DP-15 Marauder

The DP-15 Marauder was a fighter-bomber developed by the Royal Isles during the early 1940s. The type was one of the most advanced fighters upon its release in 1941 being just as capable as some fighters serving 4 years later. While extremely successful during the Second Battle of the Royal Isles (also known as the Fall of the Royal Isles), there weren't enough produced to create a meaningful difference. Blueprints, engineers and designers were fled from the Royal Isles to Terra Australis and elements from the DP-15 appeared in the Australite Cassowary fighter. Captured DP-15s helped influence later Bavarian and Ikanese designs.

Name and Designation
The 'DP' designation was given to all Royal Isles aircraft in service with the RIAF (Royal Isles Air Force) beginning in 1939. DP stood for 'Defendere Pacem' or Defending Peace in Islish. A common misconception is that DP meant 'Defence Pursuit'.

Design and Development
As the war turned to the Coalition Powers’ favour by the early 1940’s, the need for a capable attack aircraft was recognised in order to challenge ground forces if an invasion of the Royal Isles should occur. Subsequently, a design was drafted for a rugged, high performance aircraft that carried four 20mm cannons and was capable of harassing enemy troops, supply vehicles and armour. The DP-11 Tornado that was in development at the time seemed to be a fine aircraft for the required specifications, but shortly after its first flight in February of 1940 the availability of the highly advanced Rapier H-24 engine fell into dramatic decline as the Bavarian war machine tightened it’s grip on the shipping lanes, squeezing the Royal Isles dry of resources.

As such, alternative power-plants were considered. The much sought after Falcon engine was equally unavailable due to its consumption in the manufacturing of the exceptionally valuable DP-9 Trojan and DP-7 Valiant, and it seemed no other inline engines would be available in time. The prospect of adapting the fledgling Tornado’s airframe to mount a radial engine was considered. The venerable and reliable 14 cylinder Hercules engine was, at the time, available in abundance due to the as of yet undamaged industrial capacity of the Southern Isles. Durham Aircraft quickly set about the acquisition and testing of the Hercules in the prototype airframe of the Tornado. Early testing was marred by a number of problems. In order to mount the vast engine, the nose of the aircraft was entirely reworked, obstructing the pilot’s visibility and upsetting the aerodynamics of the aircraft considerably. Furthermore, the four bladed propeller mounted to the Hercules produced tremendous torque, especially at lower speeds during take-off and landing, making both manoeuvres very hazardous. The design was brought back to the drawing board.

By early 1941, a reworked prototype featuring a number of considerable modifications was tested. The tail of the original Tornado had been bisected into a twin-tail design with very prominent rudder control, enormously mitigating the yawing of the aircraft as a consequence of torque from the engine. The Fuselage had been almost completely redesigned so as to accommodate a much higher seating position, affording the pilot greater visibility. One of the most striking changes was the addition of an additional Hercules engine in the nose, with both engines sharing a common gearbox in a contra-rotating design. This eliminated much of the engine torque, as well as massively improving performance, with the added benefit of increased redundancy should one engine fail. A new and very large four bladed propeller was mounted to both engines to give excellent low altitude performance. This produced the new gull-wing configuration of the original Tornado’s wing so that the landing gear could extend far enough as to prevent the large propellers from striking the ground. The test flight was a resounding success. The aircraft exhibited excellent handling characteristics as well as an impressive top speed and fantastic energy retention, making it well suited to diving attacks.

An experimental motorjet variant of the type was left incomplete as the Coalition Forces invaded. Later Ikanese motorjet fighters would be based on this type.

Operational History
The type would first enter service in late 1942. The type would first see combat against Bavarian DS-21s and DS-10s in early 1943. The type was extremely successful achieving a 9:1 kill ratio against any Coalition aircraft. The Marauder was extremely powerful down low, though was vulnerable against the DS-21 at altitudes above 5000m. Most engagements over the Royal Isles were low-altitude engagements putting dogfights in the DP-15's favour. Unfortunately, there weren't enough DP-15s to slow down the Bavarian advances.

DP-15 Marauder
Crew: 1

Top Speed: 643km/h @ 2000m

Rate of Climb: 19.5m/s

Engine(s): 2x Hercules Radial engines (1200hp) in tandem with contra rotating propellers

Armament: 4x QF-4 20mm cannon

Extra armament: Provions for bombs up to 3000lb in total or 10 unguided rockets.

DP-15X Motorjet Marauder (experimental)
Crew: 1

Top Speed: 710km/h ASL (estimated)

Engine(s): 2x Hercules Radial Engines (1200hp) in tandem with contra rotating propellers + 1x R1 shaft-driven motorjet (2.9kn)

Armament: 4x QF-4 20mm cannon (in production models)

Extra armament: Provions for bombs up to 3000lb in total or 10 unguided rockets. (in production models)