Airco (de Havilland) DH.2

The DH.2 was a pusher biplane. Since the interrupter gear had yet to be designed, a propeller-to-the-rear fighter was considered essential. In this way, the pilot was provided with an uninterrupted field of fire. Initial designs had pintles to the right and left, and the pilot was expected to use whichever mount was better. Changing then gun mount, as well as changing the ammunitions drums, while also flying the plane in combat proved to be quite the challenge. Eventually, a single central pintle was mounted. The gun was still allowed to swivel, but many pilots discovered that locking the weapon straight forward and aiming with the plane was the ideal tactic. Despite its fragile appearance, the DH.2 fared well against the Fokker Scourge of monoplanes, especially during the first Battle of the Somme in 1916. Like many fighters of the day, its supremacy lasted mere months, and was obsolete by late 1916.

The plane has an endurance of 2 hours and 45 minutes. It burns 3.7 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel and ammo costs $6.98.

Airco DH.2

Subassemblies: Recon Fighter chassis +1; Recon Fighter wings with Biplane option +2; 2 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 74.6-kW HP gasoline engine with 74.6-kW old prop and 22.4-gallon fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 1 XCS Body

Cargo: 0 Body

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 2/2W 2/2W 2/2W 2/2W 2/2W

Wings: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Weaponry:

Aircraft LMG/.303 Lewis [Body:F] (250 rounds).

Statistics:

Size: 25'x28'x9.5' Payload: 0.25 tons Lwt.: 0.72 tons

Volume: 96 Maint.: 136 hours Cost: $2,157

HT: 6 HPs: 8 Body, 50 each Wing, 3 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 93 aAccel: 3 aDecel: 25 aMR: 6 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 33 mph. Take-Off Run: 136 yards. Landing Run: 109 yards.

gSpeed: 163 gAccel: 8 gDecel: 10 gMR: 1.25 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: High. 1/6 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 249 sf. The weight, cost, HPs, Surface Area and Size Modifier of the chassis were halved to reflect the open-frame structure of the historical craft. Design payload was 358 lbs; the historical value has been substituted. Design aSpeed was 92 mph. Design weight was increased 11 lbs. to the historical. Performance calculations were based on historical values for wing area and loaded weight. Using the calculated gSpeed at 1/6 Off-Road speed (27 mph) gSpeed is still 81% of stall speed, so the plane could therefore potentially get airborne in a bumpy field, at the GM's discretion.

Variants:

The DH.1 (1915) was a two-seat reconnaissance version, powered by a 52-kW engine. The DH.1A had an 89-kW engine. A combined total of 100 were built.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS

© 2008 by Jim Antonicic