March 20, 2018

NEPTUNE no.3 March 2018



Index

This month's cover:
Main: VFC-13 Saint Adversary F-16N Vipers on a high altitude practice over the Blake Sea, September 2017. The Navy Vipers are stationed at N.A.S. Miramar and mainly serve as aggressors during open air, multi-region intercept exercises during TOPGUN classes.
Insert: Luxor International Blue Angels Air Show poster (see this month's back cover). 

Editor's Note:
My apologies for the untimely fashion NEPTUNE no.3 came out. March was a particularly hard month in real life but here we are and catching up. Thank you for your support. Go Navy!

Main cover story:
U.S. Navy F-16N "Vipers"
The Navy does have operational General Dynamics F-16's, only they are named "Vipers" to set them apart from the U.S.A.F. "Fighting Falcons". Used in real life first at N.A.S. Miramar and the Navy Fighter Weapons School and to this day at N.A.S. Fallon with the Naval Strike Air Warfare Center (Topgun's heir), the "Vipers" serve in dissimilar air combat tactics (D.A.C.T.) training in the adversary role, providing the fleet with a light and highly maneuverable aircraft to fly against the front line naval fighters during TOPGUN engagements.

Main cover story profile:
General Dynamics F-16N Viper profile (see here!)

Inset cover story:
Luxor International Air Show 2018
Every year the Navy Flight Demonstration Team Blue Angels tries to perform at Luxor International Airport. For the third consecutive year the squadron returned to Luxor on March 31, where it was joined by Team Phoenix and the Bull Rock Hornets for the 2018 air show. Details of the Blues layout available following the link below.

Becoming a Naval Aviator with Third Fleet in SL
An article used as reference in Third Fleet as to what lies along the path to the Wings of Gold and how to achieve the Naval Aviator certification. Since the Naval Service Training Center left Third Fleet, we have both sent officer candidates to OCS at Second Fleet and trained them at Third, pursuing our cooperation with 7th Fleet in N.A.T.C. related matters. A comprehensive guide to what is expected of every naval aviator in Third Fleet.

Shana Carpool's new F/A-18 Hornet explained
Just as the new Hornet was released we were made aware that unfortunately it was not enough to name the paint kits correctly - some people would still use a model C paint kit on the F/A-18D and the model D paint kit on the F/A-18C. In some cases minor differences would be not so obvious but in most liveries the problems would be very serious. Then you would have people complaining about the paint kits, about the aircraft and who knows what else. So we decided to release a version 1.2 immediately with independent paint boxes for the two aircraft.
Following that update an issue concerning the application of textures along the canopy and dorsal areas came up and was dealt with immediately, along with the addition of the rudders command (a feature used since January in the Blue Angels Hornets) and a few other structural improvements which justified a v1.3 release. This will not affect the paint systems, which will still work as in v1.2.

NEPTUNE - The magazine of the United States Navy Third Fleet in Second Life
All Rights Reserved - 2018

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