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| North American Aviation series. The current company North American Aviation is not the original one that was founded before the breakup of the US, and created the A2 Thunderbird. It is a descendant, however with only a handful of former employees. The original North American Aviation folded in 1935, partly due to the policies of the new People's Collective "Oversight committee", which shaped sales policies of the Collective. With that, the company dissolved. Some were arrested by the Collective's police, some went to Montana, in the Disputed territory's to open Big Sky Aviation, which went to work making parts. And finally, a few moved to Hollywood. Most of them simply went to work in the already established companies, such as Lockheed and Hughes. One engineer however, took the last of his money and rented out a hotel room for four months. He took a design that had been in the air, not even on a drawing board when the company collapsed. He took the design personally as it has been his brainchild. It took almost the entire four months to work out all the bugs (or best it could without a prototype) and present it to various manufacturers. It was a sound design, somewhat conservative in it's design, but offering quality performance. It was a three plane layout, all sharing the same basic airframe, but differing for the roles of heavy fighter, interceptor and ground attack. Hughes of course rejected them almost immediately, his designs being well established, and several on the drawing board that would cover all the forseeable roles. Lockheed likewise was full on contracts and was testing a new fighter and was not interested. Nearly out of money, the engineer had nearly abandoned hope, however a group of businessmen approached him. Consisting of business competitors of Hughes, several small aircraft manufacturers, competing movie companies, and several wealthy individuals, they were interested in anything that would be an asset in breaking Hughes near stranglehold on Hollywood. They were convinced of the design's concept, and agreed to fund it's manufacture. In one of the shortest startup times in history, former NAA employees were skimmed (When they could) from other jobs, and quickly acquired the necessary equipment to manufacture the fighters. The company was named North American Aviation, and a few months later, was joined by Pan American Airways, and formed the Aviation Corporation of the Americas. The first batch of fighters rolled off the assembly line on New Year's day 1936. On February 2nd the new F5 and F7 fighters saw their first combat, during an escort run of a PanAm aircraft. It was declared a success, with one F5 shot down, while destroying a Fury and Devastator and forcing the retreat of another 3 pirate aircraft. The first of the series was the NA-A4. A ground attack version of their upcoming 3 fighter series. The NA-A4, is a fairly nimble aircraft, though it cannot pull the maneuvers that the NA-F5 can (It's fighter sister). However it can carry 1000 pounds of bombs and a quad array of .50 caliber Barrets, along with a pair of .40 calibers also manufactured by Barret. The heavy wing loadout doesn't lend itself to high agility, but is servicable for a ground attack craft. The main criticism is it's low stall speed, which is detrimental for the old standard of ground attack, however the A4's designers envisioned high speed strafing runs, less accurate, but far safer for the aircraft. In addition it is often used as a dive-bomber, with some of the newer factory variants including Dive Brakes. The F5 is virtually identical to the A4 airframe, but is slightly more punchy in the acceleration department. In addition the wings are reinforced, allowing to use this ability in more intensive maneuvers. It is capable of attaining 250MPH, which is slow for a modern fighter, however pilots can easily get the most out of the engine, some skilled pilots, running a constant 300MPH, although this drains the fuel tanks quite rapidly. It has by default four wing-mounted Barret "Bronco" .50 caliber cannons, although for larger orders, NAA will replace them with six .40 caliber guns and a slight armor increase. The F5 is everything a militia wanting an aircraft is....Rugged, dependable(Although tough to work on and expensive), with good weapons, speed and maneuverability in one package. Orders have come in from across the continent, and even the RAF has placed a limited order. North American A4 and F5 diagram.  The final fighter in their development lineup is the NA-F7, a heavy fighter variant of the above aircraft. It mounts the massive firepower of six, .50 caliber Barret "Bronco" cannons, which allow such a high rate of fire, that one extended brust from the .50's can obliderate a smaller fighter. It's six hardpoints give it good long range support(Flak rockets) or close in punch. The F7 is nearly identical to the F5. NAA took the radical (to North America) step of basically slapping two F5's together, creating a dual-hull, dual-cockpit fighter similar to the Yak4. It's twin engines allow for long range, while the twin hull design adds stability in flight. It's use of twin engines however still has not precluded it from the faults of the F5, it still cannot cruise at speeds under 140 MPH easily without possibilities of stalls. This is mainly do to the engines used, but nonetheless haunt around even when the engines are replaced. In addition, although it has two engines, acceleration is somewhat laggy. NAA F7 Diagram  Users: The NAA series is beginning to gain worldwide recognition, Hollywood has bought 24 aircraft of each type for extensive testing, as has the ISA and several states of Dixie. Although the NAA does not officially sell to enemies of Hollywood, it's sales policies are extremely loose, selling to a number of "Questionable" buyers, and NAA craft have been sighted in a number of hands who normally would never be allowed to touch the design. Amazingly enough the RAF has purchased 160 of the F5 fighters and the rights to produce limited numbers of their own. Although the Phantasm remains their front-line combat fighter, it is quite expensive, and it's single role of aircraft interdiction makes it a less viable aircraft for colonies. For example there are 24, F5's stationed in British controlled Burma, operating as fighters, fighter-bombers, and ground attack in equally capable roles. Also, due to their long range, the NAA series is seeing use across the Pacific, with even financially inflexible Hawaii purchasing 12 F7's for long range patrol. A number are seeing conflict in Australia, under both sides banner, and examples are turning up in the pirate bands of the South Pacific, combatting those flown by Kahn Industries(Kahn has purchased 2 squadrons of F5's and 3 of F7's). North American Aviation A-4. Game Statistics: Base Target Number:6 Max Speed:3 Max G’s:2 Acceleration Rate:1 Decelleration Rate:2 Armor Points:250 Nose:50 Port Wing Leading:40 Port Wing Trailing:40 Starboard Wing Leading:40 Starboard Wing Trailing:40 Tail:40 Weapon: 4X.50 Caliber in Positions 5,6,7,8 2X.40 Caliber in Positions 1,4 Rocket Hardpoints: 8 Special Characteristics: Low Stall Speed Superior Engine(-1) Superior Weapons. Premium Range (+50%) Price:$12,752 North American Aviation F5 Game Statistics: Base Target Number:6 Max Speed:3 Max G’s:3 Acceleration Rate:3 Deceleration Rate:2 Armor Points:300 Nose:50 Port Wing Leading:50 Port Wing Trailing:50 Starboard Wing Leading:50 Starboard Wing Trailing:50 Tail:50 Weapons. 4X.50 in Gun Positions 5,6,7,8. Rocket Hardpoints: 6 Special Characteristics: Low Stall Speed. Superior Weapons. Superior Engine (-1) Premium Range (+50%) Price:$13,067 North American Aviation F-7 Game Statistics: Base Target Number:5 Max Speed:3 Max G’s:2 Acceleration Rate:1 Decelleration Rate:2 Armor Points:320 Nose:60 Port Wing Leading:50 Port Wing Trailing:50 Starboard Wing Leading:50 Starboard Wing Trailing:50 Tail:60 Weapon: 6X.50 Calibers in positions 1,4,5,6,7,8. Rocket Hardpoints: 6 Special Characteristics: Low Stall Speed Superior Engine(-1) Superior Weapons. Superior Range (+50%). Price:$13,204 |