F-36 Hornet

F-36 Hornet
Type	Light Fighter
Manufacturer	Origin Aerospace
Primary User	Terran Confederation
Additional Users	Free Republic of the Landreich
General Characteristics
Length	20 meters
Mass	12.5 tonnes
Crew	1 (pilot)
Performance
Maximum Yaw	8 dps
Maximum Pitch	9 dps
Maximum Roll	8 dps
Acceleration	Good
Velocity
Cruise	300 kps
Maximum	420 kps
Afterburner
Maximum Afterburner	1240 kps
Armament
Guns
MK. 25 Laser Cannon (2)
Default Missile Loadout
Dart DumbFire (2) Javelin Heatseeker (1)
Components
Decoys	None
Cloaking Device	No
Jump Drive	No
Defense
Shields
Fore	4.0 cm equivalent
Aft	4.0 cm equivalent
Default Recharge	5.0 cm/second
Armor
Front	4.5 cm
Rear	4 cm
Side	3 cm
Hornet Target Identification Vega Sector circa 2654
Source	Wing Commander The Secret Missions 1: Operation Thor's Hammer The Secret Missions 2: Crusade Wing Commander: False Colors

Designed by Origin Aerospace, the F-36 Hornet served as a light fighter for the Terran Confederation during the Terran-Kilrathi War.

History

Many of graduates of the Terran Confederation Space Forces Academy spent time flying a Hornet trainer variant during their rookie year. It was included in Joan's Fighting Spacecraft Vega Sector Supplement for 2654.092. Typically, Hornets engaged in reconnaissance, escort, patrol and light anti-shipping duties. Mounting two MK. 25 Laser Cannons and three missiles, two Dart DumbFires and a Javelin Heatseeker, and a maximum speed of 420 KPS, the Hornet was capable of either fighting or fleeing its way out of most combat situations. The Confederation used the Hornet extensively during the Vega Campaign of the 2650s. Noted Hornet squadrons included the Yellowjackets and Killer Bees assigned to the TCS Tiger's Claw during the campaign. Future Commodore Christopher Blair and leader of Lancelot Flight began his Tiger’s Claw career in the Killer Bees squadron. The Hornet squadrons of the Tiger’s Claw performed combat operations in the Enyo, Gateway and Cheng Du systems during the Vega Campaign. Later, they served in the Goddard system during Operation Thor’s Hammer and the Firekka system during Operation Crusade.

The Confederation officially replaced the Hornet in favor of the F-54 Epee in 2661, although Hornet squadrons served in Confederation colors through the Battle of Earth in 2668. Following the war, the Free Republic of the Landreich and the Union of Border Worlds purchased a significant number of the spaceframes the Confederation was removing from the Fleet and used them in combat squadrons into the mid-2670s.

Commander Darlene "Babe" Babcock, squadron commander of VF-12, the Flying Eyes off the FRLS Independence, former TCS Tarawa, were the first members of Operation Goliath to provide images of KIS Karga prior to the survey in 2670. The squadron was modified specifically for fleet reconnaissance utilizing the Mark VI APSP. It was a specially mounted sensor pod containing a battery of cameras, imaging systems, and other survey gear that was normally used to conduct long-range scans ahead of a fleet or target identification runs in a planetary atmosphere. Later, it was the Hornets of the Flying Eyes to first engage Zachary Banfield’s Guild attack. Broadswords were launched from a modified ore transport turned carrier named Bonadventure. Their goal was to destroy the tender FRLS Sindri. In the ensuing battle a number of Hornets were lost before additional fighters were launched to aid them. Eleven Hornets were subsequently transferred from the Independence to the renamed Karga, now FRLS Mjollnir in honor of the crew of the Sindri and Eric “Viking” Jensson, a Hornet pilot killed during the attack. During the transit from the Vaku System to the Hellhole System, the Mjollnir added the Hornet squadron VF-16, the Stingers, commanded by William "Willie Pete" Peterson. The Flying Eyes later served with distinction during the Battle of Baka Kar acting as a blocking force in low planetary orbit of Baka Kar itself.

Hornets continued to see use into the 28th century. The January 2701 issue of Star*Soldier listed a classified ad selling an F-36 Hornet . The seller was crazyjoe@shipsmustgo.corporation.

