The thrilling Trislander!

[CiTrus90]

At first I was going to make a gunshipped-up version of the Shaanxy Y-9, but then casually looking around on the net...there it was, love at first sight: the Britten-Norman Trislander

Exceptional low speed handling characteristics, extended endurance, increased payload, low noise signature and economical operating costs. A spartan look with that fixed tricycle landing gear, yet unusual and captivating with that third engine up on the tail.

It had to happen






Apparently the only military operator for this aircraft was the Botswana Defence Force Air Wing, so...what if they tried to adapt one example to the gunship role, mounting two 20mm M61 gatling cannons and a single 30mm M230 autocannon?



Regards.

[Weaver]

Nice one!  :)

I've though about the Islander/Trilander a lot for the light gunship role since it has all those handy side doors. One problem is that the engine and main gear block the most useful positions, but the Trilander gets around that by having a longer forward fuselage so you can get some guns in behind the pilot.

Another thought I had was to get the Airfix Islander and move the engines into a push/pull configuration on the tail in the same way as the Trilander, or even replace them with one PT6-A turboprop. The intention was to use it for the survellance role with all-clear doors, but it would work just as well as a gunship. Sadly Airfix Islanders go for silly money these days...

[GTX_Admin]

 :)

[KiwiZac]

Oh yes, this looks fun! I can't stand the Trislander IRL but this is a neat project.