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Description
The "Sparrow" as it is called in the imperial air force service is a heavy attack plane to be used mainly against heavily fortified positions- bunkers, pillboxes and gun emplacements. The concept rose in the early stages of the great war when the difficulty of destroying heavy fortifications by means of artillery bombardment and imprecise air bombing became apparent. The Sparrow was conceived to break this stalemate by directly attacking these heavy fortifications with a short-barreled 158mm-cannon specifically designed for the task. The Sparrow can fire its main armament in level flight, but the heavy gun makes steep dives impossible, so direct attack on targets from low level flight is favoured. The heavy armament makes flying the plane a challenging task and usually Sparrow pilots are picked from among the best combat pilots.

The plane is manned by 5 crew- pilot, turret gunner, two loaders(one of which doubles as a navigator) and bombardier. The considerable weight of the main armament and ammunition requires a powerful engine and the most powerful new 12-cylinder air-cooled Mk.III engine was chosen. The different ammunition types for the main gun include armor piercing, high explosive and air burst shell to be used against infantry, zeppelins and (in exceptional and extremely rare circumstances) airplanes. The main gun's considerable recoil is negated through advanced hydraulic cylinders and strong mounting structure to relegate much of the recoil into the hull. Secondary armament includes two 20mm autocannons located in the wings. Defensive armament is somewhat lacking due to the weight limitations set by the heavy armament and engine, consisting of a single 7.7mm machine gun located in a turret behind the pilot's seat.

Other features of the Sparrow include self-sealing fuel tanks, advanced gun sight system and an advanced (for its time) full aluminium hull construction. The plane was received for combat tests during the second year of the war and proved effective against most field fortifications, although the heaviest forts remained mostly impervious to its fire. Favoured tactic of ace crews was to fly very low towards a pillbox weak point such as a observation slit and fire a delayed fuze AP round into the bunker, destroying it in one hit.

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I had a day in between commission work days for my own stuff and decided I should sketch a simple cross-section of a plane design I had been thinking about for a few days now. Somehow I'm very amused by the concept of having a massive gun fitted inside a relatively small plane. In any case, this is probably the final piece, so this might never be colored/otherwise finalized, but we'll see.

Original A3, 0.3mm mechanical pencil.

Enjoy!

Description
The "Sparrow" as it is called in the imperial air force service is a heavy attack plane to be used mainly against heavily fortified positions- bunkers, pillboxes and gun emplacements. The concept rose in the early stages of the great war when the difficulty of destroying heavy fortifications by means of artillery bombardment and imprecise air bombing became apparent. The Sparrow was conceived to break this stalemate by directly attacking these heavy fortifications with a short-barreled 158mm-cannon specifically designed for the task. The Sparrow can fire its main armament in level flight, but the heavy gun makes steep dives impossible, so direct attack on targets from low level flight is favoured. The heavy armament makes flying the plane a challenging task and usually Sparrow pilots are picked from among the best combat pilots.

The plane is manned by 5 crew- pilot, turret gunner, two loaders(one of which doubles as a navigator) and bombardier. The considerable weight of the main armament and ammunition requires a powerful engine and the most powerful new 12-cylinder air-cooled Mk.III engine was chosen. The different ammunition types for the main gun include armor piercing, high explosive and air burst shell to be used against infantry, zeppelins and (in exceptional and extremely rare circumstances) airplanes. The main gun's considerable recoil is negated through advanced hydraulic cylinders and strong mounting structure to relegate much of the recoil into the hull. Secondary armament includes two 20mm autocannons located in the wings. Defensive armament is somewhat lacking due to the weight limitations set by the heavy armament and engine, consisting of a single 7.7mm machine gun located in a turret behind the pilot's seat.

Other features of the Sparrow include self-sealing fuel tanks, advanced gun sight system and an advanced (for its time) full aluminium hull construction. The plane was received for combat tests during the second year of the war and proved effective against most field fortifications, although the heaviest forts remained mostly impervious to its fire. Favoured tactic of ace crews was to fly very low towards a pillbox weak point such as a observation slit and fire a delayed fuze AP round into the bunker, destroying it in one hit.

----

I had a day in between commission work days for my own stuff and decided I should sketch a simple cross-section of a plane design I had been thinking about for a few days now. Somehow I'm very amused by the concept of having a massive gun fitted inside a relatively small plane. In any case, this is probably the final piece, so this might never be colored/otherwise finalized, but we'll see.

Original A3, 0.3mm mechanical pencil.

Enjoy!