Sky Crawlers plane artwork - Lautern TULIP

The LAF receives its final fighter artwork for the forseeable future with the Lautern TULIP.

Despite being one of my favourite planes in SC, this little bastard was hard to draw. Once again I had to resort to paused youtube vids to draw this from and could only barely make out the damn outlines, so many apologies if it looks more "blurry" than usual. Add the usual perspective problems and that´s about everything that went wrong with this one... which is a lot...

Anyway, movin´on:

Name (codename): TULIP

Operator: Lautern Air Force

Type: Fighter

Overview: A small sized, lightweight, twin-turbo tractor fighter of Lautern design, designated "TULIP" by Rostock intel, the TULIP is Lautern´s closest equivalent to the Rostock Shougu. This single seater is a noticeable deviation from the Lautern Air Force´s main trend of larger, double engined aircraft. Boasting superior mobility with impressive maneuverability and outstanding speed, the TULIP was made for the agressive and evasive dogfighters, having a turn radius, climb rate and general high speed sustainable maneuverability that many a fighter would envy. Its armament, nothing less than 2 cannons and 4 machine guns , makes it a strong fighter when on the offensive. The TULIP´s Achilles´ Heel resides in it´s lacking defenses. It´s armor is the single thinnest out of any Lautern monoplane aircraft, making the first few hits it sustains, wether the plane makes it back or not, usually also the last. A high degree of skill in offensive and defensive maneuvers is required to pilot this plane effectively, which is why TULIPs are more often than not seen predominantly in the hands of intermediate and veteran Lautern pilots. Though, once caught in Rostock gunsights, it can be quickly disposed of, the TULIP´s skilled set of pilots, high speed, excellent maneuverability, small size and powerfull armament ensure it will always be a demanding challenge for any Rostock pilot flying against it.

Notes:

- It was a TULIP that shot down Captain Yamasaki´s Suiga and killed the cougar squad top Ace in the crash in "Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces".

- The TULIP was likely phased out along with most of its contemporary models when the RAINBOW entered service.

That´s one more settled down, onto whatever comes next.

Stay awesome, DA ;D

Other Sky Crawlers plane artwork:

- Suiga - [link]

- Skyly J2 - [link]

- Shougu - [link]

- VICE - [link]

- Sanka Mk. B - [link]

- RAINBOW - [link]

- INCIDENT - [link]

- FISSION - [link]

(more coming soon)