VF-111 SUNDOWNERS skin for Heatblur F-14A Tomcat. NL#200. BuNo 162594, ca. 1987.
VF-111 "SUNDOWNERS" was a US Navy Pacific coast fighter squadron based out of NAS Miramar, CA. Their aircraft are known for the distinctive sunburst pattern which can be found on most of their aircraft throughout their history. VF-111 was (re)established in 1964 and disestablished in 1995. Aircraft flown by this squadron include the F-11, F-8, F-4, and finally the F-14. During the time that they operated the F-14 Tomcat, VF-111 was attached to US Pacific Fleet Carrier Air Wing 15, which flies the tail code "NL". VFC-111 currently carries on the SUNDOWNER name and tradition as an adversary aggressor squadron flying the F-5 out of NAS Key West.
This skin is meant to represent the aircraft that served as the squadron's CAG jet during the 1986/1987 Pacific cruise. It is a more restrained paint scheme that displays design elements that hearken back to the squadron's F-8 Crusader days, with the sunburst pattern being limited to the rudder. This aircraft was pictured both with and without the shark mouth, depending on when the picture was taken. Before coming to VF-111, this aircraft was assigned to VF-2 until a few years before VF-2 transitioned to the F-14D. After VF-111 was disestablished, this aircraft would eventually find itself assigned to VF-101, the east coast Tomcat fleet replacement squadron. The aircraft was ultimately lost in a training mishap in 2002. Remains of the aircraft would wash ashore on the coast of Ireland nearly 4 years later.
Features include: Period accurate aircraft placards, squadron markings, serial number, CVW-15 CAG/DCAG names/rank/callsigns, event/weight board, and crew helmets. Custom roughness and bump maps, fictionalized plane captain and sailor of the year names, cruise patch, and subtle base texture touch ups are also featured. Custom textures for the AIM-9, AIM-7 and AIM-54 included. Livery created with GIMP. Base texture is from the Heatblur paint kit. Gloss Roughness map template by PorcoRosso86. Landing gear touch ups by Smiley/Flash.
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