Ayo, @aleciosun got the bois lookin' FIIIRREEE!!! 😎🔥ᯓ ✈︎🔥ᯓ ✈︎🔥ᯓ ✈︎
If I spam concept art commissions, they'll overlook my writing procrastination, right?
So yeah, I wanted to see the main trine's designs and boy did the artist hit it out of the park again. I know, I know, they could've just all be the same plane like in the OG, but where's the fun in that? ;)
First, as some of you already know from my WWIIformers fic, Starscream is a Messerschmitt ME 262 "Schwalbe" {Stormbird}, the world's first operational fighter jet:
It makes sense he'd only take the alt-mode of the best there was, and being the fastest seeker, of course he's gonna want the fastest plane.
Next up: Thundercracker as a Messerschmitt Bf 109, the backbone of the Luftwaffe fighter force.
Thundercracker always strikes me as the more practical, down-to-earth of the three, so I imagine he'd probably pick the plane that was most common and reliable at the time so he could easily blend in. He's not overly concerned with flashiness and style like his trine-mates.
Plus these planes were heavy-hitters when it came to dog-fights, even if they weren't the fastest, kinda like TC himself.
And last but not least, Skywarp as a Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka"
Skywarp just screamed "Stuka" for me. The look of the plane alone is a match made in heaven, especially with the gull wings, faired main gear legs, and when you see some that had the shark mouth painted on the nose.
The Junkers were dive-bombers and ground-attack aircrafts known for doing some wacky aerial maneuvers. The Stuka's design included automatic pull-up dive brakes under both wings to ensure that the aircraft recovered from its attack dive even if the pilot blacked out from the high g-forces, or suffered from target fixation. That's right, pilots had a habit of BLACKING OUT in this plane and waking back up before they had time to crash, it's ridiculous, kinda like warping blindly into walls like an idiot [accusingly eyes Skywarp]
Though sturdy, accurate, and very effective against ground targets, the Stuka was vulnerable to fighter aircraft, again, kinda like Skywarp when he's left to his own devices. After all, he's not the brightest watt in the bulb.
Also these planes were huge propaganda symbols for the Germans, kinda like how Skywarp is a hopeless fanboy supporter for Megatron.
A Luftwaffe RF-4E flanked by two USAF F-15s over West Germany during Exercise REFORGER (Circa September 1982). Notice the size difference? While the Phantom was by no means a small aircraft, the Eagle, with a wingspan 12 ft wider and a fuselage nearly 10 ft longer makes the big F-4 look surprisingly compact.
Heinkel He 162 Spatz (Sparrow), National Air and Space Museum. Werknummer 120230 was one of the thirty-one JG 1 Oesau aircraft manufactured by Heinkel at Rostock-Marienehe and captured by the British at Leck on 8 May 1945. It was painted with the number "White 23" and its red-white-black nose bands were in reverse order from the usual paint scheme, which may indicate that 130 victory ace, Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern (Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords) holder, 1000 missions veteran, Geschwaderkommodore Oberst Herbert Ihlefeld, flew this particular aircraft. After transfer to Britain, the USAAF accepted the airplane and shipped it to Wright Field, Ohio, for evaluation. It received the foreign equipment number FE-504 (later T2-504), and was later moved to Freeman Field, Indiana. For unknown reasons, mechanics replaced the tail unit at Wright Field with the tail unit of WNr 120222 aircraft. Although another He 162, T2-489, was tested at Muroc Field, California (later Edwards Air Force Base), FE/T2-504 was apparently never flown. Its flying days ended permanently when someone at Freeman Field neatly sawed through the outer wing panels sometime before September 1946. The wings were reattached with door hinges and the jet was shipped to air shows and military displays around the country. The USAF transferred the aircraft to the Smithsonian Institution in 1949 but it remained in stored at Park Ridge, Illinois, until transfer to the Garber Facility in January 1955
