Northstar Bellatrix

The Northstar Bellatrix is an Eskanite single seat, single engine, Interceptor and fighter-bomber designed and manufactured by Northstar Aviation industries. It served as the primary fighter bomber and Interceptor in the Eskanite Federal Air Force and the Eskanite War Navy Air Corps.

The design was meant to be exported to several nations, however, the designed was completed too late and had very few clients. The type entered service on the 15th of September, 1944, in the Aurican theater with the Eskanite 1st expeditionary airforce stationed through Northern frankia and saw moderate to large success intercepting bombers and destroying convoys despite the small number deployed (around 300)compared to other designs such as the NAI cassiopeia (around 700).

Design and development

In October of 1942 the Eskanite Air office learned about the performance results of the B-29 and published a requirement for a high altitude Interceptor that could reach or surpass an altitude of 10,000m, for this, Northstar Aviation industries, assigned Carlos Correia and a team of Northrumbian engineers (coming from Westland, Hawker and Supermarine) to design a high-altitude Interceptor to counter the threat of bombers that our current aircraft can't reach". Northstar commissioned Blueport Propulsion Systems (BpPS) to design an engine that had an engine that could produce enough power to propel an aircraft to the desired altitude, however, BpPS failed to provide the designs on time and the project was delayed by more than 6 months

On the 3rd of December, 1942, several tokugawan high altitude bombers (believed to be G8Ns) were spotted over navarrete, in Southern eskana, and weren't intercepted as the cassiopeia M.1 lacked the sufficient power to reach them. Seeing this, the air office decided to relocate even more resources to the Bellatrix project, but this still didn't do much to speed up the process.

In May 9th of 1944 the first Bellatrix M.1 took its first flight under the 541th separate air brigade (Test brigade assigned to NAI) and on July 21st, the first units were delivered.

Operational history

Aurican continent

In September 15th, 1944, the first units arrived and were assigned to the 1st expeditionary airforce stationed in Caen. 4 divisions were converted to the type and 6 saw partial use in at least one of their brigades and would be nicknamed 'bellas'

The bellas operating in the Aurican continent had their tail hooks removed and enjoyed success hunting down bombers and ground targets but we're vulnerable to attacks by enemy FW-190s and BF-109s. To counteract this, most bellas flew with half of their fuel loads and with less than full ammo load.

About 920 bellas would be built (with about 200 exported) and operated by 6 countries: Eskana, Frankia, Moscovia/CIS, Iberia, kalevalia and Germania (through Spain)

Iquelles

In 1947, following months of exploitation by the new president, Henry Vassel, the iquellite provincial goverment declared their independence and formed the iquellite liberation force. The ILF took most of the peninsula and raided the southern province of Ischara, in response to this, most units of the army, air force and navy were deployed in the region

The most successful unit operating bellas was the 49th air division, attached to the navy. The unit was comprised of the 150th, 710th and 527th fighter brigades, the 76th, 99th and 22nd tactical strike brigades and the 2nd Interceptor brigade. Most of these units operated bellas, modified to fit their respective roles.

Naval top scoring ace of iquelles: Barbara kappel "Hamburg-er"

Born in Hamburg, in 1924, she and her family migrated to eskana in 1934. She developed a passion for flying and enlisted in the air cadet School of Civit-Daisam, graduating lowest in her class and being assigned an auxiliary role in an Interceptor unit.

On February 22nd, at 8:00 the 527th was called into action as news of the independence movement arrived, Barbara was assigned to Bella A08 and entered into combat with Cassiopeias of the ILF-AB over Nabesna, in Southern iquelles. She allegedly shot down 6 aircraft, 4 of which were confirmed to be cassiopeia M.2s, previously of the 10th fighter brigade, but she claimed 2 Yak-9s which were never confirmed until 1953

In March 11th, her unit was assigned on board EWN Teruel and she completed carrier training, she was promoted to captain and made her first sortie on March 16th where she achieved her 5th and 6th confirmed air kills agaisnt 2 Cepheus heavy fighters of the ILF-AB.

Throught March and December of 1947 she flew 90 sorties and achieved 12 confirmed air kills total. On January of 1948 she went into trial for suspected friendly fire but was acquitted and cleared of any guilt. She returned to service with the 527th on March of 1949 and flew 70 sorties and reaching a total of 22 confirmed air kills. On January 2nd of 1949, the 527th participated in the battle of avalanche air base which crippled iquellite air operations in the south and saw a major offensive by naval infantry.

As the war progressed, the ILF air branch lost several aircraft and most units transitioned into close air support, during this time, Barbara was promoted to lieutenant colonel and flew her last combat sorties during the battle of cautal , the iquellite capital, where she achieved her last air victory

Throught the iquellite war, Barbara flew 3 bellas, all marked as A08 and flew 230 sorties accumulating 25 air victories and 106 ground targets destroyed.

Design

Description:

The Bellatrix was designed to be rugged, cheap and easy to manufacture, ideal for exporting. It is capable of landing on carriers and features a trycicle landing gear and vee engine, uncommon for its role

It features a tapered semi elliptical, low wing that reduces drag and keeps good roll performance, the wings fold rearwards which doesn't allow fuel or major components to be stored in the wings and only features 1 pylon rated for 500kg and racks for rockets (up to 8, 70mm rockets)

The aircraft uses a 2 stage, 2 speed supercharger which offers good power at altitude while keeping certain degree of simplicity, especially in naval conditions

general characteristics

*Crew: one
*Length: 12.4m
*Wingspan: 13.7m
*Height: 3.8m
*wing area: 33m²
*Airfoil: NAI 1942-001
*Empty weight: 4,638kg
*gross weight: 5,502kg
*MTOW(EWN Handbook): 7,500kg
*Fuel capacity: 1050L
*Powerplant: 1 x Blueport AS-7000 V-12 inverted liquid-cooled engine; Rated for 1900hp combat powet @ 1,000m

Performance

*Max speed: @ 1,250m 555km/h
@ 10,000m and at WEP 650km/h
*Climb rate(MTOW): 16.7m/s
*Service ceiling: 14,000m @ WEP
*Time to altitude: 11000m in 11 minutes 3 seconds

Armament

5x 20mm Zugasti
4x 500kg bombs