Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/Hawker Spectre

"Hawker Spectre ready at the airbase!"

-Hawker Spectre

The Hawker Spectre is Athel Loren's strike bomber exclusively to this sub-faction, replacing the Vindicator. Voiced by Estelle.

Tactical analysis

 * Close Air Support: A variant of the venerable Hawker modified for air-to-ground duties, the Hawker Spectre is used to provide close air support for many Alliance militaries. Its primary armament consists of two 20mm autocannons, capable of shredding vehicles and aircraft.


 * Napalm in the Morning: In addition to the autocannons, the Hawker Spectre also carries a pair of bombs. Controversially, Hawker Spectres operating in Encantadia are often armed with CBU-45 napalm bombs, which are known for their devastating effects on people and structures.


 * Range Limited: The Hawker Spectre is of course, far from perfect as a ground attack craft. Its autocannons, while precise, lack the power to do any real damage to tanks or structures, while the napalm bombs must be reloaded back at an airfield once they have been dropped, which led to its all-terrain landing gear being stripped off.



Appearance
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History
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As the Alliance made their plans for the event of a second Voshkod invasion following the Hawke Theater of GVAW, one of the elements they factored into their plans was air support. With the advances in aircraft, it was expected that they would play a pivotal role in slowing down a second attempted invasion, striking at Voshkod tank divisions as they crossed the borders into Gallia.

With air support comprising a key part of any Alliance plans for the defence of Hawke, the Nations of Hawke would need capable, high performance ground attack planes to support the ground forces. Though by this time jet fighters already comprised a significant portion of the Alliance air force's fighter planes, the best ground attack aircraft in the Alliance inventory was the Blackburn Buccaneer, which did saw too late see in action in the closing months of GVAW.

It was decided the the P-55 Hawker would be suited for the task; all that it needed was a more appropriate weapons loadout, and then it would be servicable as a strike aircraft, though it had to have its all terrain landing gear stripped off in exchange unlike the Buccaneer. The A-55D Hawker Spectre would enter service several months after it was conceived, and was snapped up by many Alliance members for their air forces, though a few countries did go on to develop their own indigenous strike aircraft, mainly the Orlais' Étendard IV. The Vindicator and the Panavia Tornado would eventually replace the Hawker Spectre in the Alliance forces and elsewhere, but many Alliance member nations continued to keep an inventory of these aircraft nevertheless.

As such, the Hawker Spectre continues to be used even in the height of the Cold War. The most recent conflict it has seen is Lustria; with the deployment of Alliance forces to the war-torn country, Hawker Spectres have seen action in the theatre, favoured over other ground attack planes for its all terrain VTOL capability, an advantage in the mountainous tropical terrain of Vietnam. Recently, Hawker Spectre squadrons have also been making use of CBU-45 napalm bombs with considerable success, though this has also turned into somewhat of a public relations nightmare for the Alliance.