A-3B Skywarrior [A2OA + opt. ACE]

[NightIntruder 710]

The upcoming A-3B Skywarrior has been the largest carrier-based strategic Navy bomber, the only one they had. He was nuclear capable until the Navy submarines had taken a nuclear offensive deterioration role. His weapon configurations include 12 x Mk82 / 8 x Mk83 / 4 x Mk84 bombs or freefall Nuke bomb. Crew of 3 - pilot, bombardier and navigator. Original model by Alphasim/Virtavia with permission for conversion granted. When I finish the addon I would like to share it with UNSUNG mod as it would fit best there. At this moment, the addon is compatible with JDog's Nimitz so arresting gear, CATs, refuelling/rearming and repairs in hangar bay work. The only major issue connected with Nimitz is the real one they had at those times - the size of the bomber which makes maneuvering the Whale around the carrier somehow difficult and usually needs an assistance from a deck crew. Beside this, Skywarrior needs better textures and working flight instruments among other minor things. Additionally, I struggle with the weapon system as it drops three Mk82 bombs every single fire. Also, I would like to find efficient way to make bombardier's sight and configure his bomb bay to carry heavier bombs including either Mk83s, Mk84s or one Nuke, all without making another MLODs. It inherits Mk82 weapon from Su34 which has turned to be not the best way as it does not work apparently :) I would appreciate any suggestions concerning weapon system and bombs' proxies.

What's more I started a pool to learn what you think about lack of ejection seat in the aircraft. Please, do not hesitate to vote.

Some screenshots from test below:

F-14Ds on CATS, in the background two A3Bs standing next by refuelling point and on elevator#2:

Skywarrior on elevator#2 going down for maintanance in hangar bay:

Maneouvering of The Whale around flight deck is not easy task even on not crowded deck:

I will redo the textures as they are in low resolution now:

There are many things to do within the cockpit, the main ones lacking at this moment are working flight instruments:

Edited February 19, 2014 by NightIntruder
typo

[islesfan186 83]

Looks good man. Always been a fan of the Vietnam era of Naval aviation. Between this and the stuff that is/will be in Unsung, I think all that's missing is the Crusader and Vigilante

[NightIntruder 710]

I think all that's missing is the Crusader and Vigilante

Well, they are beautiful planes indeed and you are right that would be great to have them onboard. However, as far as Navy fighters are concerned, the UNSUNG mod has great looking F-4 Phantoms therefore I did not consider them, especially F-8, as a part of my plan. Although I've got both F-8 and RF-8 (by Alphasim/Virtavia) they need to be checked whether their models are good enough to pass an exam for further conversion. F-8 is the most probable nominee. A-5 Vigilante is out of reach and I would not really consider it as they were replacement for A-3 and their main role during Vietnam War was reconnaissance mission, which is rarely conducted in SP/MP environment. The only things A-5 could have onboard as a recce assests would be a radar and a TV camera as there is no way to create Picture-in-Picture in A2 game (in order to take recce photos). It is beauty, is fast and agile and would look great on Nimitz's deck though. I will reconsider both planes. Thanks for drawing my attention to those aircrafts! :)

[chrisb 196]

Looks really great, good luck with your progress.

[NightIntruder 710]

Thanks Chris!

And as a small update, short video footage from tests aboard USS Nimitz:

PS. It seems that Youtube have shrinked my original movie, changing original 16:9 size and resolution. I do not know how to fix it so my apologize for that.

Edited February 20, 2014 by NightIntruder

[thefloatingcheese 3]

Awesome work NightIntruder, really good to see addons (more specifically addon aircraft) still being made for ARMA 2, I haven't made the move to ARMA 3 yet. What kind of other aircraft are you thinking of doing?

[chortles 263]

What really interests me is what exactly you're doing with the 'radar' screen in the upper right corner of that video?

[NightIntruder 710]

What kind of other aircraft are you thinking of doing?

Next will be Grumman family S2F, C-1A and E-1C, all coming from FSX, made by Milton Shupe with his kindly given permission. Below you have a sample of his great work. Also I am still working on CH46 SeaKnight.

Next in line however will be a big surprise, and saying "big" I do mean really large stuff, in various meanings :)

What really interests me is what exactly you're doing with the 'radar' screen in the upper right corner of that video?

That's AN/ALR 69 - Radar Warning Receiver, which is part of ACE. I will make the aircraft compatible with ACE2, as usual, and to have the RWR working you need to DL the mod.

