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Rutan AT-1B TERMINATOR

Started by dragon, February 25, 2008, 06:47:04 PM

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dragon

February 25, 2008, 06:47:04 PM
Because of cost overruns in Spaceship One development, Burt Rutan was forced in 2009 to design a military plane.  The plane had to have loitering capability, carry lots of mixed ordnance, and be very maneuverable.  Originally it had been intended for sale to third world nations, much like the F-5.  The low price and incredible capabilities of the aircraft however, found buyers from even the industrialized nations.  Rutan eventually made enough money to finance Spaceships Two through Seven.
The plane was sold to many third world nations as a COIN type aircraft.  The AT-1As had a set of machine guns in the tail cone intended to rake the area with lead on the way out.  These were deleted in the AT-1B, after experience with the AT-1A showed that nothing lived for very long after the first pass which made the aft machine guns dead weight.  The third world pilots love their TERMINATORS and proudly display the plane patch on their flight suits (a metal skull with red eyes and a pilot's helmet aiming a gun at the viwer).  The Caanadian Air Force purchased it as the PERSUADER.  The RAF purchased it as the ALBATROSS (for reasons unknown to the author, the crew calls it "The Spanish Inquisition".  An unnamed Brigadier was querried about this and answered "That is just silly.")

Images to follow
"As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefits of it?  It liberates you from convention."- from the novel WICKED by Gregory Maguire.
  
"I must really be crazy to be in a looney bin like this" - Jack Nicholson in the movie ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

dragon

#1
February 25, 2008, 07:20:09 PM

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"As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefits of it?  It liberates you from convention."- from the novel WICKED by Gregory Maguire.
  
"I must really be crazy to be in a looney bin like this" - Jack Nicholson in the movie ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

The Rat

#2
February 25, 2008, 07:55:05 PM
Who could ever suspect that a fuzzy bunny child of Kelly Johnson and Bert Rutan could look so nice?!  :wub:
"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought, cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Hedley Lamarr, Blazing Saddles

Life is too short to worry about perfection

Youtube: https://tinyurl.com/46dpfdpr

jeff3385

#3
February 25, 2008, 09:26:30 PM
Man, that is going to be one sweet machine. Looking forward to seeing this one completed.
Jeff Briner
Past President
IPMS/USA

BlackOps

#4
February 25, 2008, 09:27:49 PM
Looking forward to seeing this one once it gets a bit of paint on her!
Jeff G.
Stumbling through life.

dragon

#5
February 25, 2008, 11:01:13 PM
Quote from: BlackOps on February 25, 2008, 09:27:49 PM
Looking forward to seeing this one once it gets a bit of paint on her!
Now that is going to be a problem.  I am partial to all of the following (meaning I have not decided yet): SEA LatinAmerica, USAF Arctic, FLANKER blues, Desert Camo. :mellow:
"As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefits of it?  It liberates you from convention."- from the novel WICKED by Gregory Maguire.
  
"I must really be crazy to be in a looney bin like this" - Jack Nicholson in the movie ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

lenny100

#6
February 26, 2008, 12:21:24 AM
i think that this needs the flanker blues
Me, I'm dishonest, and you can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest.
Honestly, it's the honest ones you have to watch out for!!!

gooberliberation

#7
February 26, 2008, 12:59:58 AM
U-2s wore flanker-ish blues and looked good already, right?
================================
"How about this for a headline for tomorrows paper? French fries." ~~ James French, d. 1966 Executed in electric chair in Oklahoma.

Brian da Basher

#8
February 26, 2008, 01:41:37 AM
Woah that's just super cool dragon! My vote is for arctic camo!

Brian da Basher

cthulhu77

#9
February 26, 2008, 06:11:39 AM
Fantastic concept!  I like the idea of artic too...

ysi_maniac

#10
February 26, 2008, 09:06:36 AM
Awesomely (does this word exist?) COOL :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:
Will die without understanding this world.

John Howling Mouse

#11
February 26, 2008, 09:13:13 AM
Quote from: dragon on February 25, 2008, 11:01:13 PM
Now that is going to be a problem.  I am partial to all of the following (meaning I have not decided yet): SEA LatinAmerica, USAF Arctic, FLANKER blues, Desert Camo. :mellow:

With a concept this dynamic, how's this a problem?  Just means you need to build about 3 more (no problem!).

I love LOVE this bird already.  And the motivation behind it kills me.  Maybe Rutan had a fight with Branson so Mr. Virgin would no longer finance him, forcing Rutan to go the 3rd world military route?
Styrene in my blood and an impressive void in my cranium.

B777LR

#12
February 26, 2008, 10:19:56 AM Last Edit: February 26, 2008, 10:23:22 AM by B777LR
Quote from: John Howling Mouse on February 26, 2008, 09:13:13 AM
Maybe Rutan had a fight with Branson so Mr. Virgin would no longer finance him, forcing Rutan to go the 3rd world military route?

Or perhaps Branson started Virgin COIN, and flew for the RAF...

Just imagine the slogans! ;D

4 engines 4 long-haul! (Used to promote the P-270 Moskit missiles that are powered by 4 ramjets)

Mines bigger than yours! (when Virgin COIN began using Storm Shadows, compared to the USAFs shorter Harpoons)

Above all others! (Promoting the new COIN services in Iraq and Afganistan, playing with rival USAFs motto Above All)

USAF cant keep it up! (when the USAF announced that they would retire all B-52s)

No way USAF/RAF (used to express the displeasure of the cooperation between the RAF and USAF)

dragon

#13
February 26, 2008, 11:00:37 AM
Branson and Rutan both realize that even with Bill Gates as an investor in their Spaceship series, there just isn't enough money.  Therefore they get their equivalent of a part time job- selling military planes.   

Wait until this thing gets some legs and teeth.  I am planning on using some F-16 main landing gear and the U-2 nose gear. 

Oddly enough I got this idea while staring at the Voyager "prototype"(?) at SEATAC while waiting for a flight back home. :mellow:
"As long as people are going to call you a lunatic anyway, why not get the benefits of it?  It liberates you from convention."- from the novel WICKED by Gregory Maguire.
  
"I must really be crazy to be in a looney bin like this" - Jack Nicholson in the movie ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

kitnut617

#14
February 26, 2008, 11:12:08 AM
That's brilliant dragon! ---     I've just one comment though, Rutan would have had the canard wing tips forward swept   ;D
If I'm not building models, I'm out riding my dirtbike
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