The Fairchild BQ-3, also known as the Model 79, was an early unmanned combat aerial vehicle – referred to at the time as an "assault drone" – developed by Fairchild Aircraft from the company's AT-21 Gunner advanced trainer during the Second World War for use by the United States Army Air Forces. Two 0.3 in (7.62 mm) Browning machine guns in a power operated dorsal turret One 0.3 in (7.62 mm) Browning trainable machine-gun in the nose Powerplant: 2 × Ranger V-770-11/15 12-cylinder inverted-vee air-cooled piston engine, 520 hp (388 kW) each Many of the AT-21s were then relegated to target-tow duties. The aircraft was withdrawn from service in 1944 and was replaced by training examples of the actual aircraft in which the gunners would eventually serve. This did not work out well, due to poor single-engine performance and multiple landing gear problems. Not deemed suitable for its original purpose, The AT-21 was evaluated as an advanced pilot trainer. The AT-21 proved to be unsuitable for use as a trainer due to vibration and oscillation tendencies as well as an inherent instability caused by the short distance between the rudders and the gull wing resulting in unacceptable yaw even when slight rudder movements were made. Both companies were enlisted to speed production and delivery to training units. The AT-21 had a crew of five, pilot, co-pilot/gunnery instructor and three pupils.įairchild Aircraft Company built one aircraft in Hagerstown and 106 aircraft at their Burlington, North Carolina plant in 19, while Bellanca Aircraft built 39 at New Castle, Delaware, and McDonnell built 30 aircraft at their St. At the end of the testing period, the USAAC ordered the inline version as the AT-21 Gunner, specialized for gunnery training. Both prototypes featured an unusual construction, being built from "Duramold" plastic-bonded plywood. A further refinement to suit the aircraft for bombardier training with the nose gun and turret removed, led to a new designation, the XAT-14A. The second prototype, designated the XAT-14 was similar in layout but was powered by two 520 hp (388 kW) Ranger V-770 inline inverted 12-cylinder vee-type engines. The concept was to have a single type that was able to duplicate the bomber crew positions from piloting, navigation, bomb aiming/dropping to aerial gunnery. The XAT-13 powered by two 450 hp (336 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1340-AN-1 radial engines, emerged as a "scaled down" bomber with a single machine gun in the glazed nose and a top turret with twin machine guns and fitted with tricycle landing gear. The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) laid out a specification for a specialized bomber trainer, ordering two prototypes from Fairchild Aircraft. It had a brief career as a training aircraft before modified bombers took over this role. The game doesn’t do a tremendously good job of informing you what these locked skills are, though, so when your crew levels up, you’ll want to come back and pay special attention to the skills as they do unlock.The Fairchild AT-21 was an American World War II specialized bomber crew trainer, intended to train crews in the use of power gun turrets or a gun on a flexible mount, as well as learn to function as a member of a crew. Instead, it’s where you check out any skills they might have learned and see when they unlock their secondary skills. The Training section is a bit of a misnomer, since you can’t actually engage in additional activities to train your crew. Parachutes are vital in case you have to order everyone to jump, but it’s good to equip your engineer with one anyway, so you can be sure he or she doesn’t die if there’s an accident while on the wing and they get blown off. They not only boost your plane’s armor they give you a place to store parachutes too. However, it’s a good idea to install equipment racks as well. Better extinguishing systems are an absolute must, along with efficient turrets (though those can come later unless you are having a tough time in early air fights).
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