Hybrid configurations in aircraft design are highly favorable as they can achieve the appropriate trade-offs required to develop a generalized unmanned aerial system. Rapid prototyping of such systems at the student level is a challenge because commercial software is expensive and difficult to interlink with other tools for creating a multi-disciplinary design. In this paper, an all-electric unmanned aerial system with both Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) and Fixed-Wing (FW) capabilities is designed and optimized for long range surveillance and relief operations. The entire design and simulation pipeline from concept to render is done using completely open-source software, libraries and in-house code. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is equipped with on-board computers and sensors, and is designed to operate in an ad-hoc WiFi network with a swarm of similar UAVs. A prototype is fabricated, integrated and tested as well. A comparison with commercial codes and programs is done parallel to each design step. The study is concluded by discussing the primary challenges of using free software and testing a UAV with a hybrid configuration.