That interceptor is really nice but it doesn't really have that Star Wars vibe to it, more of Gundam or Macross if you know what I mean.

Seriously did all the trekkies forget that the the ships in question were incapable of successful atmospheric flight? Only a few like Voyager could pull it off and even for it that was a risky white-knuckle venture.

Or more importantly the saving grace, deflector shield array? Which you know, creates a shield with whatever shape it wants so that matter up to a certain density or objects up to certain size are magically pushed away from the leading edge(s), so that they could make its own aerodynamics in emergencies but even that wouldn't allow flight. More just semi-controlled descent. AKA oh-crap-were-going-down-try-to-die-less-hard-pls. It was the same trek-tech that kept the ships safe at warp speed by stopping tiny particulates and space dust or even nebula gas from being deadly ship killers.

Anywho I like the E-wing. Didn't at first but what the hell. It's like an A-10. Ugly only a mother could love.

That interceptor looks sweet as hell. And what engine do you see with wash over verticals? That's a cannon rack on the underside. For you know, aesthetics.

You for got Structural Integrity Fields (SIF). Shields help protect the ship from outside forces, SIF help protect the ship from itself. Also, I believe that there were some major advances (mentioned in ST canon, or not) in engineering and metallurgy.

So, it is not fair to criticize the design based on early 20th Century materials use and engineering.

It is, however, fair to criticize any blatant violations of the Laws of Physics...

... as we understand them...

At any rate, it is all the work of Sci-Fi imagination.

The Enterprise was always a nonsensical design from an engineering standpoint. The saucer is, indeed, a good design if it's aerodynamic. But the Enterprise's saucer was anything but. It had far too many angles and perpendicular lines for it to function well as a true flying saucer in an atmosphere, which was proved in this photo:

Yes, that's a real Enterprise model in a wind tunnel. And its aerodynamics are HORRIBLE.

That's just the beginning. Its struts make no sense because they would sheer off with very much force from the impulse engines, which are explicitly stated to function on Newtonian impulse principles. So would the engineering hull, actually. And all you'd have left was a saucer with no FTL capability, because the aeronautical engineers failed to consider its structure before they placed the components, which is one of the "seven deadly sins" of aerospace design. All aerospace designs place the engines near the center of mass when they can, and the Enterprise's engines are as far from it as possible. People saying the science in Star Trek is superior to the science in Star Wars always fail to consider that engineering is also a science, and Star Trek butchers it far more often than Star Wars does. The Enterprise-D is better, but only just. It would fail any OSHA inspection, seeing as how the failsafes fail on a regular basis and the lifeboats apparently aren't functional considering we've never once seen them launched in ANY emergency situation, up to and including the destruction of the ship.

Heh, I have no idea how the topic got here, but hey, I feel like it's sort of my place to comment on this since mechanical engineering is my choice of study at uni (aeronautical being a close second).

Thank you so much.

The Enterprise was always a nonsensical design from an engineering standpoint. The saucer is, indeed, a good design if it's aerodynamic. But the Enterprise's saucer was anything but. It had far too many angles and perpendicular lines for it to function well as a true flying saucer in an atmosphere, which was proved in this photo: Yes, that's a real Enterprise model in a wind tunnel. And its aerodynamics are HORRIBLE. That's just the beginning. Its struts make no sense because they would sheer off with very much force from the impulse engines, which are explicitly stated to function on Newtonian impulse principles. So would the engineering hull, actually. And all you'd have left was a saucer with no FTL capability, because the aeronautical engineers failed to consider its structure before they placed the components, which is one of the "seven deadly sins" of aerospace design. All aerospace designs place the engines near the center of mass when they can, and the Enterprise's engines are as far from it as possible. People saying the science in Star Trek is superior to the science in Star Wars always fail to consider that engineering is also a science, and Star Trek butchers it far more often than Star Wars does. The Enterprise-D is better, but only just. It would fail any OSHA inspection, seeing as how the failsafes fail on a regular basis and the lifeboats apparently aren't functional considering we've never once seen them launched in ANY emergency situation, up to and including the destruction of the ship. Heh, I have no idea how the topic got here, but hey, I feel like it's sort of my place to comment on this since mechanical engineering is my choice of study at uni (aeronautical being a close second).

The way the Warp Drive functions, the nacelles have to be placed at the edges of the design.

As correct as you are about stresses in Newtonian space, I do think it plausible that material science of the 24th century would be able to deal with those stresses fairly easily. Keep in mind that they can manipulate gravity fairly routinely, and can actually turn energy into matter with enough precision to make the result tasty _and_ nutritious.

The Romulans actually power their ships with black holes. No idea how that works, but the engineering requirements are staggering to contemplate.

Speaking of the Romulans, their warbirds do keep the warp nacelles at the rough center of mass- while still keeping the nacelles at the edges of the design. Neat trick!

When I read about the C-Wing, this was all I could think of.

More of a D-wing...

Ehm... No, I think it looks more like a Ð-wing

Point! SIF were a thing! Strong too as I recall Jadzia Dax reshapes one inside a room to create an impromptu bridge to a traped crew member. Or maybe that was one of the automatic emergency fields.

Also it should be pointed out that the main drive Impulse engines ARE in fact centrally mounted on the frame usually on the back of the saucer section and on the mast section between the saucer and the engineering section. The warp drive doesn't even provide 'thrust' in a traditional sense if you allow the imagination to break the laws of physics. It just screws with the space around the ship so that it ends up going forward. So really none of the rules of modern aircraft design matter.

When I read about the C-Wing, this was all I could think of.

More of a D-wing...

Ehm... No, I think it looks more like a Ð-wing

I see a capital 'G' Wing. Thats it. I'm naming mine the Tatooine Homie G!

When I read about the C-Wing, this was all I could think of.

More of a D-wing...

Which almost existed.

When I saw this concept art, I was extremely disappointed that it didn't happen.

Uh...yeah, that's pretty darn cool right there. Wish that was a ship.

When I read about the C-Wing, this was all I could think of.

More of a D-wing...

Which almost existed.

When I saw this concept art, I was extremely disappointed that it didn't happen.

Uh...yeah, that's pretty darn cool right there. Wish that was a ship.

It's easily my most favorite piece of unused concept art for Episode III. **** things looks like it could fly. Almost.

When I read about the C-Wing, this was all I could think of.

More of a D-wing...

Which almost existed.

When I saw this concept art, I was extremely disappointed that it didn't happen.

Uh...yeah, that's pretty darn cool right there. Wish that was a ship.

It's easily my most favorite piece of unused concept art for Episode III. **** things looks like it could fly. Almost.

Looks like an awing, Jedi star fighter and snow speeder had a threesome and popped this bad boy out. I agree pretty cool ship