P-45 Nokota

"It isn't something you do. It's something you are. Ever since you heard them whisper that your grandpa was a dogfighter in the war, you knew deep in your bones that you too had found your destiny. Sure, you had to kill a lot of pets and strays before you learned what that really meant. But now you're out on parole, and the P-45 Nokota is the only aircraft worthy of your dream. So fire her up, make for the border, and do the old man proud. Please note: This aircraft is excluded from Pegasus Lifestyle Management and must be stored in a personal hangar."

- Warstock Cache & Carry description.

The P-45 Nokota is a fighter aircraft featured in Grand Theft Auto Online as part of the Smuggler's Run update, released on November 7th, 2017, during the P-45 Nokota Week event.

Grand Theft Auto Online
The P-45 Nokota is reminiscent of many classic WWII-era fighter planes, mainly the for the overall design, wings and cockpit. The nose resembles those from an early A or B model North American P-51 Mustang, powered by a.

The P-45 Nokota takes the design of a single-seater "interceptor" aircraft with a relatively large and sectioned fuselage, where the nose houses a large four-bladed propeller, a small intake below the spinner and numerous exhausts on the sides. Around the middle section, there are the small cockpit with a sliding canopy and the main wings mounted at the base of the aircraft (low-wing setup) with the inner air brakes/flaps and the outer ailerons, while the underside has dedicated hatches for the main landing gear and a long intake. The tail boom houses the empennage with a radio mast and cable connected to the top of the vertical stabilizer, while the lower side has two small hatches for the tail wheel. There is also an open rear vent whose hatch seems to close as the aircraft gains more airspeed.

The interior of the aircraft is rather small and features a seemingly vertical flight instrument, with the brown and yellow dial set similar to aircraft like the LF-22 Starling and the V-65 Molotok. A battery can be seen behind the pilot seat.

The primary color is applied to most of the aircraft, while the secondary color is applied to the rotor spinner, wing tips and vertical stabilizer. The aircraft can also be modified with unique liveries, such as that of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF). Its wheels are of a unique design, being eight-spoke rims with a circular center.

The vehicle is armed with a set of six machine guns presumably based on the (standard armament of the real-life P51 Mustang and other similar aircraft). It can be also modified with missile launchers resembling M10 triple-tube rocket launchers (although the real-life version is loaded with, while the Nokota uses guided/unguided missiles).

Vehicle
The plane is particularly fast for its design. The single V12 engine proves useful for mobility and speed, while the agility of the plane remains similar to that of other small-sized propeller-powered planes in the game, such as the Mallard.

When the aircraft's landing gear is down, the plane's flaps will automatically lower to redirect airflow, effectively slowing the player down. This can be advantageous when attempting to make quicker maneuvers, such as scissor turns or attempting to turn fight jet aircraft. One must be careful while landing this plane, as it has a tendency to nose down during slow landings. This could damage the propeller, rendering the plane useless. Lowering the landing gear also allows more attack time if diving on a ground target from a steep angle. With the engine powered off in mid-air, the Nokota can glide for a very respectable distance relative to altitude, which may come in handy if the aircraft is damaged to the point of trailing black smoke.

As stated above, the Nokota is powered by a V12 engine, evidenced by the number of exhausts on either side. Clipping the camera through the nose or breaking the propeller will reveal a partially-rendered engine model, further supporting its V-shaped configuration. The engine sound is rather unique, as it has a higher-pitched sound in comparison to most light aircraft, yet lower-pitched than the one used in the Seabreeze.

Defense
The armor of the Nokota remains at the same level as most aircraft featured in the update, able to withstand two homing missiles before being destroyed with a third one. Its agility, as well as its countermeasures, makes the plane a strong contender against jet-powered aircraft and most weaponized land vehicles, as it can resort to its mobility to evade missiles.

Countermeasures
The vehicle can be fitted with countermeasures to improve its defensive capabilities against homing missiles, each one with their own attributes:
 * The Chaff countermeasure disrupts the targeting system from missile launchers, rendering them unable to lock on the aircraft for five seconds. They have a delay of five seconds before being used again and only have 10 uses.
 * The Flare countermeasure drops various flares from around the rear of the aircraft, which can "disorient" the homing missile in order to avoid chasing the aircraft. They have a delay of three seconds before being used again and only have 20 uses.
 * The Smoke countermeasure creates a trail of smoke that can disorient the enemy pilot, but its effectiveness is very limited, as the trail is large enough for a standard cockpit and the enemy pilot would just need to move away and follow the smoke trail. It has no delay between uses and can be used indefinitely.

