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Description
The Federation's main cargo plane, gets an upgrade.

There were many references that I tried to break down with this one, while trying to stay as true to the main idea as I could.

With my new, even more toy-like design ethos for my stories, I felt that I shouldn't aim for a more realistic look and slightly more "rule-of-cool" but the main role remains the same (as it has to fit in with already established narratives) and as such, it had to be sort of a fuel-efficient design that switches between long-range patrols and supply-missions with a two-shift crew rotation and barely taxing its cargo-space -and- carrying much heavier loads with fewer personnel and a much reduced flight-range; on such missions the crew compartments in the lower deck could even be repurposed to save space for the payload.

Beecham Cargo-Planes are only ever utilized to carry out strike-missions in times of absolute desperation as their stable and unyielding flight-patterns and low airspeed makes them very easy targets to pick off. They usually rely on keeping a low profile and making attacks against them more costly than they're worth, to keep them safe. They are only armed with one forward-facing gun-turret and one rear-facing one, both requiring cargo-access hatches to be opened and its already low flight-speed to be reduced, to be fired.

The "bridge" is non centralized and modular so it can be moved around inside the craft at will - in fact most of the interior of these planes is entirely modular and as such, its very unlikely to encounter two Beechams that look the same, inside.

Capable of VTOL only when carrying minimal cargo, they're usually limited to STOL and can only be staged on land when basically unladen as their landing-gear is unable to support much more than the weight of the hull alone. They do have a lot of buoyancy on their side though and can skim the water's surface for a long time if need be and thus can make improvised cargo-ships as well.

Description
The Federation's main cargo plane, gets an upgrade.

There were many references that I tried to break down with this one, while trying to stay as true to the main idea as I could.

With my new, even more toy-like design ethos for my stories, I felt that I shouldn't aim for a more realistic look and slightly more "rule-of-cool" but the main role remains the same (as it has to fit in with already established narratives) and as such, it had to be sort of a fuel-efficient design that switches between long-range patrols and supply-missions with a two-shift crew rotation and barely taxing its cargo-space -and- carrying much heavier loads with fewer personnel and a much reduced flight-range; on such missions the crew compartments in the lower deck could even be repurposed to save space for the payload.

Beecham Cargo-Planes are only ever utilized to carry out strike-missions in times of absolute desperation as their stable and unyielding flight-patterns and low airspeed makes them very easy targets to pick off. They usually rely on keeping a low profile and making attacks against them more costly than they're worth, to keep them safe. They are only armed with one forward-facing gun-turret and one rear-facing one, both requiring cargo-access hatches to be opened and its already low flight-speed to be reduced, to be fired.

The "bridge" is non centralized and modular so it can be moved around inside the craft at will - in fact most of the interior of these planes is entirely modular and as such, its very unlikely to encounter two Beechams that look the same, inside.

Capable of VTOL only when carrying minimal cargo, they're usually limited to STOL and can only be staged on land when basically unladen as their landing-gear is unable to support much more than the weight of the hull alone. They do have a lot of buoyancy on their side though and can skim the water's surface for a long time if need be and thus can make improvised cargo-ships as well.