Variants

Variant	Yaw	Pitch	Roll	Weapon	Fore shield	Aft shield	Fore armor	Aft armor	Side armor	Source
Hornet (Claw Marks)	8	9	8	Laser Cannon (2) Dumb-Fire Missile (2) Heat-Seeking Missile	3	3	3	3	3	Claw Marks
Hornet (Super WIng Commander)	8	9	8	Laser Cannon (2) Dumb-Fire Missile (4) Heat-Seeking Missile (2)	4	4	4.5	4	3	Super Wing Commander
Hornet (Super Wing Commander Clawmarks)	8	9	8	Laser Cannon (2) Dumb-Fire Missile (4) Heat-Seeking Missile (2)	3	3	3	3	3	Super Wing Commander Clawmarks

Sources

Wing Commander / Super Wing Commander

Wing Commander Conversations

• Beta Wing (McAuliffe System)
  • Michael Casey: "Maverick. They call me Iceman. Don't let Knight here fool you about the Scimitar. It's a gun-heavy slug. Forget finesse in a Scimitar. Just head straight in, guns blaring. Give me a ship that lets me use my skill... A Raptor, even a Hornet... ...or one of those new Rapiers! If half of what they say is true, the Rapier's a true artist's ship!"
  • Joseph Khumalo: "Maverick, right? I’m Knight. Welcome to the Blue Devils. Ever flown Scimitars before? I think you’re going to like them. A Scimitar isn’t quite as fast or nimble as a Hornet, but she’s got twice the armour, as well as heavier guns."
    • Michael Casey: "And she handles like a Centaurian mud pig."
    • Joseph Khumalo: "Iceman here’ll try to tell you speed and handling’ll save your butt, but I’ll take an extra three centimetres of durasteel plating any day!"
• Delta Wing (Gateway System)
  • Michael Casey: "Maverick. They call me Iceman. Don't let Knight here fool you about the Scimitar. It's a gun-heavy slug. Forget finesse in a Scimitar.Just head straight in, guns blaring. Give me a ship that lets me use my skill... A Raptor, even a Hornet... ...or one of those new Rapiers! If half of what they say is true, the Rapier's a true artist's ship!"
  • Joseph Khumalo: "Maverick, right? I’m Knight. Welcome to the Killer Bees. You’re flying a Hornet right now, right? Ever flown Scimitars before? I think you’re going to like them. A Scimitar isn’t quite as fast or nimble as a Hornet, but she’s got twice the armour, as well as heavier guns."
    • Michael Casey: "And she handles like a Centaurian mud pig."
    • Joseph Khumalo: "Iceman here’ll try to tell you speed and handling’ll save your butt, but I’ll take an extra three centimetres of durasteel plating any day!"
• Omicron Wing (Cheng-Du System)
  • Shotglass: "Knight tells me the colonel's movin' you to Blue Devil Squadron. That'll put you on a Scimitar, like I flew when I was your age. Darn fine ship in her day, though she looks a little outdated now... The Scimitar mounts a pair of mass driver cannons... ...instead of the Hornet's lasers. They fire a lot farther than laser bolts, and hit with more punch... ...but the projectiles move a lot slower. That makes you use 'em closer up, in spite of the extra range. Still, those extra klicks are good against big, slow ships, like tankers."
  • Michael Casey: "Maverick. They call me Iceman. Don't let Knight here fool you about the Scimitar. It's a gun-heavy slug. Forget finesse in a Scimitar.Just head straight in, guns blaring. Give me a ship that lets me use my skill... A Raptor, even a Hornet... ...or one of those new Rapiers! If half of what they say is true, the Rapier's a true artist's ship!"
  • Joseph Khumalo: "Hey, Maverick, you hear about the new assignments? The colonel said he's moving you to a Scimitar in Blue Devil Squadron. Ever flown Scimitars before? I think you’re going to like them. A Scimitar isn’t quite as fast or nimble as a Hornet, but she’s got twice the armour, as well as heavier guns."
    • Michael Casey: "And she handles like a Centaurian mud pig."
    • Joseph Khumalo: "Iceman here’ll try to tell you speed and handling’ll save your butt, but I’ll take an extra three centimetres of durasteel plating any day!"
• Omicron Wing (Gimle System)
  • Todd Marshall: "I'm lookin' forward to seein' one of these new Rapiers! They say she's got tougher shields than anything in the fleet. She must be just about invulnerable!"
    • Ian St. John: "'Ang about, there, mate...She may 'ave God's own shields, but she's armored like a light fighter. If they knock down the shields, she's no tougher than a Hornet."
    • Todd Marshall: "Wow, I never thought about that..."
• Beta Wing (Jotunheim System)
  • Tanaka Mariko: "Shotglass believes we may fly in asteroid fields today. I hope he is right. There is something I wish to try. Have you ever seen Iceman in an asteroid field? No? He does some amazing things. If his front shield is gone, he will turn tail... ... and let his enemy come up behind him. He performs evasive maneuvers and uses his thrusters... ... and sets course straight for a large asteroid. At the last moment possible, he rolls out. The Kilrathi does not always follow successfully. Of course, Iceman prefers to do this in Hornets or Rapiers, not Raptors.

