Barn Cat

Russian Heavy Fighter

Contest Entry
Fictional
C. 1914-15

Operation
VTOL: moves rear gun back and forth
Land at low speeds while keeping nose up to prevent flipping, do not brake suddenly on the ground/landing otherwise it will flip.

Background
Late entry, didn't see the contest until a couple of days ago. Sorry for the quick build.

Fictional History
This one of a kind aircraft was crafted by Igor Sobol who was a mechanic, self-taught pilot, and eccentric. Igor was disappointed of the Imperial Russian Air Service inability to fully embrace the new technology of flight with its tiny squad of aircraft, and decided that he would help the motherland. Igor and his son, Lyosha, built an aircraft from stolen and spare parts (including a great deal of scrap from their barn-hence its anglicize nickname of Barn Cat) in the matter of a few weeks.

While it wasn't pretty, thanks to Igor's mechanical genius it did fly like a wonder. Igor's most brilliant idea, other than maybe bribing a friend of a friend to get a couple of aircraft machine guns, was the Barn Cat's rear gunner box for Lyosha. The box was intended to give him a clear line of fire rather than the typical mid body gunner position that was obstructed by the tail in other contemporary designs...though it did give the aircraft an eccentric look.

While the Barn Cat was surprisingly fast and maneuverable, the lack of standardized specs and parts made it unreliable and it spent much of its time on the ground undergoing repairs. While this dismayed Igor, his wife Masha, couldn't be happier having her boys on the ground.

Igor's location in inner Russia far from the front (and Igor overlooking that he never informed anyone, other than a few neighbors, of his intentions to start his own personal air force) also meant the Barn Cat didn't see any conflict that was officially logged in any state records. Though Igor would later claim he did shoot at suspected interlopers from time to time.

Like many early aircraft, the Barn Cat was hard to land and had a tendency to flip nose over tail. While most of these flips lead to only cosmetic damage to the rough and tumble aircraft, the last would seriously injure Lyosha. While Igor's pride in the motherland remained true, his love for his son was greater, and they would retire the Barn Cat and strip it for parts within a year of its first flight.

While the epic destruction of the Great War would overshadow a great many personal stories, locals would tell tall-tales of Igor and his great flying Barn Cat for generations.