Four major projects i’ve created, then abandoned for a multitude of reasons. Feel free to use, alter, or experiment with anything below. If you upload a craft that is a successor to any of these crafts, credit would be appreciated.
PROJECT HUMMINGBIRD
The first take on SSTO technology (before jet engines were introduced) Was attempt at an efficient SSTO design. The aircraft costed just under $4M, and was considerably fast and light. Although practical and well built, the project was eventually abandoned due to the introduction of jet engines.
PROJECT SWIFT
After the release of the well known electric supersonic aircraft by Kell Aerospace, The aviation branch of Wagner Aerospace decided to make a similar design to break speed records. The plane was shockingly cheap costing just over $2M. The aircraft held a crew of one but was originally intended to be a remotely controlled aircraft. The flight procedure was to catapult the aircraft off of a piston-powered rail and climb until the craft just about reaches the top of the stratosphere. The aircraft was very successful during tests, but the proof of concept was simply not desirable anymore.
PROJECT STINGRAY
Project stingray was meant to create large, long, and streamlined shuttles, freighters, and SSTOs. The first model of this series was created, and it became apparent that there were going to be build flaws that were not going to work well; especially with people seeking an efficient heavy vehicle to haul cargo in. Things like the wing design, gear door design, and tightly packed components were very advanced and well-established. However, the cargo bay of the ship was too shallow, not allowing for much overhead clearing at all. This deemed the ‘oversize load’ aspect of Project Stingray to be a bit… well.. underwhelming. The aircraft was abandoned before it was even flight-worthy, and Project Stingray was abandoned for similar, but much more successful projects: Project Ray and Project Constellation, specialising in the same field.
PROJECT EAGLE
Oh boy, here come the whopper. The big failure. Bigger than Adam Sandler’s acting career.
The eagle series was created as a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to send astronauts to and from space. Designed to make rocket launches to space stations obsolete, this small SSTO was to be sold at around 1 million dollars a piece, and allowed for a crew of 3. Every component of the craft had a use, and any detachable modification was designed to be fully recovered, unlike most rockets.
Basic flight procedure would be to catapult-launch the craft off of a launching platform, sending it into orbit. Once it is in orbit, it would rendezvous with the space station/ship/etc. The craft could then refuel and de-orbit. Using its wing-deflection angle and RCS to slow its descent to a safe, smooth glide into the water so it can be recovered and reused.
Although a good idea on paper, the concept proved unworthy for flight after revealing multiple catastrophic failures during testing. The aircraft was extremely hard to fly, and easy to lose control of if it lost too much speed. The doomed project was canceled shortly after it was introduced to the public. A list of the problems with the aircraft can be found below:
~Stalling at speeds under 250kph
~Flat Spins at speeds under 200kph
~Wing rotation causing stalls on re-entry
~Wing rotation causing spinouts while gliding
~Wing-stress overload in fast re-entry (orbits over 100km)
~Extreme overheat in re-entry procedure
~Mid-air dissasembly during re-entry (due to multiple factors)
~RCS running out of monopropellant too quickly
Versions of this aircraft:
Wagner Eagle (Had no vertical stabilisers)
Wagner Eagle GV (Used modified engine settings, version posted)
Wagner Eagle GVI (Used a waffle-style vertical stabiliser lineup to fly)
Wagner Eagle GVIN/GAVIN (Eagle GVI with wagon so it can be launched off of runways)
Wagner Eagle ES (Modified Eagle GVI built to fit a smaller, stronger wagon more efficiently)
I was mentioned :D