Nosferatu Jet Bomber

*"I am vengeance! I am the night! I am your death from above!"*

-Nosferatu broadcast to enemy ground positions
## Tactical Analysis

**The Night Flyer**: An efficiently priced T3 'first strike' plane, the Nosferatu uses a versatile sweep-wing configuration that gives it great speed but a horrendous turn radius when initially attacking, allowing it to quickly dive in to unload its payload. Once out of ammunition, it slows down but also becomes more maneuverable, or can jet back to base at top speed with its autopilot.

**The Midnight Bomber**: The 'Avian' missiles carried by the Nosferatu are a far cry from most Combine rockets: each one packs a high-impact focused punch, and are pigeon-guided to their targets no matter how fast or far away. They are deadly against any unit on the ground, though are markedly ineffective against buildings.

**The Fire Magnet**: A Nosferatu is a high priority target for any enemy, and is best used against isolated units in the field where it can avoid retaliation fire in its slower form. It is also notably unarmed once it has used all its missiles, and has no natural defense against enemy aircraft.

**The Bat out of Hell**: Heroic Nosferatu are upgraded to the Me 261 3Tb, most notable for incorporating a 30mm autocannon under the main body. When out of missiles, it provides a lesser but constant weapon that can be used even in its slower configuration against forces on the ground.

## Background

As ubiquitous and relatively widespread around the world as they now are, it may surprise some to hear that the jet-propelled plane is still a young invention in terms of overall history. But the first jet planes were first entered into active service less than twenty two years ago, and while around the world Allied schoolchildren can see them in museums there are still pilots who remember flying one of the first jet fighters ever to see active service: the Maier 261-A Vampir. When it was first unveiled in 1949 it was a marvelous design, developed in almost complete secrecy by Germany in preparation for another war and only revealed due to the introduction of the Nimbus Mk. V jet plane by the British a few weeks earlier. And while contention over the first 'true' jet fighter remains a topic of conversation over European nationalists in coffee shops, no one could disagree that both fighters proved their worth against the invading Soviets in the heady early days of World War 2. With its state of the art Jumal turbojet engines the Vampir could easily streak past slower Soviet MiG-3s at low altitudes or decimate wings of YaKs with its four 30mm autocannons and in later variants two AA missiles. From 1949 to 1952 it remained one of the premier air superiority craft available to both sides, only dethroned when the Soviets revealed their own MiG-9 later in the year.

As World War 2 entered into its later years however, newer planes and more advanced designs were rushed into service and the Vampir started to show its age. While it could still hold its weight against MiG-9s, the Soviet jets could be built faster than the Allies could down them, and even a group of two or three together could take down a Vampir with ease. Furthermore, increased Soviet air presence and FlaK turrets meant that fewer and fewer 261s could get through to hit their targets, and even less would make the return trip back to base. And as top speeds of aircraft increased, the Vampir found itself needing to strain the engines for more power, which had the negative side effect of often catchig them on fire when trying to shut them down. Though a strong early contender, the Vampir's were starting to lose potency. As the war shifted, their roles would be taken over by newer and more specialized craft, such as the even faster Cutlass Ramjet and the infamous VTOL Hawker. After the war, though some remained in the hands of the German Reservist Air Force, the Vampir was officially discontinued as an in-service aircraft.

Though the craft design itself was becoming outdated and close to retirement, plans had been made to update the Vampir in 1954, less than a year before the official end of World War 2. Development cut short by the end of the war and the introduction of other craft across the countries of the Allied Nations, the Ma 261 3A Nosferatu was a theoretically excellent design never put into practice. Numerous modifications were put into place to increase the top speed, acceleration, armor protection, and maneuverability of the plane, and the autocannons were removed in favor of a system of Rattler-2 missiles. Most different of all were the wings: the Nosferatu was to have incorporated a bleeding-edge variable-sweep wing system, one that could be adjusted in order to let the airplane fly at blistering speeds when needing to punch past enemy air installations and slower more maneuverable configurations for dog-fighting or tracking. The engines underneath were placed on swivel mounts to allow them to adjust for the sweep of the wings as needed, being able to work independently or sync up to provide a single brilliant trail of exhaust across the sky. But in the aftermath of the war, budgets were shifted over to reconstruction and other post-war projects, and the Nosferatu was quietly shelved with naught but blueprints, mock-ups, and a single test plane in a convenient warehouse.

The United Technate and Columbia Future Society may not have liked jet planes, seeing them as much as a symbol of everything that had been wrong with WW2, but in the immediate years following their unification it became clear that they needed to get with the times to control their airspace. One senior engineer who had belonged to the Society and who had worked on the Vampir remembered the Nosferatu, and at one point in 1962 quietly suggested they obtain the design to the Aircraft Overcouncil in order to have at least one craft capable of providing interceptor duty should the Americans, Uruguay, Columbia, or Argentina decide to invade or initiate a fight. Reluctantly agreed as necessary for the survival of the Technate, the Aircraft Overcouncil made their case before the Guard Overcouncil to procure such designs, and said Overcouncil took the request to the High Council, then from there to the Future Society. And while the United Technate could not openly request the plans to a jet fighter, no matter how obsolete from the Allies without arousing suspicion, individual members of the Future Society were able to discreetly call in certain favors to directly buy the rights to production under the table.

The modern Ma 261 3-T Nosferatu stunned the Allies and other countries of South America when it was released in 1965, and continues to serve with distinction in the ranks of the Humanitarian Guard's aircraft division four years later. Updated with titanium composites and improved versions of the old engines, it is capable of shrugging off hits that would have torn through its ancestor years earlier. The Rattler missiles were replaced with the results of the Technate's own Project Feather Dance, trained pigeons fit inside rockets that manually steer their projectiles towards enemy targets before ejecting and flying back to their handler 'planes'. Though it lacks the autocannons necessary to operate as a fighter jet, the Nosferatu serves instead as an extremely fast 'first strike' plane, locking onto isolated heavy ground targets and unloading rocket after rocket into them before flying back to base before reinforcements arrive to claim the area. For these ends, Nosferatu are often equipped with IR detection and searchlights for night fighting, where it is harder for often radar-less guerrillas or cultists to see and target them before they strike. Even their pilots often 'get into character' when running missions, taunting their 'prey' without caring if they reveal their positions before swooping in for the kill.