De Haviland Trireme

Recent experiences in Ontario and other non-european theaters have taught the british that a plane needs more than performance in order to fight. It also needs guns. The Trireme is an attempt to create a plane that utilizes the superior british engine technology, but that still has a punch comparative to typical american designs.

The Trireme is a very radical departure from the usual british designs, but it still is very british, and has many carryovers. Most of these are not obvious to the untrained eye.

The pusher design and gun configuration is the most obvious exemptions. These are interdependent. The wing guns are typical; 30 and 40 caliber Lewis machine-guns mounted in pairs. But the pusher design allows for centerline mounted weapons, and this has been exploited with one 60 caliber Vickers auto-cannon.

The engine is one of the new Bristol Hercules engines. It is quite heavy, but manages to produce an impressive 1.912 horsepower. It is still somewhat new, and requires a lot of maintenance and spare parts. It is likely that these requirements can be reduced over time.

The name comes from the distinctive "prow" design of the nose. This is not only a decoration; it actually an advanced bombing sight that accounts for the Trireme's good bombing accuracy. Trireme pilots affectionately call each other "rammers", and the order for a bombing run is usually "ramming speed".

Inexperience with pusher designs has led to one of the Trireme's few faults; the landing struts are overlong, and sometimes break on landing. The lower rear fin has been reinforced to protect the engine, and the plane is robust enough to be repairable, but many mechanics say it would have been better to fix the fault than to minimize it's effect.

The Trireme is a very modern craft, only entering he market late in '37, but it is nevertheless already a common pirate craft. Like Columbia, the Commonwealth claims that neutrality prevents them from being selective about foreign purchases; the Trireme is available to anyone who can pay up. As ISA and Hollywood have both been refused sales of the Griffin engine, such excuses ring hollow in american ears these days. The consensus in the ISA is that the Commonwealth is trying to destabilize the American continent to get back at her old colonies.

Modeling

Built out of a one Zero. The wings were turned around, the fin cut away and new fins added to the rear of the cockpit. The rest is paint. The original model is from games collection, Milano, Italy.

	Base Complexity		17
	Accurate Bomber		+1
	Poor Landing Gear		-1
	Maintenance Heavy		-1
	High Flight Ceiling		+1
	Superior Engine		+1
	Total		18
	Cost	$10.200

Included here is l as a list of the relevant Special Characteristics of the plane, a design complexity, and a price calculated from these values.