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Description
Well this is a first; finally I've managed to draw one of my oldest concepts; say hello to the Bluebird and if you wanna know why its called that, just read on.

First; about the design, the Bluebird will look familiar to some because its design is the marriage of three factors; 1) one of my favorite toys to date (means I still got it) 2) an homage to one of the series I watched as a kid and 3) own design elements. I won't even begin to explain where those things intersect.

Now; about the role.

The Bluebird is one of the few federation vehicles that actually has a canopy; the reason for this is because its employment calls for low-tech solutions (in more rugged military craft, the "visibility issue" is covered by cameras, not windows, for structural stability and durability) like transparent surfaces and spring-action motor-functions.
You might have guessed it therefore; this is not a fighter, but a life-boat.
Nicknamed "the jumper" Bluebirds lack forward propulsion and fire a pulse-jet to soar down from the sky, the gradual impulse along with the plane's features don't guarantee a smooth or straight path down to solid ground, but it beats parachuting.
They're far from ideal as training craft, but they are the first craft any pilot is required to handle -for obvious reasons- and their crude design -by comparison- is straight-forward, robust and devised to take up as little space as possible when staged, whilst at the same time guaranteeing all weather launch capability.
The wings are swing actuated and actually have to be manually retracted before the craft is re-staged (very few BB's ever do survived to be re-used) the nose holds flood-lights and the manually opened canopy reveals seating for three people (four if they squeeze another small person in there)

The name "Bluebird" comes from the plane's color-scheme; military craft are red detailed, maintenance and service craft have yellow details and civilian and non military craft are blue.
The BB is unarmed.

Description
Well this is a first; finally I've managed to draw one of my oldest concepts; say hello to the Bluebird and if you wanna know why its called that, just read on.

First; about the design, the Bluebird will look familiar to some because its design is the marriage of three factors; 1) one of my favorite toys to date (means I still got it) 2) an homage to one of the series I watched as a kid and 3) own design elements. I won't even begin to explain where those things intersect.

Now; about the role.

The Bluebird is one of the few federation vehicles that actually has a canopy; the reason for this is because its employment calls for low-tech solutions (in more rugged military craft, the "visibility issue" is covered by cameras, not windows, for structural stability and durability) like transparent surfaces and spring-action motor-functions.
You might have guessed it therefore; this is not a fighter, but a life-boat.
Nicknamed "the jumper" Bluebirds lack forward propulsion and fire a pulse-jet to soar down from the sky, the gradual impulse along with the plane's features don't guarantee a smooth or straight path down to solid ground, but it beats parachuting.
They're far from ideal as training craft, but they are the first craft any pilot is required to handle -for obvious reasons- and their crude design -by comparison- is straight-forward, robust and devised to take up as little space as possible when staged, whilst at the same time guaranteeing all weather launch capability.
The wings are swing actuated and actually have to be manually retracted before the craft is re-staged (very few BB's ever do survived to be re-used) the nose holds flood-lights and the manually opened canopy reveals seating for three people (four if they squeeze another small person in there)

The name "Bluebird" comes from the plane's color-scheme; military craft are red detailed, maintenance and service craft have yellow details and civilian and non military craft are blue.
The BB is unarmed.