Which brings up a fun aside about Alpha/Virtavia paint schemes.
Back in the day, Phil would include all kinds of neat info about his aircraft.
This includes the aircraft from the Soviet Union/Russia.
Well, great. But, what does knowing that an aircraft was based at, oh, let's say Ostrov AB get us?
Mostly, a goose egg.
I like to include an ICAO code in the Variation line for the more unique aircraft in a set. Some simple scenery (at least an afcad update) is also a bonus because I like to fly from the actual base if its possible.
So, its off to search the web for some info.
I don't find much, but Wiki says Ostrov AB is located in Pskov Oblast. Which is much the same as saying "somewhere in Texas".
OK, its off to check the downloads and see what's available.
I have a favorite author for some of these off-the-wall Russian airports.
His files are pretty good as long as you don't expect photo-grade scenery. He was also a little cagey.
Most Soviet/Russian air bases are still considered "state secrets" and, especially now, I don't want to get the guy in any hot water or see a bunch of downloads get "purged".
A quick search at "Avsim Russia" only turned up an AFCAD for "Pskov Int'l" and another, more developed scenery for the same airport.
A deeper dive over at Flightsim.com turned up my favorite Russian flight-simmer, who uploaded air ports for most of the Russian Oblasts.
Bingo, he
did upload Pskov Oblast.
OK, I have a download to work with.
Checking out the zip file, my man included thumbnails for the included airports. Most are local airports or grass strips, but TWO of them feature long runways, "beltway style" taxi ways, and....revetments.
The thumbnails are titled XLLG and XLOS. Close enough, I'm installing this scenery.
Time to fire up FS and see what I got. I load XLLG and it looks do-able but its really more like a fighter base. I load the second airport, XLOS, and it looks more like a bomber/cargo base. I go back to the Scenery menu and, what do you know, its called
Ostrov AB.
