Advanced Aircraft are futuristic flying cars and aerospace craft.
Buck Rogers Aircraft[]
| Rocket Cruiser | |||||||||||||
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Roughly 50-feet long, rocket cruisers are fish-shaped armed and armored aircraft typically painted bright primary colors. Despite their steel plate and rivet construction, they weigh only a few hundred pounds because of the anti-gravity material with which they are packed. Unlike the faster hover vehicles on Page 132 of Mutant Future, they don’t have to expend energy to remain aloft. Their performance more closely resembles that of a dirigible than of an airplane. A cruiser’s cannon are mounted in two forward-facing turrets and two rear-facing ones.
From Buck Rogers XXVC, by TSR (1993) (notes by Kevin Scrivner)
Personal Rocket Flier
| Required Crew: | 1 |
| Top Speed: | 70 mph |
| Cargo: | 400 lbs., the equivalent of two passengers or one gunner and one passenger |
| Structural Hit Points: | 30 |
| Alumisteel Armor: | AC 4 |
| Weaponry: | (Optional) One rocket cannon on swivel mount (as Micro-Missile Launcher, Page 121) |
| |} Rocket fliers are 12-15 foot torpedo-shaped craft used for both civilian and military purposes. Armed with a swivel-mounted rocket cannon, they are fighter aircraft often used to complement rocket cruisers. Unarmed they serve as flying taxis or personal vehicles. Like rocket cruisers, they can hover in place or drift with the wind without expending power because of the anti-gravity material packed into their hulls.
From Buck Rogers XXVC, by TSR (1993) (notes by Kevin Scrivner)
Han Airship/Mongol Raider
(see Airships)
Han Flier[]
| Required Crew: | 1 |
| Top Speed: | 20 mph |
| Cargo: | 200 lbs., the pilot acts as his own gunner |
| Structural Hit Points: | 30 |
| Armor: | None. AC 7 based on limited maneuverability |
| Weaponry: | Disintegrator rifle |
The one-man, fish-shaped Han fliers are propelled by smaller versions of the repellor beams that move Mongol airships. They and their disintegrator rifles operate on power broadcast from the mother ship at a range of up to about five miles. They are slow and clumsy compared to both primitive biplanes and rocket fliers.Their sole advantage is the destructiveness of their weaponry. Fliers are most effective when attacking in large swarms. They don’t stand a chance in one-on-one dog fights.
Both from Buck Rogers XXVC, by TSR (1993) (notes by Kevin Scrivner)
Other Aircraft[]
| “Seagull” Jet-Assisted Glider | |||||||||||||
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The Möwe personal gull-winged glider was developed 1,000 years after the “Seven Days of Fire” that destroyed human civilization. Built of lightweight super-strength materials, it has a 19-foot wingspan but weighs only 25 lbs. including the 4.5-foot streamlined central engine body. The pilot grips a pair of U-shaped handles placed atop the engine, essentially doing an extended push-up during flight. The Seagull is typically launched by catapult but can take off from the ground via jet power with very little runway space required. The pilot steers largely by shifting his body weight but there are also airfoil pedals on the upper side of the engine body. It can glide for miles even without engine power. The engine and fuel systems are unknown, since the Seagull has no apparent fuel tank and the engine housing stays cool enough that a (small) passenger can lie atop it during flight without getting burned. Its Armor Class represents both its maneuverability and its sheer physical durability. It is able to survive buffeting and crashes that would tear any 21 century aircraft to shreds.
(Performance stats are based on the real-life version built by the Japanese OpenSky Aircraft Project in 2006. It has a 32-foot wingspan and weighs 110 lbs.The central oval jet body is about 7 feet long)
From Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) (notes by Kevin Scrivner)