Not that long ago, aimlessly browsing Wikipedia -- as you do -- through the "Random Article" button, I came across... well I can't remember what the first article was, actually -- as you do. All I know is that I frantically wanted to remember the name of a bizarre variant of the Messershmitt Bf 109 that I found through IL-2 Sturmovik.
Bizarre how, you ask? It was a version built in the same vein as the American P-82 -- which was basically two P-51 Mustangs stuck together -- that was two Bf 109 airframes attached through one shared center wing. Naturally, this made me think of perhaps my favorite aircraft that came out of the 40s, the P-38 Lightning. While browsing the article for the P-38, having since abandoned the search for the Bf 109 variant, I came across an interesting designation that I'd never seen before: "Northrop P-61 Black Widow." Suffering from acute WikiADD, I of course followed the link and found a plane with an appearance that immediately gripped me, somehow.
I don't know what it is about it. The glass canopy in the aft, the twin booms not unlike those in the P-38, the double canopy in the fore, or the appearance of a remotely controlled turret on a plane so small, even just the shape of the main fuselage. Part of it must stem from my fascination with helicopters and that except for the elongated nose, the double canopy in the front reminds me of something you'd see in one (like in the Russian Hind).
Needless to say, I desperately want to emulate the plane's design, but in something not simply an aircraft. My first inclination is to morph it into something that would operate in space in some sci-fi setting. The challenge here comes from wanting to do it in such a way that it would appear to be a craft purpose-built for combat outside atmosphere -- meaning no airfoils, wings, or pointless control surfaces -- but without destroying it's original aesthetic. I'm not sure how I'll pull this off, but I'm looking forward to trying.
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