WesWorld

The Ripon-Bloch RB-131.2 is designed to the Ministry of Aircraft design specification BH.0/33, subsequently to become the BH.4/33. Six other designs were presented from the Accrisius, Spartan and Roth firms along with 2 additional designs from Ripon-Bloch, essentially earlier RB-131 derivatives.


Here is the Ripon Bloch RB-134.2 in all her glory. A mix of the streamline, the sublime and historical French uglyness (sorry Stuart!). James based her on an Avro Shackelton mixed with a hint of Piaggio P.108. Peck away



Ripon-Bloch RB-131.2

General Type:
Airplane = 1
Airship = 2
Orbiter = 3
1

Year of First Flight: 1934

Description

Conventional Aircraft
Monoplane
Conventional Fuselage

A monoplane long-range heavy bomber. Armament two twin 7.7mm MG turrets and 6,000lbs bombload
Characteristics:
Weight (maximum) 42,000 lbs
Weight (empty) 23,918 lbs

Length 73.18 ft
Wingspan 100 ft
Wing Area 1,480 sq ft
Sweep 2 degrees

Engines 4
Spartan 900 V-12
Piston

900 hp
at 10,000 ft
Crew 6
Typical cost $0.105 million in 1934
Total number procured 500

Performance:

Top Speed 194 kts = 223 mph
at 15,000 ft
Mach N/A

Operational Ceiling 20,500 ft

Range 1,110 nm = 1,278 miles
with 9,548 lbs payload
10,465 lbs released at halfway point

Climb 712 fpm

Cruise 152 kts = 175 mph
at 15,000 ft

Corner Speed 193 KIAS =
243 kts at 15,000 ft
Mach N/A
Turning Rate 20.7 deg/sec
Radius 2,272 ft

Internal Data:

Intake / Fan Diameter 9 ft

Bypass Ratio 99.1

Engine Weight 1013 lbs
Overall Efficiency 22.5 percent

Structural Factor 1.00

Number of Wings 1
Number of Fuselages 1

Limiting Airspeed 270 kts
Wing Ultimate g Load 7.50 g
Wing Taper 0.1
Wing Thickness at Root 3.7 ft

Tail / Canard Factor 0.4

Number of Nacelles 4
Length 10.1 ft
Diameter 3.25 ft
Fullness 0.3

Fuselage Diameter 8 ft
Fuselage Fullness 0.5

Pressurized Volume 0 percent
Cargo Decks 1

Cleanness 63 percent
Unstreamlined section 2.2 sq ft

User equipment 2,850 lbs

That is very nice. Good job, Wes.

Acctually most of the work is Hood's.

He certainly did an excellent job to make it look as ugly as possible.

I think it looks quite nice myself.

You should have seen what I discarded, now that was ugly!

Its ugly to scare fighters away! You can blame the Piaggio P.108 for the ugly bits ;-)

The Shackleton is a nice aircraft to adapt things from.

A couple of questions on the drawing;

Using the nose of hte P108 doesn't make much sense. from top down you have cockpit - gunners control room - bomb aiming place. The gun turret itself was separate and power operated. It might be a bit early for the power assist. Maybe just a simple pintle mounting like on the H.P. Halifax?

Is it an astrodome just rear of the cockpit?

The rear gun turret seems a bit strange as well.

Other problems might be ground clearance, and the distance between the door and the ground.

On the sim;
"Unstreamlined section 2.2 sq ft"

I find that for inline engines, 1/3 of the given value seems to work pretty well.

It's some kind of ugly, and I like it.

Aeiiiii!!!! Ugly plane syndrome!

I might buy a few wood decoys and place them along the canal route. That should blind the Iberian bombardiers!

Iberia announces it's successful developement of the Anti-Ugly Bomb!!!!

Quoted

Aeiiiii!!!! Ugly plane syndrome!

Excellent. In that case we shall mark the plane with this symbol...

You want ugly?

This was one of the competitors in the program that led to the TBD, the Great Lakes Aircraft XTBG-1B.

BTW, the pilot is under the canopy on top. The forward canopy is for the torpedo aimer.

I certainly hope you're not planning to let that thing loose on the Wesworld. We'd be forced to shoot you.

How is that suppose to work?

If it works nice, could that be a mid-30s export craft?

Quoted

Originally posted by Rooijen10

Quoted

Aeiiiii!!!! Ugly plane syndrome!

Excellent. In that case we shall mark the plane with this symbol...

Oh Goody, I have a new colour for my bomber! Thanx Walter!

RA the turrets are not power operated, to be honest the turrets are my only nitpick but there will be future modifications anyway so...

The XTBG will have no better luck in this world than it did in ours. I like the look of the TBD too much to let it get away, even if it was a death trap once the shooting started. Now, if someone wants to appropriate the TBG for their country, be my guest. *hears crickets chirping* Didn't think so.

Heh, are you sure Swampy won't buy it???

I think the XTBG looks quite good. I like the unusual in aircraft design.

RA, the door is where the real Shack has it, albeit on the other side a big ladder will help.

The front turret is not powered but manual and offers good frontal protection. The rear turret is powered, the gunners head pokes through the bubble for all-round vision. I think its quite innovative, certainly turrets were not well defined in 1934.

Ha! James knows more about my planes then I do!
It seems at least 1 turret is powered.

Quoted

Heh, are you sure Swampy won't buy it???

"I don't think so, Tim.."