About the defender.. The reason the cockpit is like that is to let the pilot have ALOT of viewspace around him/her. The reasoning for making the defender As-is is that when you fold the wings inward, you get something resembling a torpedo.. which i suspect was highly intentional. If you have a torpedo shaped ship, you can simply put it in the larger ships torpedo tube and launch it that way. No landing pad needed.
Same with the valkyrie you made.. the cockpit is now set between the two pods denying the pilot to see any direction but forward backward and up.