P3D_V5 A-4E and NAS Willow Grove

[JensOle]

Hi,

What started as an simple A-4 repaint turned into a quite large project... So here are some screenshots of NAS Willow Grove and Navy and Marine reserve aviation in the early 1980s. The A-4 is Dino’s echo painted up as 150121 of VMA-131 in the early TPS scheme with large contrast roundels.

NAS Willow Grove has been made from scratch as it was not much in P3D. Started with a sat image overlay and got going. I’m no scenery guru, so only available objects have been used.
The AI traffic has been built up to represent Willow Grove based units in 80-82, including custom textures with individual ac serials; A-4Es of VMA-131, C-118B of VR-52, P-3A of VP-64 and CH-53A of HMH-772. Also a few other visiting aircraft, mostly F-4s.

I don’t know which ramp which were used by the different units, any help is much appreciated!

The quite famous airpark at the time with German, Japanese and a few post war navy assets close to Easton road, has also been included with available static ac models. The Fury, Cutlass and Me-262 have got a coat of paint to make them look like the real static aircraft at the time.

1 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

2 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

4 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

5 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

6 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

7 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

 

[JensOle]

8 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

9 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

10 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

11 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

12 by Jens-Ole Kjølberg, on Flickr

 

[YoYo]

Looks good!

 

[Navy Chief]

VERY nice, Jens!

 

[Corvette99]

Looking good !

 

[llanning08]

That's my old home station! I recognize the buildings. I served as an Aircrewman with VP-934 and then VP-66 on SP-2E and SP-2H Neptunes in the late 1960s. Mustered out just before the transition to P-3 Orions. Was an AW rate Julie-Jezebel operator.

 

[ColoKent]

That's my old home station! I recognize the buildings. I served as an Aircrewman with VP-934 and then VP-66 on SP-2E and SP-2H Neptunes in the late 1960s. Mustered out just before the transition to P-3 Orions. Was an AW rate Julie-Jezebel operator.

Man, I just LOVE the Neptune. Have the latest Virtavia variant, but the miscoded Jet Intake doors ruin it for me. Wish we had a modern SP-2E and SP-2H in Navy ASW, vs. Firefighting configuration.

Kent

 

[jmig]

Thank you Jens. That looks very nice. Closer to my era of flying than modern bases.

 

[Victory103]

Nice job and looks like you found most of the AI required. I really like the the style of TPS on the -131 Scooters, it's different.


llanning08 Also a former AW, but on the rotary side!

 

[delta_lima]

Wow. After being away for a long time, this is great news to come in for!


Love the subject, and will definitely give this lots of use in P3Dv4.

Cheers,

DL

 

[JensOle]

Thanks!

Do any of you know the ramps used by VR-52, VP-64 and HMH-772 in the early 80s?

 

[zorgilo]

Beautyful Nostalgia flying

Dear Ole,
Your repaint of Dino's A-4E is excellent, as is Your idea of the NAS Willow Grove scenery. I have only a little point observing (but is not Your fault) that the antennas on the model are wrong. Humpback Skyhawks had only one antenna, Dino's model has two. The antenna on the humpback was triangular in shape up until 1968, afterwards one can only see photographs of Skyhawks with a rectangular shaped antenna. Please observe the difference with the models I have corrected myself.
By the way, early F's or late E's upgraded with avionics sported a straight refuelling probe. I have corrected that issue too. So, according to the period, Dino's A-4 model can be adapted via MCX in order to obtain any variant of the E-F family. Your scenery of Willow Grove could be a wonderful Scenario for the many passionate followers of naval aviation in the 70' and 80' years. I hope You will publish soon Your oustanding work, I can't wait! Best Regards, Giorgio V. (zorgilo)



Img of a late VA-106 A-4E upgraded with early antenna and straight refuelling probe
Img of a late VA-45 A-4E upgraded with late antenna