|
|
|
 Fluff Library - Inquisitorial Archivist D'hain +++Thought for the day+++ |
 |
Imperial Airpower
by Andy Chambers (White Dwarf 187)As man tumbled down from the highest peak of his civilisation into the barbarity and darkness of the Age of Strife, the secret of flight was almost completely forgotten. The mighty air armadas of the Warlords on ancient Earth drove each other from the skies, and even the victors became earthbound for want of precious fuel.
The skies were empty for over a millennium while the Warlords continued to war against each other. Finally, the Emperor arose to lead Mankind out of barbarity in the Great Crusade. This was as much a quest for knowledge as a reunification of the scattered fragments of mankind's old confederation and the secret of flight was re-discovered. The Tech-Adepts of Mars had guarded their hidden stores of knowledge well during the Age of Strife, and as the Emperor's forces spread across the galaxy they were overshadowed by the wings of Imperial aircraft.
Aircraft are a potent fighting arm on the battlefield. They can bomb and strafe ill-prepared defenders almost with impunity, diving down to strike at them like a bolt of lightning. Roving squadrons of fighter-bombers are able to move quickly to attack enemy breakthroughs or silence artillery behind the foe's front line, as well as directly supporting attacks by ground forces. Fighters are also supremely useful for intercepting enemy flyers and keeping them away from vulnerable positions by engaging them in dogfights. However, aircraft invariably sacrifice protection for speed and most flyers are lightly armoured in comparison to battle tanks. Combat pilots have to be wary about taking too much incoming fire, or their fine craft can quickly turn into a flaming, earth-bound coffin.
Within the Imperium there is no single air force. Instead, each fighting arm maintains a number of its own flying machines for the support of its own armies. The Imperial Navy undoubtedly has the largest number of fighters and bombers at its command, and they play a vital role in space battles as well as planetary invasions. The Adeptus Mechanicus' well- supplied Tech-Guard regiments normally have a large number of aircraft at their disposal. The presence of aircraft to support Imperial Guard regiments is largely dependent on the individual commanders - some maintain regimental squadrons while others eschew them in favour of plentiful anti-aircraft guns and more men.
The Space Marines of the Adeptus Astartes use aircraft to protect their Thunderhawk Gunships and to soften up landing zones and spearhead their lightning assaults. These aircraft squadrons usually operate from orbiting Imperial battle barges and are configured to fight in the vacuum of space as well as within planetary atmospheres.
The Thunderbolt fighter has served the Imperium faithfully for over ten millennia. Squadrons of these blunt, heavy aircraft fought over the Imperial Palace in the Horus Heresy and they continue to do battle in the skies over a thousand different worlds throughout the Imperium to this day. The versatility of the Thunderbolt's design has kept it in service with the Imperial Guard, Space Marine Chapters, the Adeptus Mechanicus' Tech-Guard and the Imperial Navy with only minor modifications for the myriad of different environments it has fought in.
The Thunderbolt is well armed with autocannon and rockets for ground-attack and air-to-air combat, but it is this craft's remarkable durability which has always endeared it to its pilots. The plane itself is powered by two reliable plasma ramjets and its wings and fuselage are comparatively wellarmoured with armourplas and ceramite plates.
During the bitter campaigns after the Horus Heresy as the Imperium fought to cleanse itself of the taint of Chaos, the shortcomings of the Thunderbolt became evident. Though the Thunderbolt excelled as an all-purpose machine for close support and dogfighting, it lacked the heavy weaponry to shatter heavy tanks and Titans. The short range of the Thunderbolt's rockets and guns also meant that it had to dive into the heart of the enemy to deliver its strike and this often proved to be a one-way trip for inexperienced pilots.
Various alternative weapon fits were tried on the Thunderbolt airframe to overcome these problems, but none were very successful. It seemed that the Thunderbolt was too well balanced for its standard armament to change it without serious affecting the whole plane. Eventually, newly discovered knowledge enabled the Tech-priests to modify an obsolete STC (Standard Template Construct) fuselage and wing into a lethal new craft - the Marauder fighter-bomber.
The Marauder fighter-bomber is a much heavier plane than the Thunderbolt but its quad ramjets mean it is just as fast when it needs to be. The Marauder is designed for making slower attack passes than the fighters, picking off targets with its longer ranged weaponry. To deal with tanks, the Marauder carries a stripped-down battle cannon as its main armament, and this massive weapon occupies most of the forward fuselage area. The Marauder also carries missile racks slung under its wings, and a lascannon mounted in a turret.
