VMA 513
VMA-513, nicknamed "The Flying Nightmares," is a United States Marine Corps attack squadron that operates AV-8B Harrier II jets — STOVL (short takeoff and vertical landing) aircraft equipped with Rolls-Royce Pegasus engines featuring four rotating nozzles capable of directing thrust for vertical landing and stationary hovering. The squadron was stationed at MCAS Yuma, Arizona, as part of Marine Aircraft Group 13 (MAG-13) of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (3rd MAW).
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UAP Significance
VMA-513 is notable in UAP research as the unit to which Rodrik Castle was assigned during the 1997 Hunter Warrior Advanced Warfighting Experiment at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms. Castle led a team of six to eight Marines in aviation ordnance and served as part of an experimental special-purpose marine air-ground task force (SPMAGTF-X). During the experiment, Castle's team was performing overnight AV-8B Harrier crash retrieval duties when they encountered an enormous triangular craft and approximately 30 armed, unmarked operators near Emerson Dry Lake.
Castle's extensive familiarity with Harrier VTOL/STOVL technology and helicopter flight dynamics — gained through his service with VMA-513 and additional training as a helicopter flight medic — made him well-qualified to distinguish the silent, motionless hovering of the triangular craft from any known aircraft, including the Harriers he maintained.