Never Mind Eagles ...

[alex_greene]

A day after 2015's Breakaway Day, I present to you ... the Mark 9 Hawk.

Who statted these up for Traveller, I would love to ask ...

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nox6XjsS7Bs

 

[simonh]

I've got an old Airfix model of one of these. Lovely pics.

Edit: http://www.scifiairshow.com/

Simon Hibbs

 

[wbnc]

Who said a 50 ton armed cutter couldn't look good...

 

[Infojunky]

Who said a 50 ton armed cutter couldn't look good...

30 ton at most.....

 

[Reynard]

I still have the technical blueprint of the Eagle from Starlog magazine. Definitely an example of a standard frame though unconventional as we know it.

Interchangeable pods - Transport, freighter, Recon, Rescue and Laboratory.
Pod - 8 m long by 4.5 m wide by 2.7 m tall. Freighter cargo capacity - 70.8 cubic meters
Ceiling height - 1.5 m.
Utility pod endurance - 672 hours.
Overall size - 23 m long by 9 m wide by 4 m tall.
Gross weight - 238 tons.
4 fusion engines, 4 chemical landing rockets. Liquid hydrogen fuel. 0.15c velocity max.
Fuel tanks are in four modules along with landing legs, artificial gravity field generators and maneuver rocket assemblies..
Endurance 96 hours. Range 26 billion Km.
Nuclear generator.
2 x laser guns, 2 x space to space missiles.
Pilot, Co-pilot Steward (Transporter), 8 passengers in Transport, 4 passengers in Recon and Laboratory pods, 4 passengers or two beds in rescue pod.
Detachable command module.

 

[Reynard]

Oh and some specs for designing a Traveller Hawk.

http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/merc/blueprint/ihawk.jpg

 

[Condottiere]

Anderson's designs, especially the later ones, are like scifi porn.

The detachable command module should be upgradeable in a Traveller version.

 

[AndrewW]

The detachable command module should be upgradeable in a Traveller version.

The rules do support a detachable bridge and modular hull.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

They look different from those on Space 1999.

Where did these new versions of the Eagle come from? Is someone planning a remake of the space 1999? Doesn't seem likely that someone would build a full scale mock up just for Traveller RPG, now does it.

What show or movie did this screen shot come from? It appears related to the Eagle's from Space 1999.

 

[Reynard]

Tom, the Hawk was a warship not part of the moon base compliment. The Eagles are utility ships.

 

[alex_greene]

Bear in mind that Gerry Anderson's mind's universe was a lot more advanced than ours. The first Eagle transporter was supposed to have landed on the Moon back in 1972, followed by the establishment of various moonbases. Not just Alpha, but the secret Moonbase run by SHADO.

During a crisis starting in 1980, where some extraterrestrials tried a clandestine invasion of Earth, SHADO is said to have developed plans for a more fighterly version of the armed Eagles, capable of delivering a lot more punch than SHADO's three little one - nuke Interceptors. The Mark IX Hawk was the brainchild - but after the UFOs kind of stopped, the only three Hawks built were kept in mothballs in the Centuri station at the Lagrange point between the Earth and the Moon, and were destroyed when the Moon blasted free of the Earth's orbit.

In the TV show, the Mark IX Hawk only made one appearance in the entire show - season 1, episode 4, War Games, where they were sent from a planet of psions as a manifestation of the Alphans' deepest fears. The Hawks wiped the Eagles out of the sky.

Don't mess with melon-headed psions.

Also, the Seventies were wild.

 

[Condottiere]

But the design seems seamlessly conformable to then current ones used by the Americans and Soviets.

 

[Tom Kalbfus]

Bear in mind that Gerry Anderson's mind's universe was a lot more advanced than ours. The first Eagle transporter was supposed to have landed on the Moon back in 1972, followed by the establishment of various moonbases. Not just Alpha, but the secret Moonbase run by SHADO.

During a crisis starting in 1980, where some extraterrestrials tried a clandestine invasion of Earth, SHADO is said to have developed plans for a more fighterly version of the armed Eagles, capable of delivering a lot more punch than SHADO's three little one - nuke Interceptors. The Mark IX Hawk was the brainchild - but after the UFOs kind of stopped, the only three Hawks built were kept in mothballs in the Centuri station at the Lagrange point between the Earth and the Moon, and were destroyed when the Moon blasted free of the Earth's orbit.

In the TV show, the Mark IX Hawk only made one appearance in the entire show - season 1, episode 4, War Games, where they were sent from a planet of psions as a manifestation of the Alphans' deepest fears. The Hawks wiped the Eagles out of the sky.

Don't mess with melon-headed psions.

Also, the Seventies were wild.

Funny I was not aware of the UFO show until I started chatting on this website. I was aware of Space 1999, which then went into reruns.

 

[Reynard]

When I saw both shows, having bases on the moon still seemed possible. Bloom fell off the rose as the US government started announcing space was too expensive so we were forced to just dream. Can you imagine if we kept the enthusiasm of the moon landings going in the Seventies?

 

[alex_greene]

When I saw both shows, having bases on the moon still seemed possible. Bloom fell off the rose as the US government started announcing space was too expensive so we were forced to just dream. Can you imagine if we kept the enthusiasm of the moon landings going in the Seventies?

Well, in a way, that enthusiasm is slowly coming back.

 

[Reynard]

Still seems suspiciously slow. Amazing how quickly we advanced and achieved in about a decade. I swear the Liberty station is up there just to placate the population without really doing much.

Anyone remember why they put a base on the moon in Space 1999? As much as we could say 'just because' I'd like to think there was a more logical reason. Was UFO actually tied in with Space 1999 and Moonbase was partially of a defense nature? Sounds like a great inspiration for Traveller.

 

[alex_greene]

Anyone remember why they put a base on the moon in Space 1999? As much as we could say 'just because' I'd like to think there was a more logical reason. Was UFO actually tied in with Space 1999 and Moonbase was partially of a defense nature?

There was no overt connection between the two shows. Moonbase Alpha was concerned with the monitoring of Nuclear Waste Disposal Dumps 1 and 2, and with the Meta Probe Astronaut Flight Training program.

 

[Condottiere]

All I recall is mixing toxic chemicals bad.

Might have been far more interesting if they had had civilian colonies established, and a correctional facility, than you could have played around more with the internal dynamics.

I do recall one cyberpunkish episode, where they stuck a plug in the black guy's head.

 

[alex_greene]

All I recall is mixing toxic chemicals bad.

Might have been far more interesting if they had had civilian colonies established, and a correctional facility, than you could have played around more with the internal dynamics.

I do recall one cyberpunkish episode, where they stuck a plug in the black guy's head.

The Guardian of Piri. Catherine Schell appeared in that one. She was so hot, they brought her back for season 2 as Maya.