Come fly with air morrow today!
 

One think that comes up in a lot of threads is what sort of aircraft would the project use?

It being fairly obvious that without some sort of aircraft the project it's self would be a none starter. With no aircraft it would be almost impossible to do any kind of strategic recon or move useful equipment around the map.

How ever aircraft present their own problems.

1 They need runways even the most rough bush craft need at least 500 foot relatively unobstructed.

2 They need lots of maintenance by highly skilled mechanics and engineers.

3 They of course need even more skilled people to fly them. Not to mention organisations like the FAA keep a close eye on licensed pilots, aircraft etc.

4 It seems pretty much canon that the fusion powerpacks are too weak to power aircraft, so you'll need a lot of avgas. Can the Project produce synthetic fuel? Or does it have a small oil well and refinery on some remote island.

So what does the project airforce look like?

1 First of all it has two actual airbases, both designed for private leisure flyers just with larger than expected fuel reserves, runways etc.

2 It has 4 "airfield in a box" These are collections of earthmovers, dozers, portable airtraffic control towers that can be used to turn longish stretches of highway into temporary airfields.

3 As for aircraft, who knows? Probably a mixture of Hercules and Chinooks for heavy lifting. Maybe some c47s because of the simplicity and short runways and a bunch of Hueys because they're available, light and can land most places.

One thing would be there wouldn't be anywhere near enough and access for flight hours would be tightly rationed.

I doubt there'd be much use for combat aircraft in all but the direst situations. As aircraft and crews would be too valuable to risk them charging into people shooting at them.

And if possible drones for reconnaissance, most contemporaneous models are sufficiently light they could conceivably be powered by a fusion pack.

The Canon Morrow Air Assets besides the Autogyro are

C-130 Hercules (Medium lift)
CH-47 Chinook (Medium lift)
OH-6A Cayuse (Light Observation)

All are found at Prime base, disassembled, and awaiting an airfield to be built. In anon all of these are fusion powered though there is only two of each model on hand.

I think it's useful to look at how the Project might assign roles for aircraft

1. Reconnaissance.
It's far more efficient than looking from the ground
2. Light Personnel transport.
Getting a team of experts to where they are needed
3. Cargo/Logistics.
Sometimes you want to get supplies to a team that has used up its caches
4. Telecommunication.
The "poor man's satellite" Radio relay. TV/radio transmissions. Maybe even internet
5. Casevac
Transporting people to where they can get high-quality medical care

Ideally, the Project would like STOL and rough-field capabilities

There are several twin-engine utility planes that would work in these roles. My personal favourite would be the Britten-Norman Islander. http://www.britten-norman.com/islander/

I'm sure every PD has their own preferred aircraft

Yeh that seems sensible especially the idea of moving specialist teams.

I think the team preserving vital human knowledge and skills is a key issue.

Though they would need to move some heavy cargo from time to time.

As I have said before I would really like the project to have something like the Marvel Cinematic Universe Quinjet (fusion powered of course).

Mach 1.2
Crew 2(/3) +14
Cargo 4.8 tons
Vtol

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/1e/86/31/1...y-aircraft.jpg

However even with really advanced material technologies (carbon fiber/frame, high temperature -2400K ceramic heating elements-> true electrical Mach 1+ jet engines), I have a hard time getting the physics to work.

But if Mobility and flexibility are goals of the project nothing would beat it.

I still say you just need to throw a plasma torch from the same era as the fusion reactor, to minimize the compressed water cooling of the electrodes, and you can have your jet problem mostly resolved.

http://www.alternrg.com/wp-content/u...l-Feb-2012.pdf

The problem with giving the team more and more super tec, you need to match it with their foes to make it interesting.

If the project gets Godzilla then Krell gets Mecha Godzilla and King Ghidora.

Besides if the project did develop a supersonic jet that didn't need gas, wouldn't someone in the government start asking questions?