Edited February 23, 2014 by NightIntruder

[chortles 263]

That's AN/ALR 69 - Radar Warning Receiver, which is part of ACE. I will make the aircraft compatible with ACE2, as usual, and to have the RWR working you need to DL the mod.

Alright, so to check that's not a 'normal' part of the A-3B Skywarrior mod but simply an ACE thing that the Skywarrior would be compatible with?

[NightIntruder 710]

an ACE thing that the Skywarrior would be compatible with?

It's exactly like you said.

---------- Post added at 11:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:25 PM ----------

I have been working on textures for an hour and updated some markings with higher res ones:

Also I am working on photo-real textures of the cockpit:

[islesfan186 83]

True the A-5 was used only as a recon aircraft, never as a bomber in Vietnam. It would be cool just to have them even though they would really provide no function other than "window dressing" lol

I like the video. Definitely looking forward to this bad boy!

[sv5000 127]

This is looking great, keep it up

[Motosuwa 10]

Looks really good, cant wait to give it a try!

[NightIntruder 710]

I fixed the weapon issue. Also, more and more cockpit's spaces are covered by photo-real textures. Additionally, I added polygon with switchable serial number texture on tail and already prepared 72 real serial numbers textures of those A-3A/A-3B which the Navy had lost in flight - to commemorate all brave men and women who lost their lives flying the aircraft.The A-3 fuselage has also poly with name of aircraft carrier (just above airbrakes) which the Skywarrior used to operate from. I prepared 32 carriers names textures for use with hidden selection command on that poly. The default is - obviously - USS Nimitz. Those polys I prepared having in mind mission makers who are historically - oriented and like making RWO missions. And then most exciting update today although you will not see it - the aircraft now is roaring with a custom sound of real P&W J57 turbojet engines! :)

Now I am switching to work on polys with crew members names and side numbers/squadron markings.

[NightIntruder 710]

Yesterday, I made polys with crew names. There are real 48 names of crew members (provided with the package), who either died, were lost at sea after bailing out or were announced MIA. I also have made camouflages of 5 more squadrons, so at this moment the package includes liveries of VAP-62, VAQ-133, VAH-1, VAH-11, VAH-2, VAH-4 and VAH-6 and they are shown below in this particular order. You can easily see lack of side numbers and those are to be added later.

[NightIntruder 710]

Well, visual work on the Whale is done. Side numbers have been added, and in addition to crew members tags, aircraft carriers names, various squadrons' liveries and serial numbers it gives you a nice sandbox to play with. The aircraft has not got working flight instruments yet as well as bombsight is to be added. Also, plans to release A-3B with EKA-3B had been revised and now I am planning to release only A-3B variant. If I get permission from John Spartan to use his scripts I will work on KA-3B version which had been most popular alongside A-3B as an aerial refuelling became Skywarriors' primary role after Vietnam War. It requires minor 3d tinkering with the model and much bigger work on scripts side. My work on A-3A with tail turret is still possible, however it became priority no 3 since I've got troubles with implementing turrets in the aircraft.

[sv5000 127]

this is just a big bag of awesomeness!

[NightIntruder 710]

Thank you sv5000! :) That's always great to hear such things from developer of the really HUGE bag of awesomeness - P85 MOD :)

[sv5000 127]

Mate p85 is all vilas work, I just lend a hand when i can.

[NightIntruder 710]

Hey, so who am I ? :) I just do conversions, all those amazing work had already be done by great people like you and other developers like vilas who wanted and had will to share their models with others, beyond a scope of a single game/engine. I like vilas' work and I happy that somebody help him to make this MOD.

[panther42 52]

Very nice work NightIntruder. Where is the location of the Nimitz/flight taking place? Looks like you're flying over a sewage lagoon... :)

[sv5000 127]

Im happy that you do what you are doing, keep it up!

[NightIntruder 710]

@panther42

It's northern-eastern part of sea at Cao-Bang island by UNSUNG. There's no better environment to test her :) The color of the water of the sea depends on color of river's water of the island as there is no way to separate them from each other, I guess.

[NightIntruder 710]

I decided to continue work on bigger A-3 package since I have just received a kind permission from John Spartan for using his aerial refueling system from F/A-18 (thanks John!). Also, today I made the tail turret for A-3A as on screen below, so at this moment the plan is to make: A-3A, A-3B, RA-3B and KA-3B versions of the Skywarrior. It will prolong the moment when it will be available fro you but I think it is going to be more consistent package gives almost all capabilities the Skywarrior had in its time :)

[sv5000 127]

looking great! Are there plans for more Vietnam era aircraft?