Request Permission To Come Aboard Sir!.....

[Razor]

....and have a look around. I must say, what I have seen so far is very impressive! I have been associated with a group of guys with a very long heritage, much like yourselves. I started back in Warbirds around 1999 and after a couple of years migrated to IL-2 with a couple of friends. We joined a Luftwaffe squad, IV/JG-51, and had quite a tight knit group there for about 3 years. Once Pacific Fighters came out, a large number of us transfered to the PTO and enlisted in the US Navy. All during this time with IV/JG-51 and while in Pacific Fighters we managed to hold onto a tridition started in JG-51 - that of gathering together somewhere every year around October Fest for a gathering we called "the Father-Lan". Once in the US Navy, we changed the name to "Tail Hook". Every year, somebody's garage was emptied out and turned into a Lan Party hall. That lasted for several years with a short foray into FC3 to fly along with the VNAO in their moded Tomcats and Hornets. We finally made the transition to DCS World several years ago and have retained our Naval roots along the way with the Harrier then the Hornet and the Tomcat. Unfortunately, the Tail Hook get togethers have tapered off to just visits to a hotel near Pensacola for a good drunk and a tour of the museam and watching the Blues practice.

I am telling y'all this as an introduction to our squadron, Air Group 51. I realize that doesn't make any sense so let me explain. When we left the Luftwaffe, many of us had a very real attachment to our roots so we looked for a RL US Navy Air Group 51 that we could emulate. It turns out that there really was an Air Group 51 and it was comprised of VF-51 and VT-51. They were commissioned in '43 and took the USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) out to sea with their Hellcats and Turkeys as plank owners of the last CVL built. Purely by coincidence, it was VT-51 that GW Bush was flying in when he was shot down off Chi Chi Jima. Anyway, it was a great match for a group of guys made up of killers and mud movers. So now we find ourselves in the modern day Navy with an aircraft that is just as much at home sniping a building in downtown Shiraz with a JDAM or GBU-10, as it is taking down a flight of SU-23's attacking our men on the ground.

As a squad, we are suffering from lack of regular participation and are constantly looking for opportunities to get online with other like minded groups. If this is something that you all might find interesting, we'd like to discuss it. We use TS for pre-mission comms and then go to SRS once in the cockpit. We value realism very highly and attempt to replicate our shipboard operations as much as possible to real NATOPS porcedures. Don't get me wrong, we're not a bunch of rivet counters! We enjoy getting together and having fun with each other and part of that fun is doing things in this sim that allow us to get that Walter Mitty feeling of being there and doing that! This is where we meet online just as you do here. Drop by and have a look around, http://airgroup51.net/forum/index.php

Currently we are updated to the most current 2.5.6 Much to our chagrin. If this next update doesn't un-screw what they did a couple of updates ago, we will probably roll back to 2.5.5 - or at least that is what I will suggest. Anyway, I will drop back by here over the next few days to see if there is a response.

[Hedgehog]

Razor,

Like you, most of us come from a fairly long history of flight sims. VFA-41 used to fly quite a bit of IL2/1946 as well, including some epic WWII carrier battles.

I'll let our Operations Officer, Shadow, converse with you regarding the possibility of joint operations.

[Shadow]

AG-51_Razor,
"As a squad, we are suffering from lack of regular participation";
It is my observation that many online squads suffer from this malady. The VFA-41 Black Aces carefully vet new pilots so they understand we expect regular participation. Prospective pilots understand this before they are accepted.
I can not fix that problem for you. But the VFA-41 Black Aces are always open to more stick time. We are here because we like flying with a great group of virtual pilots. Not the largest group.
Lt. Shadow,
Operations Officer

[VT-51_Razor]

So, I now realize that there was way too much 'This is us' and not enough "As a squad, we are .... constantly looking for opportunities to get online with other like minded groups. If this is something that you all might find interesting, we'd like to discuss it." The intent of my post was to introduce ourselves and let you know that we would be open to conducting some joint operations if that would interest you. I don't believe that Sunday at 1800 ET would be a problem for us to make. I think that, after the Super Carrier comes out and we've all had a chance to work with it a bit, it would be a good time to seriously consider this if you're interested.

[Shadow]

Occasional joint operations are certainly possible. There would be a number of things to be considered. Who provides the mission, is it realistic in a real world sense, will the server support the number of pilots without lag? Speaking just for myself, I am not inclined to give up our Sunday squad mission. Maybe you could give us something more specific than "Joint Operations"?