This unique aircraft is the high speed transportation of my GD2K MUSH character, Zap Osborne. While his other plane, the "Amber Eyes," is meant for his business of transporting people and goods to exotic places across the world, this plane is meant for his darker more shadowed side, his part time occupation as a treasure hunter and tomb raider. For this barely legal side occupation this plane is perfect: small, agile, deadly. The "Blue-Blooded Beauty" does have it's many short comings. It has a very short range, very little cargo space (what you can carry in your lap), and it's very powerplant is dangerous.
Even though it's Walter 509A-2 rocket motor once gave this plane the all time air-speed record, it has been proven to be truly lethal and killed more of it's own pilots than enemy bullets. The "Blue-Blooded Beauty" is a Messerschmitt 163 Komet rocket interceptor, perhaps the most scientifically advanced plane to enter combat in World War II. The technology was so radical that the Allies never even dared to touch it. The plane uses two fuels to propell itself, T-stoff and C-stoff, which are Hydrogen Peroxide and either Methanol or Hydrazine, respectively. These two liquids explode on contact sending 3,748 pounds of thrust out of the back of the airplane. The ME-163 is fast, manuverable, and can climb quickly. Even though Zap Osborne hates risking his aircraft in combat, when it comes to protecting a claim it is this plane that does the job. With two 30mm cannons and 24 attack rockets each capable of bringing down a B-17, this plane is a hell of a force to be reckoned with.
Because of this plane's short range of under 300 miles Zap will not use it for travel. Instead he'll have it loaded into the bowels of a rented cargo ship or aircraft, and launch this plane when he is near to his target goal. This may not seem praticical, but this small plane has proven to be well suited to it's job of streaking in and out of a dig site, ahead of Zap's rivals, and has gotten him out of the occasional scrape with mercenaries and border patrols.
The story behind the "Blue-Blooded Beauty" is the fulfillment of a boyhood dream. When Zap was young he loved to hear the old war stories of the surviving American veterans. They are what caused him to become a pilot for the U.S. Navy. One story he paticularly found interesting was one from and old B-17G waist gunner who flew missions over Germany in 1944. The gunner told Zap about a German super-weapon, a plane so fast that not even the famous P-51 Mustang had a chance at catching it. He said that this "Komet" took a great toll on their bombers during the mission, and that it scared him to death.
Zap, having been always intrigued by this tale, went out to hunt for this radical plane after he retired from the Navy. Having aquired his first plane, a Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon from a local retired freight hauler, he began to haul cargo for people to make money. In turn he used this money to help him search for and buy his first treasure, a Messerschmitt 163 "Komet," the plane that the WWII waist gunner had told him about. He finally found and bought a ME-163's airframe from a rich old British land owner, who used the gutted plane as a lawn ornament. He aquired the engine and other parts from several specialty part makers, collectors, and museums from around the world until he had put together a working flyable plane.
When he finally completed it is old squadren buddies urged him not to fly the bizarre plane, reminding him how many German pilots died a fiery death from the two rocket fuels accidentally mixing. Determined to live his dream, Zap disreguarded their warnings and succussfully flew his plane over his air strip on the Hawaiian islands, and then preceded to buzz the swimmers on Waikiki beach. Over time Zap has done modifications to this plane to increase both its engine efficiency and its fuel carrying capacity, increasing it's range to just under 300 miles. He also added a perminent retractable landing gear so that he wouldn't have to risk dangerous belly landings.
He named his Komet airplane after one of his favorite cartoon characters from when he was a kid, Duchess from The Aristocats. The reason why he did this was to give him something calming and non-threatening to look at to keep his mind off of the harrowing fact that he was flying an explosive flying bomb! Once, some years ago, when he had a large debt with a very dangerous loan shark he used this plane to smuggle illegal guns across the U.S. border to get the much needed cash- something he vows never to do again because of the risk of getting his planes confiscated, and himself thrown in prision.
Type: Short Range Target Interceptor
Powerplant: One 1,667 kN 3,748 lb. thrust Walter 509A-2 rocket motor
Wingspan: 30.6 ft
Length: 18.6 ft
Height: 9.0 ft
Weight: 4,191 lbs.
Maximum Speed: 596 mph at 32,800 ft.
Climb: 16,400 ft/min
Ceiling 54,000 ft
Range: 300 miles (stock 50 miles)
Armament: Two 30mm MK 108 cannons, 60 rounds each, 24 rockets underwing
This drawing was made on 80lb. Strathmore medium surface drawing paper. I used 2HB and 5H leads in a .05mm mechanical pencil for the pencil work. The pencil drawing was then scanned, cleaned up, and shadowed in Paint Shop Pro 3. The print out was colored with Crayola colored pencils. The main ink work was done with a black 08 Pigma Micron. Finer ink lines were done with a Pilot V Ball Extra Fine pen. The coloered drawing was then scanned back into the computer. The lettering and an earlier drawing of Duchess were added in with Paint Shop Pro 7.02.
All text and original multimedia is © 2001 Daniel Keller. All other information is copyrighted by their respective owners.