VMA-131 Diamondbacks of CSG-1 Recruiting for A-4E-C

[AcroGimp]

 

Who we are:

VMA-131 Diamondbacks is a virtual Marine Attack Squadron flying the excellent DCS Community A-4E-C Skyhawk Mod, or as she is better known, The Scooter, or Heinemann's Hotrod. A small but potent attacker, The Scooter is an iconic strike aircraft that saw 40 years of service in the US Navy and USMC and is still in use today by military and para-military air forces around the world.

 

The Diamondbacks are attached to Virtual Carrier Strike Group 1 (CSG-1), a committed group of MilSim enthusiasts over 90 strong organized into 8 dedicated Fighter, Attack and Strike squadrons including a medium lift rotary wing support squadron and a dedicated Controller group operating on our own multiplayer server. We are replicating Ashore and Afloat operations in the early-mid 90's timeframe using the Persian Gulf and NTTR maps.

 

VMA-131 was officially stood up December 10, 2018 in recognition of the excellent capabilities of the Community A-4E-C and to add to our existing and expansive Naval Aviation operations that include F\A-18C (VMFA-122 Crusaders, VMA-25 Fist of the Fleet), soon to be joined on deck by the F-14B (our old-school brothers of the 'stache in VF-2 Bounty Hunters and VF-111 Sundowners, currently operating F\A-18C) embarked aboard CVN-74 USS John C. Stennis (alternately Al Dhafra Air Base and bases in NTTR), as well as AV-8B (VMA-231 Ace of Spades), and UH-1H (HMLA-167 Warriors) embarked aboard LHA-1 USS Tarawa. We are supported by MACS-2, "The Eyes of the MAGTF" who provide outstanding live CATCC\ATC as well as JTAC and AWACS services.

 

Squadron Environment:

As CO, DISCO leads the "Rattlers" as the High Arch-Bishop of Scooter-farianism, the one pure faith that recognizes the aerodynamic genius of his holiness the Heinemann and in praise of the Hotrod he has gifted us. Beyond a CO and eventually an XO and Ops Officer there is not likely to be too much structure within VMA-131. CSG-1 does not recognize or issue in-Sim rank although the group includes a large number of current and former Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors as well as active civilian pilots.

 

Specifically for the Diamondbacks, our focus is on fun but procedure oriented MilSim in DCS World, utilizing the full capabilities of the mighty Scooter. The Community A-4E-C Dev Team built a truly amazing free Mod that already rivals many paid-for Modules and we intend to further flesh that out, over time, with additional submods and workarounds to, eventually, faithfully replicate the ultimate version of the Scooter employed by the Marine Corps, the highly capable A-4M Skyhawk II.

 

While we recognize the Community A-4E-C is a free mod we do not coddle her and as Johnny said in Dirty Dancing, 'nobody puts Baby in the corner'. The Scooter was an icon of naval strike aviation with such a fine balance of performance and handling it was the choice mount of the United States Navy Aerial Demonstration Squadron for 13 years (that is the Blue Angels for you heathens out there) and it saw service as a preferred adversary aircraft for training front line Marine Corps and Naval Aviators until fairly recently.

 

Although just standing up and currently operating in a Fleet Replacement Squadron\Replacement Air Group fashion as we develop the specific training for our up-and-coming Scooter Drivers (also introducing them to CSG-1 Standard Operating Procedures), the Diamondbacks and the Scooter will be the go-to resource when infrastructure positively, absolutely has to be blown the F' up, day or night, in any weather - Armed Recon, Close Air Support and Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD), the "Rattlers" and their Scooters will be ready.

 

Our jets feature an outstanding custom skin from PorcoRosso.

