Corsair Bomber

**The Corsair Bomber** is a large aircraft used throughout the Astartes Legions during the Great Crusade, Five Ruins and continues it's service today. With it's large airframe it could fit a number of munitions on board that allowed it to fit many mission profiles. Mainly used as an in-atmosphere bomber it could be outfitted with several anti-ship torpedoes for void warfare, and had several gun emplacements to ward off attacks from smaller craft. Along with the impressive armament the Corsair boasted a Iota-Nominal Plasma Reactor normally used in Warlord-Class Titans, providing an incredible amount of thrust and maneuvering capability both in and out of atmosphere. Throughout it's service life it has proven to be a reliable and deadly asset to Astartes commanders, levelling entire armies or even making titan kills against xenos (And later traitor) warmachines.

## **History**

During the early years of the Emperor's Great Crusade, the Corsair saw its use amongst the fledgling legions in multiple theatres against many threats. Xenos strongholds unassailable from the ground had their shields buckled and their defences broken by the various munitions wielded by the Corsair and it's pilots. While a dangerous card to have in any commander's deck they were of an ancient design, even by the Crusade's beginning, and were complex beasts. Multiple instances of machine-spirits rebelling against new pilots made the achievement of bonding with one a rare occurrence, and in such cases, rewarded with a loyal machine that could fly into the mouth of the warp and back.

Many sub-variants of the corsair began to pop up as each legion also modified them to their particular style of warfare, these ranging from extensive stealth systems to the incorporation of void shielding or even taking out the bomb bay all together for the ability to carry assault troops to be dropped or even teleported behind enemy lines.

During the later years of the Crusade and at the beginning of the Ruins, the craft had declined in use, partly to the invention of smaller and cheaper craft to fill it's role as well as the picky nature of the Machine Spirit itself. Those that remained in service still proved to be valuable assets, with some elements of the Fire Keepers modifying their Corsair's with heavy-duty armour plating and extra anti-air turrets, forgoing the advantage of speed to turn it into a mobile air-fortress that saw them through the Ruins.

Still in use to this day they are still a rare sight on the battlefield due to the high requirements of the machine spirit and the maintenance that is needed to keep it operational, but when it is used it is sure to turn the tide of any battle.

## **Design**

Contrary to a lot of Astartes vehicles and their blocky design the Corsair uses one of the simplest shapes humanity has taken advantage of since the stone age, the arrowhead. A stocky central body smoothly sweeps into to long, elongated wings and a pointed nose, with various control surfaces along their edges. These smooth lines eventually leading into a stocky and powerful engine at the rear. Due to the large nature of the Corsair and it's design it cannot take off vertically, and either must use a runway or be launcher from magnetic rails from a ship. Although as an alternative it can be mounted external to the ship itself and use retro-thrusters to move away before engaging it's main drive.

### **Armament**

* 2 internal bomb bays situated in the belly of the craft, allowing for ordnance up to a maximum limit of 68,000kg's (150,000lbs) with the standard configurations detailed below:
	+ 4x Anti-ship Torpedoes
	+ 24x (3000kg/6600lb) Apocalypse Missiles mounted in rotary launchery assemblies
	+ 36x (1800kg/4000lb) Large Guided Plasma/Melta Bombs mounted on large bomb rack assemblies
	+ 144x (450kg/1000lb) High Explosive/Incendiary Bombs mounted on bomb rack assemblies

### **Control Systems**

The cockpit houses the 5 main operating stations of the bomber, with the Pilot and Co-Pilot's position taking up the majority of the room. These two consoles are redundant with the entire craft being able to be controlled from either in the event one is damaged. Both stations are replete with large MUI interfaces, feeding sensory input from the various outstations and any allied forces to allow for a full battle-picture of the local airspace.

The Bombardiers position is supported by a slaved servitor monitoring conditions in the local area such as weather and helping calculate bombimb solutions. This station allows for a set amount of munitions to be dropped in controlled waves as well as inputting targeting solutions for enemies below; whether general, or being used in conjunction with ground-based targeting devices.

