This is Part II of the “Operation Frantic” auto-installer. This second package will provide nearly all of the scenery objects, airfields and other GSL scenery (including Ettico's EuroTargets) along with the actual campaign and mission files required for flying “Operation Frantic.” The files include the work of Ettico, Captain Kurt, Canion, Pen32Win, Simonu, Paul Rebuffat, Serge Tremblay, Bismarck13, Davmag, Franz Von Baron, Metal Dreams, Ajax, Rockster22, Lawdog2360, Cees Donker, AF_Midway, Achim27619, and Ian Elliot, as well as GSL scenery created by me. “Operation Frantic,” is a campaign of twenty-five missions that attempts to chronicle the seven shuttle-bombing missions conducted by the US 8th and 15th Air Forces in the late Spring and Summer of 1944 between England / Italy & three Soviet bases located in the vicinity what is now Kiev, in the Ukraine. This was an actual event that occurred in WWII, and I have done my best to provide synopses of each mission so you can get an appreciation of the actual raids, and have made many of the raids as close to the facts as this sim will allow, though the raids are certainly scaled-down. Please note that great care has been taken to include specific information in the mission description and debrief sections for each mission, so if you are interested in the history, you should certainly feel free to read them. This campaign is not a rework, it is a brand-new effort on my part to bring a relatively unknown aspect / exercise of the war to light, much like my Corpo Aereo Italiano / Chianti Raiders did for the Battle of Britain. The primary source material for this campaign leans somewhat heavily on the book “The Poltava Affair” by Glenn Infield, though USAAF chronology websites and other materials also proved exceedingly useful, especially for the size of the raids and the aircraft types used. From a simulation aspect, you must be prepared for missions from Italy - England, Italy - the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union - Italy, and England - the Soviet Union to be extremely long. It does certainly help that these are one-way flights, but even so, missions from Italy to the Soviet Union generally average about 1,100 miles, and missions from England to the Soviet Union & most flights from Italy to England are approximately 1,400 miles. Accordingly, it is imperative on escort missions that you don’t engage enemy fighters unless they directly challenge you, releasing your drop tanks will likely cause you to run out of fuel before reaching your destination. For those who like to keep “pure” theatre installations for their sim, this campaign may throw a monkey wrench into it, because it involves elements of the Eastern Front, the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as Western and Central Europe. As such, I have provided the airbases for Italy, Romania, and Russia in this pack, thus allowing you to install only the bases outside of Western Europe which you need, and you may then remove them at your leisure. A modified “master” airbase.dat has also been provided, and of course you may switch back to the traditional one for Western Europe after this campaign has been flown. "Rami" |
Submitted by Rami
