SF2 A-4F VA-164 'Ghost Riders' 1973 1.0

A-4F Skyhawk, VA-164 'Ghost Riders' Vietnam 1973 Skinpack

*** SF2V required for A-4F-model, tested in full 5-merged installation ***

The skin represents A-4Fs from VA-164 'Ghost Riders' in 1973 aboard the carrier USS Hancock in Vietnam.

All BuNo are correct for this squadron, but unfortunately I couldn't find the correct assignment for all modex to BuNo.

This pack contains another version of "Lady Jessie", this time the wellknown version with big letters on the fuselage. In 1973 VA-164 was on another combat-cruise in Vietnam. Carrier Air Wing CVW-21, which VA-164 was part of, was tasked with the responsibility, to develop expertise in unique mission types. For example VA-55 was tasked with Iron Hand missions, while VA-164 was to develop tactics to use Laser Guided Weapons at its best. Some A-4F were equipped with Laser Spot Trackers instead of the ususal Radar in the nose, so that LGBs could be used on designated targets. As these were only trackers, a special Designator was needed. For that case, 2 TA-4F were borrowed from USMC squadrons. A 2nd crewmember with a handheld-device to designate the targets was placed on the 2nd seat. Those people were volunteers from other squadrons, that usually flew E-1B or RF-8/F-8. As the handheld-device had to be held steady for a proper designation while the plane was flying, it was a not well-like job to do. But in the end, it proved successful and led to the development of build-in laserdesignators.

The pack consists of 2 parts:

- a skin for the stock A-4F, which cannot use laser-guided bombs (LGB). So this is only for the looks. Select the skin in the loadout-screen of the stock A-4F.

- a modification of the stock A-4F to use LGB. Ingame you will find a new plane - "A-4F (Laser Spot Tracker)" to choose. It also has a different gunsight and shows laser designated targets. For the laser-designator you have 2 options. First is to use the plane as is, meaning, you only can use LGBs on primary targets as they're always designated. The radarscreen is just black in that case, because the planes didnt have a radar anymore. Second, you use the Laser designator from the loadout screen and can use LGBs on every target. I included a modified AVQ-23 (modded from the stock one) for that purpose. It is not shown externally and is a compromise for playability-reasons. The radar-screen shows the target if you have selected one.

Planes marked with * are the LST-equipped ones (401, 407, 411, 413, 414), which have the different nosecone. 401 and 407 are confirmed by pictures, the other 3 are in for a good mix. There were more than 2 of them, but I couldn't find more numbers or other pictures.

Installation

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1. unzip to a temporary folder

2. open "Put_In_Your_Mod folder" and do as you were told, if asked to overwrite, say 'yes' :P

3. enjoy!

Credits

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- Thirdwire and TK for a great game and nice models I used.

- Eole2, Hangar- and Loadingscreen, Vintage Screenshots, aswell as improvements of the packagearrangement (A big thanks for that!)

- ZScout370, wikimedia - USAF Insignia

- Wrench, updated data.ini (Canopy, Landinglight)

- myself, Skin, Decals, ini-work (Gunsight/HUD, LaserDesignator)

Thanks

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- Soulfreak, for your decalpattern, which was a BIG help to improve the baseskin and fill it with "life"!

- Blowhard, for the weathering-tutorial at http://www.eaf51.org/Photoshop/Tutorial/Basic_Weathering.htm

- Wrench, KJAkker for the Gunsight-Issue

- all modders at CombatAce for their work and inspiration!

P.S.

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If you have any problems with this skin or have suggestions and hints, feel free to PM me.

This pack and any parts from it, may be used as freeware only.