Subscribe to download
Piper L-4H Rosie the Rocketer Take-Off Boost 1.3 by Uncle T

WORKS IN 1.8 NOW!
FOR VERSION 1.3!

This is my take on the Piper L-4H Grasshopper reconnaissance aircraft.
This particular version is "Rosie the Rocketer" piloted by Lt. Col. Charles "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter. Inspired by other L-4 pilots he strapped 6 bazookas to his plane and managed to destroy or disable several armoured vehicles and was officially credited with 6 destroyed tanks during the autumn of 1944.

It's an approximation, not a 1:1 replica. (I know some proportions are a bit messed up.)

The Grasshopper was produced in large numbers during WW2 and used for among other things reconnaissance, artillery spotting, liaison, medical transport and ground control.
The L-4 Grasshopper was mechanically identical to the J-3 civilian Cub, but was distinguishable by the use of a Plexiglas greenhouse skylight and rear windows for improved visibility,

Alt controls to fly.
W/S: Variable throttle.
S: Ground brakes.
A/D: Ground steering/Yaw. *
Up/Down arrow: Pitch.
Left/Right arrow: Roll.
Fire action 1-6/Num 1-6: "Bazookas". **
X/Disable steering: Take-Off Boost.

The new aerodynamics in 1.3 is IMO an improvement on the 1.2 version in many ways, but sadly the reduced lift on aerodynamic parts makes it almost impossible for small planes with weak engines to get off the ground. Up to 80-90 kph there's almost no discernable lift and control surfaces have no effect, and if the engine is quite weak it takes forever to reach 80+ kph that you need to be able to take off and the risk of the plane veering off course seems to increase the slower you accelerate.

UPDATE!
The actual top speed of this plane was only 140 kph which means I've had to increase it a bit for the plane to be able to fly in the current disastrous aerodynamics.
To overcome the issues mentioned above with as weak an engine as this I have deviced a double throttle system.
1. When taking of use the Turbo Boost (X/Disabled steering) to use the full power of the engine.
2. Once you're airborne turn this OFF! The power needed to get the plane in the air makes it go 400+ kph if you leave this on, and it's not realistic (duh!) nor is the plane designed or trimmed to go that fast. But feel free to have fun with it of course. :)
3. This solution makes you fly with the engine maxing out at about 3,300 rpm, but it's a lot better than cutting the engine out completely IMO.

* The real thing does not have any steering on the main landing gear but I added a little to help with the annoying swerving on the ground.

** Since it's impossible to strap the in-game RPG to the plane and since it's as impossible to build tiny bazookas these rockets will have to do. Since they are so short they seem to be even more prone to inaccurate behaviour than missiles usually do but it's what I can accomplish considering size and weight are issues.
ADD-ON! The new material physics in 1.4 has sadly made Nitor even in foam containers less likely to explode on impact so the rockets quite often just bounce off. There's nothing I can do about that until we get a much smaller RC unit and sensors.

Feel free to edit, but if you re-upload publically in any way please acknowledge the original creation and creator.

Have fun!