Are there Marine fighter squadrons?

[Vinman]

I remembered looking at some of the game design documents from Prophecy and noticing the squadrons had U.S. Navy-style designations (ie. VF-11) and it got me thinking, are there any VMF or VMA squadrons?

Are Confed Marines entirely ground-pounders, or do they have their own aviation component?

 

[Delance]

Per Dekker's conversations with Maniac, it seems Marines don't fly. There's a guy with Blair on WCA that was a Marine, but was in Space Forces at that time.

 

[LeHah]

Per Dekker's conversations with Maniac, it seems Marines don't fly. There's a guy with Blair on WCA that was a Marine, but was in Space Forces at that time.

You're thinking of Paz, who was found unable to be a Marine because of the wounds he received on Repleetah.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I remembered looking at some of the game design documents from Prophecy and noticing the squadrons had U.S. Navy-style designations (ie. VF-11) and it got me thinking, are there any VMF or VMA squadrons?

Note that these designations aren't canonical. The Space Forces units we've seen have had US Air Force style designations - 232nd Fighter Squadron, 36th Fighter Wing, 453rd Bomber Wing, 32nd Space Force etc.

The FRLN does use the US Navy-style designations for their squadrons - ie, "VF-12 'Flying Eyes'". (They use a different designation type for their wings, though - "FW-137 'The Black Cats'.")

Are Confed Marines entirely ground-pounders, or do they have their own aviation component?

We've never *seen* Marine fighter pilots, with the possible exception of the Wing Commander movie. At one point in the film's development the pilots were all marines... it's almost entirely removed from the finished product, although I *think* Maniac may refer to Rosie as 'marine' at one point.

 

[Vinman]

Note that these designations aren't canonical. The Space Forces units we've seen have had US Air Force style designations - 232nd Fighter Squadron, 36th Fighter Wing, 453rd Bomber Wing, 32nd Space Force etc.

The FRLN does use the US Navy-style designations for their squadrons - ie, "VF-12 'Flying Eyes'". (They use a different designation type for their wings, though - "FW-137 'The Black Cats'.")



We've never *seen* Marine fighter pilots, with the possible exception of the Wing Commander movie. At one point in the film's development the pilots were all marines... it's almost entirely removed from the finished product, although I *think* Maniac may refer to Rosie as 'marine' at one point.

I don't remember any other references to squadron designations, where are those from?

Now that you mention the movie, yeah, that is something that bugs me in the movie and then I promptly forget about it. Maniac definitely calls Rosie "marine" during the crash scene. The whole Marine angle would have made the Comcon boarding scene make more sense.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Actually, I just found a Marine squadron for you - Hell's Archers Squadron is VMF544, assigned to the TCS Ark Royal (per the WC:CCG shirt)!

I don't remember any other references to squadron designations, where are those from?

They're all over the place. Including:

* Victory Streak has a list of squadrons which have won awards at a recent competition.
* The Heart of the Tiger novelization talks abotu the Victory's wing (36th FW).
* The Confed Handbook has information on the Tiger's Claw's wing (88th FW) and about the various squadrons and the Space Force assigned to Pegasus.
* False Colors talks about FRLN squadron and wing designations throughout and also uses them in various chapter headers.
* Voices of War references "Squadron 23" in its simulator competition advertisement.

Now that you mention the movie, yeah, that is something that bugs me in the movie and then I promptly forget about it. Maniac definitely calls Rosie "marine" during the crash scene. The whole Marine angle would have made the Comcon boarding scene make more sense.

The problem with the Comcon sequence is that almost everything is cut out. Blair *isn't* supposed to be one of the Marines... in the film-as-shot he's Paladin's turret gunner and he disobeys orders and boards the ship when Merlin detects the traitor's signal.

Angel *is* one of the Marines (though I'm not sure she's visible in the final cut). Per the novel she's leading the boarding party because she once trained on a captured Dorkir. The rest of the marines (Sgt. Cogan and his subordinates) are unique characters and actors.

Maniac's 'Marine' line is a strange leftover from an earlier draft... like the 'everyone you know will be dead and buried' conversation between he and Rosie in their love scene (which was leftover from an earlier script's premise that jumping through space was a Forever War-style one way leap forward in time).

 

[AD]

Angel *is* one of the Marines (though I'm not sure she's visible in the final cut). Per the novel she's leading the boarding party because she once trained on a captured Dorkir. The rest of the marines (Sgt. Cogan and his subordinates) are unique characters and actors.

Angel is seen in gear sans helmet on the diligent's bridge. She's the one that says "that's no destroyer."

I'm fairly certain Angel is visible when the marines enter the room immediately after blair finds the Navcom. She asks if everything is ok. THough interestingly one of the only marines visible in the initial boarding is female and apparently angel as well. The actual boarding shot gets reused when she enters the room with the Navcom.... odd. But it still isn't an entirely clear shot of her face.

Maniac's 'Marine' line is a strange leftover from an earlier draft... like the 'everyone you know will be dead and buried' conversation between he and Rosie in their love scene (which was leftover from an earlier script's premise that jumping through space was a Forever War-style one way leap forward in time).

Funny thing is that the The January script actually took that line out and altered that scene quite a bit and for whatever reason it's back in the shooting script.

The problem with the Comcon sequence is that almost everything is cut out. Blair *isn't* supposed to be one of the Marines... in the film-as-shot he's Paladin's turret gunner and he disobeys orders and boards the ship when Merlin detects the traitor's signal.

Interestingly, Gerald isn't supposed to board the Concom either. He only goes in after noticing that Blair abandoned his post and assumes he's the traitor. When Gerald talks to Paladin before they leave the Tiger Claw, He says "Do you think I would let my men be *flown* into combat by a rogue and a half-breed?" Even here it's clear that the intent wasn't for Blair to actually be a Marine.

 

[Farbourne]

I can't speak to whether Marines have their own air wing anywhere, but there's at least one example in the games of a marine flying a fighter. I think it's in SM2 (although it might be SM1)--you have to fly out and escort a captured Dralthi back to the Claw. The briefing states that it is being flown by a marine.

Now I would imagine that, while a Dralthi's flight controls, while obviously similar to a Confed fighter's controls (based on Hunter's escapades in SM2), are complex enough that not anyone could hop in one and fly it, just the way that I probably couldn't hop into an FA-18 and fly it. So that Marine probably had had some flight training. Whether he happened to be an ex-pilot, or whether the Marines actually have their own pilots, I don't know.

However, historically every service has liked to dabble in the other services capabilities, because disparate services are notoriously jealous, and sometimes mistrustful, of the others. That's why the Army, Navy, and Marines all have pilots and some of their own aircraft, why the Army has some people trained to operate boats, why the Navy created the Marines, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if this trend continued into the WC future...