Wing Commander (De)Briefings

• Transfers
  • Peter Halcyon: "You’ll be flying Hornets with the Killer Bees again."
• Epsilon Wing (Cheng-Du System)
  • Peter Halcyon: "We’ve got a Hornet coming in from patrol with four Krant on her tail. Maverick, you and Angel are going to go out and see that she gets back safe. It’s Valkyrie, of Yellow Jacket squadron, on her way back in."
• Alpha Wing (Goddard System)
  • Peter Halcyon: "Alpha Wing will patrol in Hornets… we need you in our fastest ships."

Wing Commander Mission Appearances

• Flyable Missions
  • Alpha Wing (Enyo System)
  • Epsilon Wing (Enyo System)
  • Delta Wing (Gateway System)
  • Kappa Wing (Gateway System)
  • Sigma Wing (Gateway System)
  • Epsilon Wing (Cheng-Du System)
  • Iota Wing (Cheng-Du System)
  • Omicron Wing (Cheng-Du System)
• Appears in Mission
  • Epsilon Wing (Cheng-Du System)

The Secret Missions Mission Appearances

• Flyable Missions
  • Alpha Wing (Goddard System)
  • Kappa Wing (Goddard System)

The Secret Missions 2: Crusade Mission Appearances

• Flyable Missions
  • Alpha Wing (Firekka System)
  • Kappa Wing (Firekka System)
  • Psi Wing (Firekka System)

Wing Commander: Freedom Flight

• Chapter 6
  • "The flight deck was already busy; two Hornet fighters took off, one after the other, as Hunter mustered up a tired trot to his fighter. A tech was under the Rapier, invisible except for a pair of booted legs sticking out from beneath the wing."

The Memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel Carl T. LaFong: The Kilrathi War's Greatest Ace (TCSN, Retired)

• The Academy Years
  • For Tighter Up or Down Movements, Roll and Turn
    • "The arrangement of thrusters on Hornets, Scimitars, and Raptors produces an unusual flight characteristic: up and down movements cannot be completed in as tight a radius as a turn to the left or right. Aerospace engineers are trying to correct the flaw in the new Rapier class, but it is still unknown whether their efforts have been successful."
  • Simulated Dogfights
    • "I'll never forget stepping into the Hornet simulator for my first dogfight. All the hours of studying texts and holo-vids, and discussing theory and tactics, were going to pay off. The days spent practicing launches, landings, and other flight drills would be put to the test. During the first semester, we were just learning to fly and use the sophisticated electronics; now we would fight, and discover whether we had the instincts of a combat pilot."
  • TCS Formidable
    • "Our first month was spent in training flights in the Hornets. I can't count the number of times I launched, circled, and returned to the destroyer. We practiced flying in different formations, worked on our communications skills and even engaged in mock dogfights. I was surprised how our simple simulator training at the academy had prepared us for flights in real space."
  • Using Your Ship's Guns
    • "Laser Cannon - At this point, the laser cannon was employed only on the Hornets, although scuttlebutt indicated that a new class of fighter, the Rapier, would use them as well."
  • Your Ship's Missiles
    • "While we studied all the missile statistics in the classroom, the greatest lesson we learned was to rely on our guns in combat. We could take out every enemy ship known at the time with nothing but the laser cannon on a Hornet, although it was much easier with the mass drivers or neutrons."
• Between Missions (McAuliffe-Gimle Systems)
  • "Captain Devereaux remembered her first mission flying as wingman for the young pilot. "We were flying Hornets in a crowded asteroid field when four Dralthi surprised us," she said. "Well, Maniac just fired his burners and left me in the dust. He didn't say to break, follow, attack, or do anything. He just took off. I raced to catch up and tried to cover him by attacking a pilot who was approaching his rear, but Maniac called me off.""
  • "He started streaking through the asteroids with the Dralthi hot on his tail. And he was flying so close to the stones that it looked like he was running a slalom course. I figured out what he was doing when he led that Dralthi head-on into one of the asteroids. It was unbelievable. I'd never seen a Hornet flown like that before, and I might never again. Say what you want about Maniac, he's one of the best pure flyers I've ever seen."
• Between Missions (Jotunheim System)
  • ""I've got to admit that the lieutenant [Maniac] hasn't lost a second in reflex time and he can still put a Hornet, Raptor, Scimitar, or Rapier through its paces better than anyone," he [Paladin] explained. "The problem is that he's taking every mission personally, and trying single-handedly to take out every enemy fighter. He's not only a danger to himself, but to his wingleader as well. You never know what he's going to do next.""
• Heaven's Gate System - Series 5 - Mission 1
  • "It was my first time in an Epee, the light attack fighter that had replaced the Hornet just five years before."

