"Pilferer"

The name is a bit of an insult to everyone else, since dictionaries describe a pilferer as person who steals small things of little value.

So where's the insult?

The FB-7 was built to knock out planes and tanks alike, so the name essentially says that the enemies's weapons are small or of little value. Oof.
That aside, meet what the world of FSF considered the "last true heavy fighter." It's not one of your graceful-n-agile planes built to turn and dance with enemy aircraft, instead the Pilferer should be used for either boom-n-zoom or attack. These roles shouldn't be too much of an issue though, the FB-7A is a marvelous aircraft with high speed and great armor, but the armament is even better. You get six 37mm cannons (which surpasses even the F-68B Airafang, who has only four), as well as a slew of deadly rockets. Combine these with a good pilot, and enemy ground units will become scrap in mere minutes- at most.

Trivia

-Not sure how well it translated, but the FB-7 was based on real heavy fighters, specifically the P-38 Lightning, de Havilland Mosquito, and loosely the Westland Whirlwind. Despite lacking any iconic twin-booms, the P-39 probably has the highest semblance here due to the vents on the back of the engine structures (though on the top and bottom instead of sides), as well as a taller-than-wide fuselage, as opposed to most of my fighters which have a perfect or loosely circle fuselage (look at the front view).
-This is the first FSF aircraft to use one of SimplePlanes's pre-built canopies as opposed to a custom made one. Why? Because I thought it'd look cool, plus an experiment in case I want to use this piece in the future.
-The Pilferer stayed in service long enough to see the age of missiles. Just imagine that entire rocket payload being guided missiles instead.
-This post was originally inducted into Unlisted on December 14, 2024.