Tactical LowVis Grey Line Scheme

 

HiVis CAG

 

How we train and fly:

The first word in Carrier Strike Group One tells you all you need to know - we focus on Carrier aviation. During campaigns essentially all of our operations will begin and end at 'the Boat’ although out of necessity we may operate Ashore here and there. We have official training flights on our private multiplayer server hosted TrainingMap on Tuesday and Sunday nights at 2030 Eastern but Group pilots are typically on our Discord (Virtual Carrier Strike Group 1) daily and pick-up flights on our normal FunMap are a very common occurrence.

 

The rule is train as you would fight and we take that to heart. We are developing an FRS\RAG style Scooter Syllabus that can take a true nugget (new to DCS) to 3rd Degree Master Scooter-farian with all the skills necessary to spread Freedom one explosive little bit at a time, anywhere, anytime, day or night and in any weather - we're like Santa Claus, if Santa was a Mad-Monk Scooter-farian Marine flying a bad-ass little strike jet and instead of giving presents he was dropping chaff and flares, pickling ordnance and calling 'Magnum'.

 

Naturally at this point you are saying to yourself, "Self, how do I get me some of this awesome flying action"? Well fear not, just ask yourself the following questions:

 

Do you reject 'put the thing on the thing' easy mode, preferring instead to center punch your target or accidentally bomb the orphanage due to your own skill like a real man?

 

Do you turn your nose up at all the 'network-centric' this and 'data-link' that, recognizing intrinsicly that this is exactly how Skynet was started, making John Connor our only hope to escape the domination of our Terminator overlords?

 

Do you like the thought of BEING the Navigation System, Lead Computing Gunsight, and Continuously Calculated Impact Point Ballistics Computer all while navigating by ground attack radar, INS, landmarks, a map and a stopwatch - literally sneaking around in the bad guy's backyard?

 

Do you drop Gear, Flaps, Boards and Hook and hand fly your jet to the glory of an OK 3-wire or the shame of a twisted burning ball of steel and aluminum in the potato locker?

 

In short, are you some kind of Pudknocker wannabe or are you an Aviator, a steely-eyed and moustachioed man of action?

 

Do you have what it takes to join this august body of virtual Marine Corps Aviators in the rarified air at 50 feet and the speed of heat driving the baddest little mother in the Valley?

 

VMA-131 Diamondbacks - the 'Rattlers', the Scooter and CSG-1 - home of the last real strike pilots.

 

Drop by our Discord - https://discord.gg/eUKHe2

Edited December 29, 2018 by AcroGimp

[AcroGimp]

VMA-131 Community A-4E-C Videos

 

InstructionalTechnique Videos

Carrier Landing Technique

 

Non-Precision TACAN Instrument Approach

 

Close Air Support (CAS) Keyhole Hold

 

Pilot’s Pocket Checklist (PCL)

 

Fun Flying Videos

Case II Formation Recovery with Dissimilar Aircraft

 

Night Attack with NVG, Ground Attack Radar

 

Formation Flying and CV Charlie Approach and Recovery

 

Basic Fighter Maneuvers

 

Night Carrier Landing

[AcroGimp]

vVMA-131 Diamondbacks still have a few recruiting slots available. With the release of the amazing Tomcat vCSG-1 now has all currently available Naval and Marine Corps jets in active duty.

 

If you are looking for an organization dedicated to serious fun that highlights the capability of the little jet that could as part of a larger group that includes Harriers, Hornets and Tomcats, operating on the same dedicated server come check us out at our Discord - https://discord.gg/RbjNpP

 

To get the juices flowing and give a sample of our operations here is a TacView summary of the Rattlers operating in an Armed Recon capacity decimating a RedFor motorized rifle target as part of an ongoing multi-group Weapons and Tactics Instruction training program.

 

Armament was 8 x Zuni on Pylons 1 and 5, 10 x Mk-81 on Pylons 2 and 4, and a bag of gas on centerline, total mission time was 1:40 - nothing was left alive (15 vehicles, ~200 men).

 

 

If getting right down in it and mixing it up with bad guys is your cup of tea we are your tea party.

 

vVMA-131 Diamonbacks, home of the last real strike pilots.