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Description
Developed in the waning years of piston-driven fighter aircraft, The CentMAR Rapier was conceived and used as a multi-role, multi-service fighter for the Royal Nuevo Valencian Armed Forces and was in service with it's Air Force and Navy in 1944.

The aircraft had a maximum speed of 421mph from a 18-cylinder radial engine, and armed with four 20mm cannons, and was liked by the Air Force, but detested by the mainly carrier based Navy. The differences in opinion stemmed from it's large size and weight, which restricted it to airfields in comparison with what the Navy preferred in smaller and nimbler fighters.

During it's service, it 'tangled' with a litany of foes, given it was introduced at the tail end of a major conflict. Some of them were the new and future jets which it had outsmart more than outfight, and this resulted in it's late and post-war days being used in a ground support.

The type was retired around the mid-50s, the survivors facing varied fates from scraping, to being sold on the cheap to more juvenile and up-and-coming air forces, to more notably being bought for use as air racers with various states of modification.
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Oh, and I'm trying out alpha channels through GIMP, though I'll switch to using borders for the ones that don't.

Description
Developed in the waning years of piston-driven fighter aircraft, The CentMAR Rapier was conceived and used as a multi-role, multi-service fighter for the Royal Nuevo Valencian Armed Forces and was in service with it's Air Force and Navy in 1944.

The aircraft had a maximum speed of 421mph from a 18-cylinder radial engine, and armed with four 20mm cannons, and was liked by the Air Force, but detested by the mainly carrier based Navy. The differences in opinion stemmed from it's large size and weight, which restricted it to airfields in comparison with what the Navy preferred in smaller and nimbler fighters.

During it's service, it 'tangled' with a litany of foes, given it was introduced at the tail end of a major conflict. Some of them were the new and future jets which it had outsmart more than outfight, and this resulted in it's late and post-war days being used in a ground support.

The type was retired around the mid-50s, the survivors facing varied fates from scraping, to being sold on the cheap to more juvenile and up-and-coming air forces, to more notably being bought for use as air racers with various states of modification.
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Oh, and I'm trying out alpha channels through GIMP, though I'll switch to using borders for the ones that don't.