The order of battle — everything that flies, sails and shoots in Hornet Bay
Hornet Bay has a lot of metal in it now. Before we start taking it apart one airframe, one squadron and one hull at a time, here is the whole roster: what flies, what sails, what shoots, and who you meet in the Bay. It also kicks off something new: an article every day for the next 90 days.
YOU FLY
- Five flyable jets. The F/A-18 Hornet, F-14 Tomcat, F-16 Falcon, F-15 Eagle and A-10 Thunderbolt II. The Hornet and the Tomcat trap aboard the Big E; the F-16, F-15 and A-10 are land-based and fly without a tailhook.
- 28 sorties. Eight flight-school sorties, a 19-mission campaign that runs from a visual ID to a nuclear-tipped cruise missile sprint for the city, and free flight over the Bay by day, dusk or night.
THE HOME TEAM
- The air wing. USS Enterprise (CVN-65) works a 1994 Pacific air wing around the clock: an A-6E Intruder of VA-52 Knight Riders, an S-3B Viking of VS-37 Sawbucks and a C-2 Greyhound of VRC-30 Providers, with an E-2C Hawkeye of VAW-123 Screwtops watching the Bay from above. See Around the clock.
- The escorts. USS Gettysburg (CG-64), USS Nicholson (DD-982), USS Stout (DDG-55) and USS Klakring (FFG-42) hold the picket ring. See The escorts report their names.
- The Bay itself. Freighters and tankers on the shipping lanes, a cruise ship, fishing boats and yachts, airliners on approach to SFO, and a P-3 and Seahawks hunting a shadow submarine.
THE OTHER SIDE
- The opposition. MiG-29s and Su-27s that actually dogfight, Tu-95 Bear bombers, cruise missiles, a Kilo-class submarine, go-fast boats and gunboats, and shoulder-fired Igla missiles waiting on the freighter decks.
THE ARMOURY
- Yours. Sidewinder, Sparrow, Phoenix and AMRAAM, a gatling gun and Mk 83 bombs.
- Theirs and the fleet’s. The R-27 and R-73 on the Russian jets, and the SM-1 and Harpoon that Klakring fires back with.
EVERY DAY FOR 90 DAYS
From tomorrow the Flight Log runs a weekly rhythm, and every post lands at a different hour of the day:
- Mondays: the squadrons. The units behind the airframes.
- Tuesdays: the aircraft. One airframe at a time, in numbers.
- Wednesdays: the ships. Starting tomorrow with the Big E herself.
- Thursdays: the weapons. Every round in the armoury.
- Fridays: the sorties. Walkthroughs from flight school to the campaign.
- Saturdays: the workshop. How Hornet Bay is built, sounds and prints.
- Sundays: the long read. One story, properly told.
Every model in this roster also lives in the 3D Print Bay: 37 of them. Keep the RSS feed handy so the daily posts find you. — HB