Cutaways

1. Starboard reheat turbo jet atferburner.

2. Bled-off air duct for retro braking.

3. Turbine, driving compressor.

4. Firing chamber.

5. Compressor blades.

6. Fuel pumps.

7. Brackets supporting high tensile activation rod.

8. Hydrolic rams, operating activating rod which controls the angle of the wings during landing procedures.  In an emergency, the wings can be rotated a full ninety degrees to act as an airbrake.

9. Internal brackets supporting activating rod within the rotating outer section of wing.

10.  Starboard landing gear pivot. When landing, the undercarriage swings out ninety degrees from the line of the fuselage while the wheels unfold downwards.

11. Duel landing wheels, shown folded under landing gear stanchions when not in use.

12. Galley, leading to toilet and additional storage area beyond.

13. Exit hatches, separated by pressure bulkhead airlock.  Each door swings downward and contains an integrated gantry and hand rail.

14. The roomy cabin can be converted to serve many purposes, including a VIP lounge, conference or planning room and on some versions, with full capacity seating as a personnel carrier.

15. Fuselage section incorporating fuel tanks, control lines and service ducts.

16. Fuel, water and oxygen tanks.

17. Central fuel tank.

18. Port side of fuselage contains baggage hold, supplies and extra storage spaces.

19. Starboard stabiliser, used to maintain stability at supersonic speeds and to keep the aircraft's nose up when landing on Cloudbase.

20. Forward landing gear.

21. Cockpit, with seating for pilot, and either co-pilot, radio operator or occasionally even a passenger.

22. Pressure bulkhead, within which are control systems and central flight computer.

23. Radar antennae.

24. Nose probe with gust detectors, air speed and pressure instrumentation.

Elevations

Passenger cabin

The SPJ cockpit, seen from exterior. Taken from episode 1, "The Mysterons"

The roomy cabin (1) can be quickly converted to serve many purposes: V.I.P. lounge, or with full capacity seating as a personnel carrier. The cockpit (2) can take pilot and co-pilot, navigator/radio operator, or with pilot only and a “black box/ taking the crew’s place. The stabilisers (3) become necessary at supersonic speeds and also help to keep a nose-up attitude when landing on Cloudbase. Separated by pressure bulkhead (4) the instrument compartment contains radar antennae(5) and flight computer links serving gust detectors and air-speed indicators in the nose probe (6).

Landing gear

It is unusually light and compact.

The diagrams show it extended at (A), beginning to retract with wheels folded under (B), and swinginginboard (C).

When landing, theentire outer wing turns through 90 degrees to act as an airbrake. Hydraulic rams (1) rotatethe high-tensile actuating rod connecting the two wings. This is attached to the main fuselage members at brackets (2) and to the wings at (3).

The shadowed area behind the undercarriage shows the wing position for normal flight.

Ejecting cabin (2068 upgrade)

In 2068, Spectrum research developed a nose probe capsule for immediate ejection if the main craft has been destroyed and emergency control is useless.  Once the main craft is rendered immobile after an attack, a small explosive charge ejects the pilot cockpit and cabin from the fuselage.  During ejection, twin stabilising fins deploy from the capsule and force air through the turbos.  Once the engines within the stabilisers have been brought into operation, the craft can be piloted on the same principle as the main craft.

An emergency fuel cell is housed within each fin and brought into immediate operation the moment the cabin is ejected.  These fins give sufficient air lift to the rear portion of the capsule to ensure a controlled descent and subsequent glide to the ground.