Created as a submission to the 96 parts Challenge

F-96 Spearhead
A small, cheap, and fast aircraft, the F-96 was made primarily for export to foreign nations. With 4 hard points spread both on the top and bottom of the wings, the Spearhead can carry air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, bombs, and external cannons. Combined with a single afterburning turbojet, the F-96 serves as a great, economical interceptor for incoming enemy bombers.

History
Although the F-96 Spearhead was meant to be a small, cheap, fast, and economical interceptor, it was only able to fulfill one of these promises, which was being small. It is true that the starting price of the F-96 was well below that of other fighters at the time, but that was mainly due to the exclusion of anything that was standard on a fighter, like an internal gun, radar, weapons control, hydromechanical flight control system(still used pullies, cables, and pushrods), and an ejection seat. It was also quite slow for an afterburning jet of the time, only able to reach Mach 1 in a steep dive. And worse of all, it was anything but economical. The engines absolutely guzzled fuel from lower thrust to afterburner, the maintenance on the craft took hundreds of man-hours per couple of flight hours, and the spare parts were only available from "Certified Manufacturers". In every aspect, the Spearhead should have failed commercially, but it didn't. Through the combination of deceptive marketing and government lobbying, it was a commercial success in small, corrupt nations that felt threatened by their neighbors in their respective regions. In the end, over 3000 were manufactured and sold, even at a profit.

Today, there are only several dozen airframes still in active service, mostly by small dictatorships under intense international sanctions. It is still a mystery how these airframes are being kept in operational order since no replacement parts have been produced for several decades, but they are still seen flying during military parades and propaganda films.

Controls
-AG1 - N/A
-AG2 - N/A
-AG3 - N/A
-AG4 - N/A
-AG5 - N/A
-AG6 - N/A
-AG7 - Canopy
-AG8 - N/A
-Landing Gear - Landing Gear(duh)
-Trim - Trim(also duh)
-VTOL - Flaps(0 to -100%)
-Throttle - Throttle(duh x3)

Flight Recommendations
-For takeoff, set throttle to 65%, trim to -75%, and VTOL(flaps) to -100%. Pitch up after the front gear lifts on its own. Set Flaps to 0% and trim to 50% after takeoff
-During landing, throttle is recommended at about 30-40% with about half trim and full downwards flaps, keep airspeed above 250 km/h, and brake slowly after contact.
-During a high load turn, deploying flaps will help you turn better.
-Aircraft will become less maneuverable if below 200 mph, and stalls at around 175 mph

Design Notes
- This aircraft is 100% fictional and original
- Inspired mostly by the English Electric Lighting and the A-7 Corsair II
- I wanted to make a weird plane that still could make sense, and I came up with this ugly little thing
- weirdly placed gun pod go brrrrr