| VCAP Aerobatics | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Group Type |
Airshow Promotion |
|
Active |
July 2021 - Present |
|
Key Personnel |
HawkbitAlpha, Gordo, Mustang |
VCAP Aerobatics (short for Virtual Collective of Aerial Performers) is a YSFlight airshow promotion and aerobatic squadron founded in July 2021 by HawkbitAlpha and Gordo. Since 2022, VCAP has been the primary aerobatics organization of the YSFlight Headquarters community, and is a growing hub for live in-game entertainment, with increasing connections to those of other platforms. Along with its own in-house creations, VCAP sponsors a variety of acts in the YSFlight aerobatics community, previously including those of the organization's original parent, the 2nd United Combat Wing.
History[]
VCAP was founded in July 2021 as the YS Military Airshows Association (YSMAA), a project by HawkbitAlpha and Gordo meant to serve as the official squadron aerobatics branch of the 2nd United Combat Wing. In this capacity, the organization's original mission was to not only sponsor 2UCW's displays at other airshows, but to host its own events with a focus on displays of both YSFlight squadrons and real-world air forces. However, with its second event, the 2022 Gatwick Takeover, YSMAA temporarily suspended its rule of only accepting military aircraft, and would eventually make this suspension permanent for its third show, El Centro 1992. Due to this shift in objective, as well as YSMAA's rise to leadership in the YSFHQ aerobatics community, the decision was made in April 2022 to formally rebrand the group as VCAP Aerobatics, becoming officially independent of 2UCW in the process.
YSMAA logo (2021-2022)
Beginning with its launch at YSRIAT 2021, VCAP has taken a more "old-school" approach to hosting YSFlight airshows, having reintroduced elements from older airshows such as mass flights and pre-shows. Additionally, VCAP also encourages performers to engage in more comedic types of promotions for their displays, with those posted by the promotion itself on Discord often featuring humorous commentary and/or situations.
VCAP is most noteworthy in the wider virtual airshows community for being the first organization to make use of dedicated bot accounts for streaming high-quality show audio to Discord, with its original bot Vinyl Scratch being first put to use in the 2021 YSAC Indy Air Fest. Due in large part to Hawkbit's advocacy and tutorial video, this production technique, powered by third-party programs such as Kenku FM and Discord Audio Pipe, has since seen widespread adoption in the communities of DCS World and Roblox.
In its early months, VCAP collaborated with YSAA manager Alpha Star, who acted as the organization's narrator for its first two full-scale airshows, YSRIAT 2021 and El Centro 1992. While VCAP now operates fully independently, with Hawkbit taking over narration duty beginning with the 2022 Jones Beach Airshow, the two created an unofficial tradition to co-host at least one airshow a year, continuing in 2022 with the YS Aerobatic Expo.
Original VCAP logo (2022-2023)
In January 2023, both VCAP and YSAA moved the hosting of all events to the YSFHQ Discord, and the former would host the 2023 YS Sacheon Air Fest on the server. However, VCAP would later return all operations to its own server in September of the same year.
In October 2023, it was announced that VCAP would be entering a hiatus as part of an initiative known as Project Endymion, with HawkbitAlpha, Gordo, and Mustang setting goals to improve their collective skills for hosting future YS airshows. The hiatus ended in April 2024 with the announcement of the organization's next event, YS Wings Over Yellowstone.
A new branch of VCAP, based in the Roblox game Pilot Training Flight Simulator (PTFS), was launched in January 2024, but closed in April of the same year due to a number of ideological conflicts with the game's community.
Personnel[]
Staff[]
- HawkbitAlpha (Owner)
- Gordo
- Mustang
- Speaker
- Vortex
Pilots[]
- MD5Ray01
Acts[]
In-house[]
- YSFlight Blue Angels (YSBA)
- YS Air Combat Command (YSACC) - F-22, F-16C, F-15C, & A-10 Demo Teams
- YSACC Heritage Flight Team
- 2UCW Black Mamba Solo
- Raindancer Aero Display
Sponsored Acts[]
- Orange Skies Aerobatic Team
- YSN East Coast Rhino Demo Team
- Indonesian Air Force Su-30MK2 Demonstration Team
Partners (Non-YSFlight)[]
See also[]
- 2nd United Combat Wing - former official partner