| Sketchley's Translations Main Index | Macross Portal |
| By AARON SKETCHLEY (aaronsketch@HOTdelete_thisMAIL.com) | Ver 1.1 2014.09.29 |
| Mechanic: D7 Citizen 01A: VT-1C |
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Illustrated by Hidetaka Tenjin
VT-1C*
The VF-1 Derivative That Was Improved Upon For Civilians
* Translator's note: originally "VT-1C Ostrich"
Airframe Description:
The VT-1C was derived from the VF-1 series, and is for civilian use. As the VF-1 series were retired from military service, the armed forces remodelled them for consumer use and sold them off, and it's said that a considerable number of VF-1 that were remodelled into the VT-1C appeared on the market in around 2030. The main remodelling points of the aircraft were its disarmament, detuning of the power system, and an enhancement of its security equipment. The aircraft that were used on planet Zola were, according to the local circumstances, equipped with "Galactic Whale Capturing Harpoon" Launchers (Harpoon Guns), which were remodelled standard Gun Pods.*
* Translator's note: originally was: "The VT-1C Ostrich are surplus VT-1, a two-seater training aircraft, that were sold to civilians. Several aircraft were sold to civilians even on planet Zola, and the Zolan Graham Hoily bought an aircraft for whaling. Even though the VT-1C didn't have any armaments installed on them before being sold off, as they were for training, the aircraft owned by Graham Hoily, the Zolan Harbour Defence and so on were equipped with local original improvements and the Harpoon Gun (underwater gun) type Gun Pod, as Galactic Whale countermeasures."
Caption: Basara took out the aircraft stored at Graham's house and confronted the Galactic Whales. However, the aircraft was completely destroyed by the shock wave emitted from the whales.
Data:
Attached To: Civilian
Length: 13.88 m*
[o] Width: 14.78 m (when the main wings are extended)
Weight: 13.75 t (when equipped with back and leg Super Parts)**
Engine: Shinnakasu / P&W / Royce FF-2001 Thermonuclear Turbine Engines
Maximum Speed: under investigation***
Cruising Range: infinite
Equipment: Harpoon Gun style Gun Pod****
*Data is when it is in fighter form
* Translator's note: originally was: "Length: 14.23 m"
** Translator's note: originally was: "Weight: under investigation"
*** Translator's note: originally was: "Maximum Speed: Mach 2.81 (at 10,000 m altitude)"
**** Translator's note: originally was: "Equipment: Harpoon Gun style Gun Pod (Graham's craft)"
Size Comparison:
VF-1J, VT-1C
Development Chart:
VF-1 > VT-1 > VT-1C
Main Pilots:
Nekki Basara, Graham Hoily
* Translator's note: the Operation Record description originally was: "Several VT-1C were used as Galactic Whale countermeasures on planet Zola. When Nekki Basara finally arrived at the Zola port town, the VT-1C that were used for defence were being stored in a warehouse. However, they were seized by the Galactic Whale Poaching Group, who had fixed their eyes on those VT-1C. Even though Graham's personal aircraft was being kept as a memento of his wife Maria Hoily, Nekki Basara took it out and used it so he could meet the Galactic Whales."
Caption: Graham carefully took care of the aircraft as a memento of his wife Maria, who had lost her life from contact with the Galactic Whales.
[o] Caption: A member of the Poaching Group seizing a VT-1C that was being kept in the port warehouse. The aircraft's security program was also easily released, and it was taken away.
Related Matter: The VT-1C Seized By The Poaching Group
When Basara arrived at planet Zola, the VT-1C that were kept in the Zolan port were being seized by the Galactic Whale Poaching Group. Even though it isn't confirmed that those aircraft were operated by the Poaching Group after that, from the fact that they used VFs that had original improvements applied to them, it seems that the VT-1C also received a similar treatment.*
* Translator's note: originally was: "The VT-1C deployed by the Zolan port city for defence were seized by the Galactic Whale Poaching Group. Although they weren't confirmed being operated by the Poaching Group, as there is information that the group operated seized VFs with their own original improvements, it is thought that the VT-1C received a similar treatment."
Caption: The Poaching Group operated VA-3C Kai to capture the Galactic Whales.* They are equipped with a Harpoon Gun model Gun Pod on the main wing pylons.
* Translator's note: originally was: "The Poaching Group operated VFs to capture the Galactic Whales."
Fighter Mode / Armaments
In making the VT-1C for consumers, the canopy was exchanged for a larger one that ensures a favourable field of vision in Fighter form. As the VT-1C are assumed to be for operations in outer space, in addition to being equipped with Super Parts, which combined fuel tanks on the aircraft's upper surface and the sides of the engines, the main wing tips were each equipped with a pair of rockets.*
* Translator's note: originally was: "Though it has navigation performance equal to the VT-1 that it is based on, the dorsal and leg boosters are assumed to be for operations in outer space, due to the new style of boosters that they have been exchanged for. In addition, the improved craft operated on planet Zola have a Harpoon-style Gun Pod."
