The corkscrew, a missile camera, and a map that knows everyone 799f20a
Three refinements this push, one of them thanks to a sharp-eyed squadron historian with a diecast model:
- The Screwtops spiral, done right. Our first attempt wrapped a barber-pole around the rotodome’s rim — wrong bird. The real VAW-123 mark is a bold black pinwheel on the dome’s flat faces, hub to rim, two turns of corkscrew. Repainted to match: as the dome turns overhead, the swirl screws exactly like the squadron’s namesake. Top and bottom, so you can read it from below too.
- Missile view. The O key now rides the newest round in the air — Sidewinder, AMRAAM or Phoenix — with the full spectate camera: SHIFT+ARROWS or right-drag to orbit it, wheel or [ ] to zoom, 0 to reframe. O again cycles every round in flight, then hands you back your cockpit. When the round resolves — splash or miss — the view lets go on its own.
- The map learned everyone’s name. N now draws the whole air picture with callsigns: hostiles in red, the wingman and helicopters in green (rotorcraft get square markers — NAVY 701 on the cruiser circuit, SHUTTLE ONE and TWO working the pads), the P-3 and SCREWTOPS 601 in cyan, and every airliner in white with its flight name. One glance tells you who’s who in the bay.