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Description
Unmarked Ghurrkan Skyfang Squadron engaging Shirudan fleet elements during the Great War. Text on fuselage reads “Fang”. Text on the missile roughly translates to a Ghurrkan phrase meaning “Theater for the enemy”.

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Ghurrkan skyfang squadrons were the nations desperate attempt to equalize its strength in the air. The basic premise was simple, take a recently-developed Shrike monoplane fighter (an advance in Ghurrkan aeronautics, but only just matching its contemporaries at the time.) and sling a massive, airship-busting rocket underneath.

While the idea was neither original, nor particularly effective- Shirudan Cyclone’s performing the job both better and in a safer manner- it was proof of the nations tenacity and almost fanatical drive to prove itself.

Skyfang squadrons were a nearly suicidal assignment, which was oddly enough taken to with great zeal. Squadrons of light fighters laden down with their payload were- in theory- much smaller and more manueverable targets than the Shirudan equivalent airturrets. However in practice the Cyclones sheer speed proved to be a critical advantage the skyfang squadrons lacked, their prop engines not powerful enough to allow them great speed with their payload, nor the maneuverability expected of them.

Without cloud cover, Skyfang squadrons were easy pickings for flak or escort fighters, the smarter pilots ditching their rocket from outside its effective range in an attempt to fight off interceptors with varying levels of success.

With cloud cover, the squadrons effectiveness increased exponentially, though even then it was still decent at best. Skyfang squadrons- if they remained undetected- would fly directly at their target, the rockets infamous inaccuracy neccesitating it be fired at near-point blank. When a rocket did strike its target, the effect was usually satisfying and destructive, however, this outcome was disastrously rare.

Description
Unmarked Ghurrkan Skyfang Squadron engaging Shirudan fleet elements during the Great War. Text on fuselage reads “Fang”. Text on the missile roughly translates to a Ghurrkan phrase meaning “Theater for the enemy”.

———

Ghurrkan skyfang squadrons were the nations desperate attempt to equalize its strength in the air. The basic premise was simple, take a recently-developed Shrike monoplane fighter (an advance in Ghurrkan aeronautics, but only just matching its contemporaries at the time.) and sling a massive, airship-busting rocket underneath.

While the idea was neither original, nor particularly effective- Shirudan Cyclone’s performing the job both better and in a safer manner- it was proof of the nations tenacity and almost fanatical drive to prove itself.

Skyfang squadrons were a nearly suicidal assignment, which was oddly enough taken to with great zeal. Squadrons of light fighters laden down with their payload were- in theory- much smaller and more manueverable targets than the Shirudan equivalent airturrets. However in practice the Cyclones sheer speed proved to be a critical advantage the skyfang squadrons lacked, their prop engines not powerful enough to allow them great speed with their payload, nor the maneuverability expected of them.

Without cloud cover, Skyfang squadrons were easy pickings for flak or escort fighters, the smarter pilots ditching their rocket from outside its effective range in an attempt to fight off interceptors with varying levels of success.

With cloud cover, the squadrons effectiveness increased exponentially, though even then it was still decent at best. Skyfang squadrons- if they remained undetected- would fly directly at their target, the rockets infamous inaccuracy neccesitating it be fired at near-point blank. When a rocket did strike its target, the effect was usually satisfying and destructive, however, this outcome was disastrously rare.