[o] Up: The aircraft that Graham Hoily kept.
Battroid Mode
Even though this aircraft was improved upon for consumer use, the transformation mechanism to Battroid was left in it as is. As the VT-1C is an aircraft for consumer use, the Laser Machine-gun that's set in the Battroid's head is removed. The Super Parts that are equipped onto the back and legs also don't have armaments, such as missiles, set in them, and they are used purely as Boosters to escape the atmosphere and as drop tanks. Also, although the nose of this aircraft (the part between the legs) has been shortened, when compared to a normal VF-1, it is because the radar and sensors for combat, which were built into the nose, have been removed and exchanged for external equipment and equipment oriented toward the consumer, which is easier to maintain.*
The Harpoon Gun Pod, which is the VT-1C's main armament, uses the Gun Pod's bursting charge to eject a harpoon attached to a wire. The method of a large mother ship or several vessels and VFs driving such a harpoon into the Galactic Whales, pulling on the wire and stopping the whale's propulsion, seems to be mainstream in the whaling at Zola (when it's a small craft that doesn't have the thrust to stop the whale, it's guessed that they change the whale's propulsion vector by pulling on the wire to make the whale come down on Zola).*
* Translator's note: the Battroid Mode description was originally: "GERWALK Mode / Fighter Mode
It is also possible for the VT-1C to transform into GERWALK mode, which expands the arms and legs, and Battroid mode, with the VT-1C's characteristic head. Graham's privately owned aircraft can also transform into both forms. In the fight with the huge Galactic Whale, it seems to have been indispensable to freely make use of those 2 forms, combined with the Fighter form."
Caption: The Poaching Group, which makes its livelihood by poaching the Galactic Whales, seize the aircraft for consumer use.*
* Translator's note: originally was "(...) poaching the Galactic Whales, succeeds by seizing aircraft for consumer use."
Left: The head, which is equipped with a large, round, sensor camera, appears in Battroid. Also, the sensor parts, which appear to be inserted into the head, are exposed.
Down: Gun Pod
It has a mechanism where a harpoon with a sharp point is installed in the muzzle of the Gun Pod.*
* Translator's note: originally was: "There is a mechanism in the muzzle of the Gun Pod where one can install a harpoon that has a sharp point. After launching, it is necessary to replace the harpoon with a new one.
[o] Left: The aircraft kept in Zola's port.
GERWALK Mode
The basic operation procedures of the VFs for Zolan whaling is to perform atmospheric escape and reentry in Fighter Mode, and whaling in Battroid mode. GERWALK, which is the midway form, isn't used very much. It's said that GERWALK form is really only used when the VF is moving in Zola's undeveloped areas and so on.*
* Translator's note: originally was combined with the "GERWALK Mode / Fighter Mode" description indicated earlier.
Caption: Graham's VT-1C that Basara boarded was transformed from Fighter to Battroid mode, and the Galactic Whales were made to listen to his "songs".
Up/Left: In the GERWALK form, sensors are exposed on both edges of the nose.* Also, one can grasp that an antenna has been extended from the upper part of the fuselage.
* Translator's note: was indicated as an error in the original edition (but left unchanged in the revised edition) and changed to "sensors are exposed on the upper part of the nose."
Battroid Mode [Con't]
[o] Up: The Booster Units that are installed on the back are composed of a simple structure with only a fuel tank and a jet nozzle.
[o] Related Matter: The VF-1 In The 2040's
It's said that the number of VF-1 that could operate without problem dropped sharply around the beginning of the 2040's, because of such things as the VF-1 series, which is the earliest VF, being a handful when it comes to maintenance. Nonetheless, even around the mid-2040's, when Nekki Basara was wandering, the VF-1 appears to have still continued to be operated here and there, such as being for consumer use, for work, or being deployed in garrisons on frontier planets. In addition, the aircraft that Graham and his wife Maria Hoily boarded was originally an aircraft that was sold off from the military. In addition to leaving the Head Laser Machine-gun, the Super Parts were also in a form close to that of the ones for the armed forces (it seems that they probably obtained an aircraft specification that was close to that of the original model, as they sought the necessary fire power to hunt the Galactic Whales). Even though it was composed of the VT-1C's external appearance when Basara later boarded it, some of its actual circumstances seems to be that Graham restored it using VT-1C parts after it was seriously damaged.
Caption: Although the Gun Pod of the VT-1C boarded by Maria Hoily has surely been improved into a Harpoon Gun, both the main body and the Super Parts are a specification close to that of the VF-1, and missiles can also be confirmed in the arm Super Parts.
Caption: Above are the VF-1 operated on the frontier planet that Basara visited. Some of the aircraft are equipped with Super Parts. On the right is a VF-1 that was improved for work, and it was operated in the Macross 7 Fleet.