Re: Creeplings and Toys!

From: Ed Rudnicki <erudnick_at_pica.army.mil>
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 95 18:31:49 EDT

>>P.P.S. In "strikes mulitor" How can the SK go up into space or that thin
>>of air? Jets can't do that. Rockets? (Hey! It's a cartoon.)
>
>Jets reach their "service ceiling" when the air is too thin to provide the needed
>lift over the wings. Turbokat operating above it's normal ceiling becomes
>essentially a winged missile - the "wings" just act as stabilizers, but really
>provide no "lift", as in run-of-the-mill missiles and rockets in general.
>The "shield" that envelops the canopy is supposed to protect the occupants
>from becoming Kentucky-fried Kat upon re-entry - a task done by the
>famous "heat-shield tiles" on the Space Shuttle.

A hybrid rocket-jet is quite feasible, even for us lowly humans, but
would require volume to store oxidizer. Then again, the Turbokat
already holds a lot more than its exterior envelope would let one
believe :)

At an altitude where the wings do not provide lift there is also not
enough airflow over the surfaces to provide stabilization either;
some sort of reaction jet system would be needed. The Turbokat,
being a VTOL aircraft, undoubtedly already has these, though they're
not shown in use. I base this on the fact that the Harrier has such
a system.


>Other than that, "cartoon physics" is an oxymoron...

Actually cartoon physics are very real. They just bear very little
resemblance to real-world physics :)





Ed Rudnicki
erudnick_at_pica.army.mil
Oculis numquam claudentibus

Received on Mon Oct 16 1995 - 18:46:20 PDT