The Defensive Systems Operator is in charge of the local airspace around the aircraft, taking in data from radar and visual inputs and designating any engagement parameters for the defensive turret systems. He is also in charge of programming electronic countermeasuresdepending on the enemy present in the strategic area. As a secondary job role they are also in charge of communications, passing orders from HQ or bombing coordinates from allied ground forces.

As the overseer of the whole operation, a Techmarine will be present to monitor the ship itself and help with any emergency repairs needed. Their main task is to oversee the safe operation of the Corsair's plasma reactor, maintaining it so that the aircraft can reach it's target and get the job done.

### **Defensive Systems**

Through various combined method of armouring, the Corsair manages to maintain a fair balance between armour and manoeuvrability that is distinct of Astartes craft. An Adamantium airframe is covered in dense layers of Armaplas plates interlaces with a Thermoplas fibre mesh before finally being covered in a mixture of Ceramite plating with more moulded thermoplas to strengthen the bonds between the different layers. The combination of these methods means any projectile may defeat one type of armour but struggle or fail all together against the others in the layered composition.

Countermeasures, both electronic and non are placed around the craft, with several inset banks containing flares or basic electronicdecoys can be activated individually. The electronic decoys can be pre-programmed for a variety of enemy munitions and should be changed according to those enemies present.

The main defensive system available to the Corsair is the 4 close-in weapon systems (CIWS) to defend itself from any hostile engaging it. These four turrets are mounted at various positions around the aircraft; with one on the top of each wingtip, one under the nose and the final turret mounted ontop to allow for full coverage of the airspace around the bomber. Each turret consists of twin-linked Hydra Long-Barrel autocannons which are belt-fed from magazines deep within and controlled by individual weapons servitors slaved to the console within the cockpit.

### **Engines**

With a sizable Iota-Nominal plasma reactor powering the Phanta-XII Rocket engine the Corsair can output enough power to be able to move a small starship given a couple hours. Even with the Corsair as heavily armed and wieghty as it is, it can easily maintain speeds of Mach 1.45 and can be pushed to Mach 1.6 when used in conjunction with the secondary ramjet engines in atmosphere. Smaller manoeuvring thrusters have nozzles placed around the craft and are used to aide in evasion tactics or for making delicate manoeuvres in the void through short bursts from the plasma reactor. The reactor can also reliably allow the aircraft to reach any destination on a given planet, only limited by the need to land occasionally to bleed off excess reactor heat and recharge it's coolant systems.

## **Legion-Specific Patterns**

### **'Strato-Keep' Aerial Fortress**

Known for their proficiency in siege warfare the Fire Keepers saw the Corsair as a chance to take that methodology to the skies themselves. Boasting increased defensive capability in both armour and defensive weapons it sports a salvo of devestating graviton warheads capable of levelling mountain ranges.

### **'Deliverance' Deep-Strike Platform**

The Red Eyes, like many of their tactics after being reunited with their liege lord, saw the adoption and subsequent alteration of the Corsair bomber into their armouries. Developed to enhance the speed, accuracy and lethality of precision strikes, the bomber had been altered so much that it is technically no longer a bomber. Instead functioning as a deployment platform and command vehicle.

### **'Ironhawk' Close Support Bomber**

Following the rapid assault doctrine of their Keld.abe ancestors to a tee, the Shadow Warriors converted the Corsair into a terrifying rapid insertion bomber, taking advantage of the size and manoeuvrability of the chassis to it's fullest effect.

## **Famous Wars and Battles**

***Altai II Campaign*** - Under the Godslayers

***The Salvation of Scythae*** - Under the Halcyon Wardens

***The Ark Reach*** - Under the Halcyon Wardens

## **Notable Corsair Bombers**

* ***Král' Neba*** - Of the Godslayers 3rd Brotherhood
* ***Regulus Prior*** - Of the Halcyon Wardens Order of the Shield
* ***Daecomasika*** - Of the Halcyon Wardens Order of the Shield