Murrow Project Airfield
 

Bolthole Layout (it look like wagon wheel with spokes)

Center Ring Elevator Access
Containers 1-5 One Aircraft
Container 6 Portable Machine Shop
Container 7 Spare Parts
Container 8 Airfield Equipment – see below
Container 9 Airfield Equipment – see below
Container 10 Ammunition
Container 11 Aircraft Tug and APU
Container 12 Bolthole with Bugout Vehicle

AN/FPN-36 Radar: The so called Quad radar is mobile, air-transportable ground control approach radar and is used for a precision approach under bad weather conditions. The approaching aircraft and the aircraft course and glide slope are displayed on a beta scan scope.

AN/MPQ-49 Forward Area Alerting Radar: The Forward Area Alerting Radar is an Army system for aircraft early warning. The Forward Area Alerting Radar system is a complete, self-contained, acquisition radar system, which consists of a radar set and a IFF set. The M561 Gamma Goat is its primary mover, and is has a trailer with a 5-kilowatt generator set.

AN/MRC-144 Radio System: The AN/MRC-144 is a mobile communications facility mounted in an M-998 Highly Mobile Multi-Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV)

AN/TRN-41 TACAN: The AN/TRN-41 is a portable, lightweight, air droppable, unmanned Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) designed to provide bearing, facility identification, and distance information. The TACAN transmits continuous bearing information to an unlimited number of aircraft and provides slant range distance information. Three trained personnel should have the system operational in 4 hours.

AN/TSQ-216 Remote Landing Site Tower (RLST): RLST is a Tactical Mobile Control Tower. It is housed in a modified S-250 Shelter with an extendible roof which is raised for operation and lowered for transport. The system is configured for two operator positions and a supervisor and is fully self contained. Communications equipment is provided for VHF/UHF AM, VHF-FM and HF-SSB frequency bands. The radios can be remote by fibre optics up to 3 km from the tower. A towed trailer transports dual diesel generators, communications rack, and ancillary and support equipment.

MP Personnel

Flight crew

Pilot x 6
Navigator/Observer
Transport Loadmaster
Flight Engineer
Maintenance Crew Chief x 2
Maintenance Specialist X 14
Rescue/Survival Specialist x 2

Base:

Commander
Operations/Intelligence
Meteorologist
Logistics/Supply x 2
Information Management
Communications Specialist
Aircrew Life Support Specialist
Flight Surgeon
Paramedic

Security:

Security Team Leader
Deputy leader
Security/Police specialist x 8

Total personnel = 47

Concept

These members would be sealed in there bolt hole near a municipal airport, where when where to awake they would already have a somewhat usable strip available. The team would awake up after their security team has arrived on site and begun clearing the field and setting up for operations.

If all went well the team would wake and began to assembly there aircraft and begin to fly missions for MP units in the area. I would image that there would also be a MP Engineer Team Near by that would be able to help them with airfield construction

Notes: Of course if you running operations over a long time, more people will be needed, I also left the aircraft type blank

Make sense all of theses aircraft have civilian versions available for purchase

Also check the Britten-Norman Trislander https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britten-Norman_Trislander

True about balance but you could give it no or very light weapons. Or maybe just a chain gun but don't have much ammo in the local logistics chain (due to age?). Perhaps these are the first 3 prototypes that never advanced to combat testing.

It just seems like a perfect mix of smaller versions of CH-47 and the C-130. In a tactical game it allows for dropping a team behind enemy lines, or perhaps emergency evac. In a more strategic game it allows for small amounts of cargo, diplomats, scholars, medicine, etc to be moved quickly.

It would give an unfair recon advantage but if caught out of mach the KFS P-47s could make mince meat out of it. It also needs to land and any aircraft (even spectacularly advanced fusion powered ones) would spend 5 times the amount of time on the ground as in the air due to maintenance.

On the second note they never found out about fusion or cryo tubes. Yeah flying at Mach makes more noise (literally) but they don't need to know if is unfuled.

Autogyro? Hell no!!!!! this is the Morrow Project......where my Jetpack?????

The Belt Rocket Belt was invented in 1960, before that there was Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee

The RB2000 Rocket Belt was designed in 1992, Checkout the story of the RB2000 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Rocket_Belt

The Williams X-Jet was evaluated by the US army in 1980's

Yves Rossy made flights on his Jet wingpack starting in 2006

The JB-9/10 Jetpack sale begin in 2017

Also where are the flying cars like the Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep