Stormbird

The Stormbird was the Imperial dropship used by the Space Marine Legions during the Great Crusade just before the outbreak of the Horus Heresy and the introduction of the Thunderhawk gunship still used at the present time by almost all Space Marine Chapters. They were void-capable as well as capable of atmospheric flight. The actual Adeptus Mechanicus pattern type of the Stormbird was the Warhawk VI. The Stormbird played a similar tactical role to that of the Thunderhawk gunship today, and it had many weapons for supporting troops while deploying planetside from its front hatch. Stormbirds were first manufactured on Terra by the Yndonesic Bloc for use against the Panpacific tribes during the Unification Wars that united all of Terra under the rule of the Emperor of Mankind before the start of the Great Crusade in the 31st Millennium. Their wings can be folded or collapsed back against the Stormbird's chassis in some manner when the spacecraft was not in-atmosphere. A Stormbird was bulkier and larger than a Thunderhawk and also less agile in flight. However, the Stormbird could carry up to the equivalent of a modern Space Marine company, between 60 and 100 Space Marines. The Stormbird had missiles slung under both wings and a powerful cannon mounted on its nose. Stormbirds were piloted by two Space Marines sitting back to back along with two Servitors hardwired into the vessel. It is not known what a Stormbird actually looked like, yet early drawings of the Thunderhawk show organic, large, and Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) capable Imperial landing craft dropping Space Marines on a target and it is assumed that the Stormbird looked much like these early pattern Thunderhawks, only larger.