BC-310 "Minotaur"

2000 Bricks

BC-310 "Minotaur"

The 1970s were an era of wild experimentation with airframes, and the United States Air Force's had a need for a cheap, versatile bomber that would fly alongside the new A-10 Thunderbolt II, where it would do low level carpet bombing over uncontested airspace. The USAF decided on modifying existing C-130 airframes due to their heavy payload capacity, low flying performance, and ability to land on dirt strips.

The first modification was stripping any unnecessary avionics and utilizing improving composite technology. All that was left were some simple steam gauges and a rudimentary autopilot that did little more than hold the plane steady. The result was a saving of several tons over the original C-130. The cockpit windows were simplified down to 5 simple panes made from glass designed to withstand heavy amounts of small arms fire.

The BC-310's life was short lived however, as despite some success in a few proxy wars during the '80s, the aircraft was formally retired from combat in 1992 due to rapidly advancing technology and the introduction of highly capable multirole strike fighters rendering it obsolete. The BC-310 has continued service with cargo hauling and transport, just like it's C-130 cousin.

This aircraft, 04137, with the song title "Stone Cold Crazy" painted in orange on its tail, is the most famous BC-310, having single handedly decided the fate of a battle in 1981 with pinpoint accurate strikes from 200ft AGL. The pilot's calm demeanor and the extreme low level flying earned this plane its nickname.

Controls

Most complex controls are done via clickable cockpit buttons. ALT mode has a * next to it.

*W/S -- Throttle *A/D -- Rudder *Mouse/Arrow keys -- Elevators and ailerons X (tap) - Landing gear X (hold) - Cargo door L Shift - "Start" engines Fire Action 1 - 6x Mk-82 Snakeye bombs Fire Action 8 - Flares

Armament

6x Mk-82 Snakeye bombs on outer pylons as standard. Inner pylons can be used for anything else, as well as an additional 12x Mk-82 (snakeye or normal) on my workshop.

Specs

• L 31 m, W 41 m, H 9.8 m
• 18473 kg empty
• $497 000
• 295 kn (550 km/h) top speed

Cockpit Layout

In front of the two pilots seats are, from top left to bottom right:

• Speedometer reading in knots
• Artificial horizon
• Altimeter
• AoA gauge
• Heading indicator
• Vertical Speed Indicator
• G meter
• Radar Altimeter
• Yoke
• Pedals

Asymmetric, pilots side:

• Flaps control
• Cargo door indicator

Asymmetric, co-pilots side:

• Gear lever and indicator

In the center, from top left to bottom right:

• Autopilot altitude control
• Autopilot status lights and controls
• Clipboard with known bomb drag values (will expand when i make more bombs)
• Current bomb drag setting
• Throttle

Lighting panel, from top left to bottom right:

• Navigation lights
• Anti-collision lights
• Cockpit lights
• Cargo bay lights (white and green seperate)
• Landing lights
• Bomb laser
• Instrument lights

Autopilot

The autopilot is very simple. Using the autopilot altitude control, set your desired altitude, and then enable the autopilot by pressing the "AUTOPILOT STATUS: ALTITUDE" light. This is NOT ground following, you will crash into mountains if you fly too low. The heading control will simply keep your wings level, holding your current heading.

Bombing sight

The bombing sight is fairly straight forward to use. Consulting the clipboard, input the drag value in the "BOMB DRAG" display. Then, ideally using autopilot, fly between 1500-5000ft with wings level until the target crosses the "+", then drop the bomb.

Finding correct bomb drag values is trial and error. Overshooting means you need to decrease the drag value, and undershooting means you need to increase the drag value.

This is my very first "big" project, so I know it doesn't look the best :)