Introduction

Hello everyone, from now on I will be making regular devlogs on Aggressor covering various major topics related to it's development. This series will mostly cover new aircraft/weapons systems, but I have no rules set in stone for this. This one will cover the development of the all-new Grumman F-11F-1 "Tiger" aircraft, which after extensive integration efforts, has finally had its first few flights in  the Aggressor world.

This is the second "Tiger" in the game, the first being the F-5E. Which is kinda confusing, but who cares! I guess the americans had something with tigers or something, and eagles of course.

The F-11 is a supersonic carrier-based fighter with an interesting flight model. Instead of using control surfaces, the tailplanes are all-moving, which improves controllability at high-subsonic and supersonic speeds. Another funny thing is that the aircraft rolls using spoilers instead of ailerons, another development aimed at improving high speed performance.

Performance

The F-11 is powered by a Wright J65 turbojet providing 47 kN (about 10,000 lbs)  of thrust with afterburner. This pushes the machine to a top speed of around 1200 km/h at all altitudes. Acceleration is exceptionally good, owing to a lightweight construction. The aircraft climbs at a rate of 83 meters per second at full power, easily outclimbing many other naval aircraft of that time. It turns rather quickly, and features an airbrake to help slowing it down from high speed.

Fun-facts

This is the only aircraft in existence to have actually shot ITSELF down once. During a flight test at high speed, the pilot fired the 20mm cannons in level-flight, then proceeded to dive down slightly. Due to air resistance, the bullets naturally started slowing down, leading the aircraft (which was still at full power and accelerating), to catch up with them in mid-air. The rounds hit the wings and did enough damage to bring the plane down. The pilot bailed out and was unharmed!

Conclusion

The Grumman F-11 is being flight tested and is almost fully integrated into the game. Next up is testing in combat with other jets! I hope you guys enjoyed this quick little progress update, I've got lots left to do for this game and I'm on a tight schedule, but  I'll be sure to bring as much as I can out there for you all to see. Have a good one, and I'll see you on the next!