.

I must also mention the Fairey Gannet (one of which was at Moorabin) - I have long cherished the mad idea of making a jet propelled version. Just imagine the nose with a huge intake, possibly with central radome in the soviet style, and a pair of yawning exhausts out the back...


And of course, nothing can surpass the mighty nose of the early prototype Il-40! Which gets bonus makes for having the cockpit sit high on top looking like a combination of after thought and medieval castle. Tres ork!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/Il-40front.jpg

[PR19_Kit]

I must also mention the Fairey Gannet (one of which was at Moorabin) - I have long cherished the mad idea of making a jet propelled version. Just imagine the nose with a huge intake, possibly with central radome in the soviet style, and a pair of yawning exhausts out the back...

You'd have to make different arrangements for the two poor radar operators buried in the rear fuselage or they'll get cooked.

There's precious little space back there for jet pipes, and I've flown in one and I needed to be VERY friendly with the other GIB. 

[puddingwrestler]

Orks wouldn't be using it for it's designed purpose. They'd just fit the biggest engines possible, stick several tank cannons on it in odd locations, jam a single pilot in somewhere and fly around looking for trouble. I don't think Orkz even understand radar.

[puddingwrestler]

The Bell XP-77 is rather sleeker than most of the planes i think of as looking orky... but then there's the sheer amount of motor in front of the cockpit!