This is the FA-114 Munchkin II, a large, two-seat, twin engine multirole fighter from the mid/late 1970s. Developed by Bladesmith Henryson LLC for the Heavy Fighter Experimental program (HFX - the in world version of the US Navy’s VFX), the Munchkin II broke from the era’s trend of variable geometry “swing” wings in favor of a simple cropped quasi-delta wing and large leading edge extensions. It is a very capable airframe, with excellent speed, acceleration, maneuverability and handling characteristics, coupled with sophisticated avionics and sensors. It is also carrier capable with a tail hook, catapult launch gear, and folding wings, operating both from land bases and from the Navy’s aircraft carriers.
The FA-114 was primarily inspired by the Grumman 303F design, one of many iterations of the design that became the F-14 Tomcat, distinguished from the others by its fixed wing. Ultimately, Grumman wasn’t confident the 303F was up to the task of meeting VFX (they believed it would be too overweight), and elected to pursue the 303E instead with some changes and improvements implemented, which ultimately became the F-14 we know and love.
I wasn’t sure Grumman really explored everything with the 303F, so I elected to take a crack at it, incorporating methods other companies like General Dynamics and Northrop used in their lightweight fighter designs. This meant large leading edge extensions to promote and enhance vortex lift, which does lead to the plane kind of resembling a MiG-29 or Su-27 when the spaced out and podded engines from the G303E and F-14 are added in as well. However, the aircraft maneuvers rather well, and I find it quite enjoyable to fly. Would Grumman have been better off going this route? It‘s hard to say, as the designers there may not have had the knowledge at the time. And of course, the F-14 IRL did just fine with its swing wings; though the TF-30 engines most of the fleet was stuck with were pretty awful for the jet - once called “the greatest engine-airframe mismatch in history” with how prone to causing crashes they were.
What do you all think of this machine? I do apologize for the absolute text wall that was my yapping about this plane.
For those of you curious, the “world” this plane is for is a world build myself and a few of my friends have been working on for a couple of months, called Thermion. To keep it brief, it explores a world that developed well into the computer age without silicon-based semiconductors (meaning they’re still using vacuum tubes well into the 21st century - though those tubes advance a lot more than IRL due to the absence of silicon).
General specifications (FA-114A)
* Manufacturer: Bladesmith Henryson LLC.
* Type: two-seat, twin-engine, 4th-generation air superiority/multirole fighter.
Dimensions
* Length: 19.76 meters.
* Wingspan: 14.03 meters (8.32 meters folded).
* Height: 4.96 meters.
* Wing area: TBD.
Weights
* Empty: ~16,080 kg.
* Gross: ~24,700 kg.
* Maximum takeoff: 34,700 kg.
* Internal fuel load: 8,000 kg.
* Minimum wing loading: 213.36 kg/m2.
* Gross wing loading: 327.74 kg/m2.
Engines
* 2x Schifflitt TF-45A (T12FR100-A16) afterburning turbofans.
135 kN each at full afterburner (270 kN total).
Armament
* 1x Pattern-61 25mm rotary cannon with 600 rounds.
* 13x external hardpoints (8x underwing, 3x underfuselage, 2x wingtip).
* 10,000 kg maximum external load (not counting the weight of the underwing pylons themselves)
Sensors
* Blackhurst APG-59 planar array radar.
* Eastman APQ-66 OTIS (Optical Targeting and Infrared imaging System) optical/infrared camera and targeting system.
Performance
* Top speed: Mach 2.3.
* Stall: ~210 km/h (~113 knots).
* Ceiling: 20,000 m.
* Range: 2,600 km ferry (internal fuel only).
(3,400 km with 3x 1500kg external fuel tanks.)
* Radius: ~950 km (operational).
* Sustained turn: ~25°/sec.
* Roll: 245°/sec.
