Additional Proposal:
Free Action 1: Engineering Reorganization
New Team out of one skilled engineer (from aero), three basic materials engineers (from special projects) and the three new unskilled engineers; the Materials Team.
How are you coming along on that spreadsheet, if you're still doing it of course?
Slowly, mostly because I need to reverse-engineer the batch numbers etc. However, even if I have errors in there, correcting them should be easy. I'm currently doing 1934/1.
Also, Pi, we've got a coastal patrol boat too. Granted, it is small and mostly made of wood.
True, but it's not a REAL SHIP :-P
It's good for coastal defense, but if we have to deal with a blockade, we've got a problem.
I'd vote for the Hawk but it's under armed, over weight and has a single unfinished weapon.
I'll grant you the unfinished weapons, but why is it underarmed and overweight?
Comparing it to the Tornado, it has a single 20mm cannon compared to six 7.62mm machine guns. Even the wartime US fighters, which - arguably - had been obsessed with machine guns, mounted something like six 12.7mm machine guns in their fighters (p.ex. the P-40). I believe the M-1 machine gun is simply too weak to be useful in air to air combat against even lightly armoured fighters - compare the armament of the P-40C which - with two 12.7mm guns and two 7.7mm guns - was considerd too lightly armed. If you are concerned about the light armament, I propose using two 20mm guns.
So, let me use this to introduce a design variant on the Hawk, which I actually prefer:
All-metal, enclosed cockpit monoplane.
Cockpit and engine armoured, with self-sealing fuel tanks and a bullet-proof windscreen. The two cannons are mounted in the body, coupled to the propeller via interrupter gears. The plane uses a radio.
Crew: 1
Length: 8.7m
Wingspan: 11.4m
Height: 2.6m
Max. Takeoff Weight: 3000kg
Powerplant: AEM1933 "Hurricane" aircraft engine
Armament: 2x 20mm cannon (C-20mm-35/L Dagger)
Target values:
Range: 1000km
Cruise Speed: 430km/h
Sure, it won't be as fast or as manoeuvrable compared to the version without armour - but it'll hit hard, take a beating and should let the pilot survive. Plus, as the US experience in the pacific theatre has shown, the right tactics beat a flimsy, manoeuvrable plane.
My votes:
Construction:
C2, C3Design:
D3.2.1: Hawk fighter Variant B (Two 20mm cannon, new gun)D5: Dartfish destroyer, equipped with 5 single HiLos, 10 single 40mm cannon, 10 single 20mm cannon, space for anti-sub rockets. Also hydrophones, extra space for those, all setup for easy upgrades, using new engineD7: Watermill Engine (personally, I suggest looking at the AEM M1932)Free Actions:
F1: Engineering Reorganization