Before the helicarrier, SHIELD used modified C-17s as mobile command aircraft.
Upon Coulsons return to duty after being wounded by Loki,
Nick Fury ordered one of these old craft to be reinstated and refit by Stark industries,
to be used as a mobile base by Coulson and his new team.
They called it the Bus.
As part of its pedigree as a command center,
the aircraft had an extremely high amount of connectivity with the rest of SHIELD,
and could still be used to coordinate large scale efforts if the need arose.
Since the craft was designed to be used for long term flights,
it had everything that may have been needed by its crew on board;
a briefing room,
sleeping pods
and a galley.
There was even a special third deck above and behind the flight deck
for the CO of the aircraft to use,
with its own fold out bed, and a not very well hidden safe.
Rather extravagantly, its ceiling contained a large skylight.
To fully enable Coulsons team to be the most effective it could be,
a number of special features were added during the refit.
The most important of these was the interrogation room, colloquially known as the Cage.
Since Coulsons team was expected to come into contact with potentially enhanced
individuals and dangerous objects, the Cage was built to be extremely secure.
To this end, the entire thing was built out of a silicon-carbide-vibranium alloy,
with a hatch located in the ceiling for ejecting anything that was too dangerous to be contained.
It’s strange that the Cage was located on the upper deck of the aircraft,
as this meant that anything being ejected from the hatch was at risk of collision
with the vertical stabiliser almost immediately behind it.
Another key feature of the Bus was the laboratory for the teams two scientists,
Fitz and Simmons, to examine items and people that the team came across.
This had everything the pair needed to do their work, as well as medical equipment and supplies
for dealing with relatively minor injuries.
It also included a holotable to examine objects
without needing the actual item at hand, though not everyone on board was proficient in its use.
After the public fall of SHIELD and the team's subsequent relocation,
the lab was largely cleaned out and its equipment transferred to their new base at the Playground.
The rear cargo ramp of the C-17 was retained for the aircraft,
along with a small portion of the original cargo bay. This area held the teams two ground vehicles,
a SHIELD SUV, and Coulsons treasured flying car, Lola. Both of these vehicles were frequently
deployed from the ramp, both on the ground and even in the air. The team could also
use the ramp for skydive infiltrations. When not in use for cargo, the extra space didn’t
go to waste as the specialists on the team used it for training and exercise.
Forward of the lab was the general utility area, where the electronic equipment for the aircraft,
such as communications and servers, was housed. Cargo or medical pods could also be mounted in
this area through hatches along the side of the fuselage, where they could also be ejected from,
even in flight. This seems ludicrously risky to do though,
since they could’ve easily collided with the engines.
Also included in this utility area was the control room for the aircrafts weapon systems;
a pair of what seemed to be missile launch tube turrets that popped out of the wing roots.
Later on, the craft is shown with a large gun mounted under the nose,
but this was never fired and may merely have been a ruse to trick General Talbot.
By far the most impressive feature of the aircraft was its engines, of which it had an extra two
mounted onto new half-length wings sprouting from the tail. Outwardly, all the engines appeared
to be regular turbofans, like on any other large jet aircraft. However, these engines could unlock
from their normal flight position and rotate, giving the Bus full VTOL capability. To further
differentiate them from normal turbojets, they also appeared to have some kind of afterburner
mode for when additional thrust was needed. These engines also enabled the Bus’s party trick;
SHIELD headquarters could completely override all flight controls to have the craft fly
and even land itself back at base, whether those on board wanted it to or not.
Even though Agent May was an extremely capable pilot, it is likely that these automated
systems provided significant assistance when in VTOL mode, especially in poor weather.
While it seems that the additional rear engines were added for VTOL stability,
in normal flight they were placed almost directly behind the forward engines,
meaning they would be sucking on hot exhaust.
This could’ve been mitigated by making these rear engines smaller so they could breathe
the air coming from between the forward engines. Also, since aircraft have their weight balanced
around their wings, the rear engines wouldn’t need to be as powerful in order to lift up the
rear of the craft in VTOL mode. It may be that the sheer mass of the materials used in the Cage
shifted the balance further back, but why not simply build it in the middle of the aircraft?
This balanced location in line with the wings was where the Bus’s final
as-standard feature was located;
docking clamps.
These allowed smaller aircraft to carefully land
on top of and firmly connect to the Bus, facilitating crew or prisoner transfers,
although it's not clear exactly how people moved between the two aircraft.
The Bus was so stable in flight it could even transition to VTOL mode,
land and takeoff while carrying this second plane.
After SHIELD was declared a terrorist organisation and
Coulson took over as Director, the Bus was upgraded with helicarrier stealth technology
that was taken from a stolen quinjet. This could even keep the craft hidden
while another was docked with it, as long as the second craft also had the technology.
Overall, the Bus was the perfect vehicle for Coulson and his team. Its special features,
combined with the sheer competency of the group,
enabled them to take on the highly unusual tasks that they were assigned to.
However, it lost much of its relevance after the team began using the
Playground as a permanent base, and shifted to Quinjets for most of their transportation needs.
Eventually, the Bus was allowed to be destroyed by Hydra to provide a
cover for rescuing captured team members.
Lessons learned from the time Coulsons team spent using it
were later integrated into its successor;
Zephyr One.
If you enjoyed this video, please leave a like, and consider subscribing for more.
Thanks!