Pirate Seaplane

While CT-37 fighters and the awesome Iron Vulture are the core elements of the Air Pirates’ mobile forces, there are numerous other planes that the Pirates employ in their far-from-legal activities. These craft range from decrepit, converted cargo haulers to "liberated" military fighters a generation out of date. Anything with wings and a working engine is useful to the Pirates in plying their criminal trade.

Occasionally, the Air Pirates will fabricate a completely new plane out of retooled components and spare parts. While crude, these makeshift vehicles are better suited to the Pirates’ purposes than ordinarily-converted models.

The Pirate Seaplane is one of the Air Pirates' custom-built transports. Constructed out of parts from obsolete SA-10 seaplanes, this spindly craft is basically a box with wings and pontoons, so fragile-looking that cliff gunners joke that the planes will rattle apart before they are even fired upon.

However, appearances can be deceiving. The Pirate-built airframe, while extremely lanky, presents a very small target profile for ground-based defense guns. This in addition to the hollow construction of the wing carriages makes the Pirate Seaplane nearly impossible to hit with anti-aircraft fire. Flak guns fare no better: the large wingspan and low speed of the seaplane allows the pilot to make intricate maneuvers, deftly weaving the craft around the deadly bursts of shrapnel exploding in midair.

While the overall design of the craft is slender and skeletal, the main fuselage is quite roomy. The plane's cargo hold can carry a maximum of two tons of cargo. Most of the cargo hold's windows are covered with armor plates. The only access to the interior is through a side door or an offloading hatch installed in the floor of the hold.

Pirate Seaplanes are typically unarmed, but a select few Pirate seaplanes have been covered with thick metal panels, bolted or fused right on top of the existing hull. Some seaplanes are encased in up to three layers of armor. Bristling with machine guns and turrets, these flying gunships loiter above a combat area, providing assistance and cover fire for the Pirate fighters. Such heavily-armed pirate planes are rarely if ever seen but are confirmed to exist.

The Seaplane is also used on reconaissance and interdiction missions in which it deploys Pirate submarines. Able to carry one submarine each, the planes fly near a shore or coast and drop the sub into the waters. After the pirates are done looting the area, they navigate the submarine to a rendezvous point where the seaplane picks them up. Definitive drop-off procedures are non-existent; methods vary with the seaplane’s crew. In some instances the submarine was deployed from altitudes no less than 2,000 feet above the water!

Below: Bombs away! Don Karnage personally deploys a Pirate submarine from a Pirate seaplane during flight.

PIRATE SEAPLANE
Craft: Pirate Seaplane Type: Modified SA-10 seaplane Scale: Aircraft Length: 120 feet Skill: Aircraft piloting: pirate seaplane Crew: 2, skeleton: 1/+5 Crew Skill: Varies widely Passengers: 4 Cargo Capacity: 5,000 lbs. Cost: $14,500 (used) Top Speed: 120 mph Maneuverability: 2D+2 Weapons: None Hull: 3D+1