Wing Commander: Fleet Action

• Chapter 12
  • " "This is Tolwyn. Good luck to all of you and good hunting." The image winked off and Kevin smile. Typical Brit understatement. The forward edge of Rapiers, Raptors, Ferrets and Hornets, running ahead of the attack wave, slammed into the opposing wall of opposition defending the Kilrathi heavy carriers."

Wing Commander: False Colors

• "For a moment Tolwyn wished he'd strapped on a Hornet for today's mission, instead of picking the Raptor. Babcock's squadron, VF-12-more usually known as the "Flying Eyes" was equipped with the Hornet light fighter, a fast, high-performance craft that was ideal for reconnaissance missions but limited in the fighting it could handle. Today they carried even lighter combat loads than usual to make room for a Mark VI APSP, a sensor pod containing a battery of cameras, imaging systems, and other survey gear that was normally used to conduct long-range scans ahead of a fleet or target identification runs in a planetary atmosphere. So Babcock would be taking her planes in low over the Kilrathi hulk to get a good look at the supercarrier ahead of the rest of them, while the heavier Raptors of Doomsday's VF-88, the Crazy Eights, waited to provide cover if they ran into trouble."
• "Sparks had shifted from the tactical plot to a real¬time computer-enhanced relay from the sensor pod mounted on the bow of Babe Babcock's Hornet."
• "The Darket was small and agile, even better for scouting duties than the Confederation Hornet. Individually weak in shielding, armor, and weapons, they were often employed in fighting pairs by Kilrathi pilots to excellent effect."
• " "I don't know how accurate it is,- he said, "but Sparks and Jorkad seem to think it isn't too far from the real thing. If it's anything like the simulator, the Strakha's going to be heavy going. Big and mean, but not exactly subtle ... except for the stealth technology. I guess the Cats figured they had a cloak, so why bother making the thing nimble too? Takes some getting used to when you've come out of the high-maneuverability school." "Sort of like trying to fly a shuttle after a stretch of duty with Hornets," she said, nodding."

Star*Soldier

Classifieds

"Used ships available! Navy surplus means your lucky day! Fighters? F-36 Hornet, F-38 Talon, F-71 Stiletto, F-98 Phantom, F-95 Morningstar, F-97 Wraith! Bombers? A-14 Raptor, A-15 Gladius, even A-20 Banshee! Collectables and like new!

Contact crazyjoe@shipsmustgo.corporation"

Gallery

• 

  Hornet line-drawing from Joan's Fighting Spacecraft.

• 

  Origin Aerospace blueprint.

• 

  Origin Aerospace blueprint.

• 

  Origin Aerospace blueprint.

• 

  View from a Hornet cockpit as it chases down a wing of Krants.

• 

  View from a Hornet cockpit as it engages a wing of Dralthi.

• 

  A Hornet from the Killer Bees Squadron prepares to launch.

• 

  A Hornet landing on the TCS Tiger's Claw.

• 

  A Hornet landing on the flight deck of the TCS Tiger's Claw.

• 

  Hornet as seen in Super Wing Commander.

• 

  Hornet VDU image

• 

  Origin Aerospace blueprint.