"The Gunfighter" & "River Patrol"

[[R-DEV]2Slick4U]

"The Gunfighter"

In continuing our "Navy Theme" for this set of news posts. I am proud to present another aviation legend, The A7 Corsair II. While not really the "true" gunfighter, (that honor goes to the F-8 Crusader). The A7 Corsair II was still an aviation legend to come out of the Vought Factory.

In 1962, the United States Navy began preliminary work on VAX (Heavier-than-air, Attack, Experimental), a replacement for the A-4 Skyhawk with greater range and payload. A particular emphasis was placed on accurate delivery of weapons to reduce the cost per target. The requirements were finalized in 1963 and in 1964, the Navy announced the VAL (Heavier-than-air, Attack, Light) competition. Contrary to USAF philosophy, which was to employ only supersonic fighter bombers such as the F-105 Thunderchief and F-100 Super Sabre, the Navy felt that a subsonic design could carry the most payload the farthest distance.

To minimize costs, all proposals had to be based on existing designs. Vought, Douglas Aircraft, Grumman, and North American Aviation responded. The Vought proposal was based on the successful F-8 Crusader fighter, having a similar configuration, but more short and stubby, with a rounded nose. It was selected as the winner on 11 February 1964, and on 19 March the company received a contract for the initial batch of aircraft, designated A-7. In 1965, the aircraft received the popular name Corsair II, after Vought's highly successful F4U Corsair of World War II.

The first U.S. Navy A-7As were deployed to Vietnam in 1967 with VA-147 Argonauts aboard USS Ranger. The aircraft made their first combat sortie on 4 December 1967. In the following months, VA-147 flew around 1,400 sorties losing only one aircraft. In January 1968, USS Ranger participated in the incident surrounding the capture of USS Pueblo in the Sea of Japan by North Korea. The Navy's improved A-7B model arrived in Vietnam in early 1969, with the definitive A-7E following in 1971. The U.S. Navy's first A-7 loss occurred on 22 December 1967, less than three weeks after entering combat.

Our A7 Corsair II wears the tags as assigned to the USS Saratoga. It is equipped with 6 Sidewinder missles and 6 MK82 Iron Bombs. The ability to drop cluster munitions, as well as, napalm canisters is also available. Look for this fine aircraft on a carrier near you soon!

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"River Patrol"

Patrol Boat, River (sometimes Riverine and Pibber), or PBR, is the US Navy designation for a type of rigid-hulled patrol boat used in the Vietnam War from March 1966 until the end of 1971. They were deployed in a force that grew to 250, the most common craft in the River Patrol Force, Task Force 116, and were used to stop and search traffic in areas such as the Mekong Delta, the Rung Sat Special Zone, the Saigon River and in I Corps, in the area assigned to Task Force Clearwater, in an attempt to disrupt weapons shipments. In this role they frequently became involved in firefights with enemy soldiers on boats and on the shore.

The PBR was manufactured in two versions, the first with 31 foot length and 10 foot, 7 inch beam. The Mark II version 32 feet (9.8 m) long and one foot wider beam, had improved drives to reduce fouling, and aluminum gunwales to resist wear. It usually operated with four enlisted men, of which the most senior crewman was designated the boat commander. They were powered by dual 220 hp (164 kW) Detroit Diesel engines with Jacuzzi Brothers water jet drives. The boats reached top speeds of 28.5 knots (53 km/h). The boat was typically armed with twin .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns (the forward '50s), an M60 7.62 mm machine gun, a Mark 19 grenade launcher, and sometimes a 20 mm cannon. The machine gunners and conning tower were protected with ceramic armor.

This PBR was modeled by Shawn and skinned by Shipwreck. Although, I must admit, I am not 100% sure that the skin was entirely by Shipwreck. Therefore, I apologize to anyone on the mod team who may have helped with this project. (It is one we have had for a long, long time.)

Our PBR is equipped with twin .50's in the forward turret and a .50 on the rear. It is supplemented by a pair of M60's in the center positions.


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[MaxBoZ]

The patrol boat reminds me of BF:Vietnam, great job guys.

[Maxfragg]

nice update with a sexy jet, not i would be really cool if you could make a new aircraft carrier, the jets on this landingcraft look so wrong

[[R-PUB]bosco]

Nice!

[LekyIRL]

Nice work,gotta download this mod soon.

[[R-DEV]Rhino]

Originally Posted by MaxBoZ

The patrol boat reminds me of BF:Vietnam, great job guys.

thats probably because this mod is based on the Vietnam war?

[MaxBoZ]

Ya, Just mean its very nicely made then its just very nice.

[[R-CON]Z-trooper]

Boats is really missing in bf2 engine games imo. PR should have patrol boats and someone should make a map where the defender holds a dock - and has patrol boats to defend the water.

[hall0]

This boat is great lets hope they have a nice map for it. With Apocalypse Now feeling.