Weaponry
The Nokota features a large array of weaponry, making it a strong competitor in dog fighting:
 * Machine Gun: By default, the Nokota has four machine guns mounted on the wings of the aircraft. These weapons have moderate fire rate, but deal high damage per bullet. These weapons are functionally the same as the other aircraft guns from the Smuggler's Run update, but the increased fire rate provides better damage against most aircraft. As the guns are placed on the leading edge of the Nokota's wings, care must be taken to maintain a suitable distance from the intended target for greater accuracy, as shots at close range are significantly less accurate.
 * Missiles: The Nokota can be equipped with missile launchers, which can be fired with either "homing on" or with "homing off". These missiles do not have a "reload" cooldown time, like the Hydra or Buzzard Attack Chopper and can be fired every second similar to the Savage. These missiles have "poor" tracking and will struggle to hit moving targets, and will fly for about five seconds before detonating. Unlike most aircraft, which alternate between left and right launchers after each shot, the Nokota alternates between both after firing three missiles from one launcher.

Despite being a piston-driven propeller aircraft and its lack of control surfaces, a Nokota with fully upgraded handling will outmaneuver a player-controlled P-996 LAZER at high speeds. Sufficient damage can then be inflicted via the machine guns to force either a bail out or intentional crash landing.

Air Freight Cargo

 * Provided during an Air Freight Cargo Steal mission involving taking out enemy jets and retrieving a package.

Adversary Modes

 * Stockpile I & VI
 * Air Quota (vehicle list 1)

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Can be purchased on Warstock Cache & Carry for $2,653,350 or for $1,995,000 (after completing 39 Air Freight Cargo source missions), provided the player already owns a Hangar.
 * Classed as a Small Aircraft.

General

 * A Nokota is a feral American horse as are Mustangs, which is an obvious reference to the aircraft's real life counterpart, the.
 * The P- designation of the plane is possibly a reference to the older combat aircraft designation system of the 1924-1963 United States Army Air Service, where P- meant "Pursuit", which was eventually replaced by today's F- for "Fighter." Since the Nokota is a WWII-era fighter, it makes sense that the plane uses the old designation.
 * The 45 may be a nod to Rockstar North's British roots; is a tax form in the United Kingdom which denotes termination of employment.
 * In real life, the P-45 was an initial designation of Bell P-39C Airacobra which later became P-39D.
 * Due to most of the Nokota's liveries having invasion stripes, it is possible the Nokota served during D-Day.
 * The P-45 Nokota's default silver and red spawn colour is a clear reference to the P-51 Mustangs in Red Tails, similar to the Rustler in GTA San Andreas, which also references this.
 * During the Smuggler's Run Week, its name is mispelled as "PF-45 Nokota", with an extra "F" on the designation.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * The Cupid's Itch livery is based on the paintjob of the plane named "Quick Silver." It also takes inspiration from the "Blue Nosed Bastards" squadron.
 * The Pecker Checker livery is based on the paintjob of the 325th Fighter Group, 318th Fighter Squadron, which was known as the "Checkertail Clan."
 * The Dirty Gertie livery is mostly based on the paintjob of the plane named "Big Beautiful Doll", with the addition of invasion stripes on the wings and rear fuselage.
 * The Rootin' Tootin' livery is loosely based on the paintjob of the plane named "Ferocious Frankie", with the addition of a pin-up girl design on the nose.
 * The Shrapnel Catcher livery is based on the paintjob of a German-captured P-51D Mustang used for training purposes. This airframe does not have a unique name.
 * Despite having six guns, only four of them are functional, since it reuses the quad-gun set similar to the Annihilator and the Nightshark.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Likely due to steering off-set issues, the P-45 Nokota appears to pivot from the center of the aircraft when travelling on ground, as oppose to the conventional rear landing gear wheel. The same applies to the Mogul and the Tula.
 * The main gear wheels will sometimes clip through the hatches when retracted.

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