Bird Farm!

Willy

Willy

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As a former Bird Farm sailor (USS Lexington CVT-16 - A Division Diesel Gang), one of the things I really enjoy doing in FS is carrier ops. Nothing like a carrier landing well done to bring a smile to your face. The thing is that I get to doing other things and don't stay in practice like I'd like to.

So, I hopped in one of my favorite carrier aircraft, the SOH Donationware SBD Dauntless, took off from NAS Pensacola and flew a few traps onto my old ship. Took a couple of wave offs when trying to come in on the angle, so I figured what the heck, I'm in a SBD and flew straight in from astern like the angle wasn't there and it worked out just fine.

I really need to do this more often...
 
Dang, I'd forgotten all about this one. I have it someplace. have to install it now. That's a nice flat top. Does it come with one of those bgl makers that allow you to put it where you want to?

- Paul
 
Paul, I've had this one for so long, I can't say. There is nothing about bgls in the readme, but it's an old Virtual Navy add on, so if you can find them, they might can tell you something.
 
Bird Farms

Just got 'a love trapping on a carrier. While I have the Abacus carrier ops addon, I still trap most often in CFS 2 as it has some advantages over FS 8 and 9 when using ships.
 
Some OPFOR Carrier Ops

I guess I should include the Axis carriers too. They make for some pretty good tonnage on our cyber seas.
 
If I was to reinstall CFS 2, the carrier ops would be the main reason why. (that and I could actually dive bomb something with a Dauntless)
 
Hey, that carrier is going backwards! Oh wait... I think that's why the IJN built flat tops with islands on the "wrong side", so US Navy dive bomber pilots would think the ship was going the other way and miss. Just a theory, mind you... Nice pics! :)

- Paul
 
Ha, ha!

Yes, the IJN had two CVs with islands on the left side of the carrier. I think that as originally planned, each carrier division (two ships per division) would have a carrier with a left side and a right side island. This would allow them to sail close together with their aircraft flying circuits in opposite directions.

The two CVs with left side islands were the Akagi from CARDIV 1 and the Hiryu of CARDV 2. Both of these CVs were lost at the Battle of Midway.

The remaining Japanese carriers all had their islands on the right side other than the smaller CVs that didn't have an Island such as the Unryu, Ryujo and the Ryuho.

For cammo to confuse, the late war Japanese schemes were pretty unusual.
 
Why yes, now that you mention it!

The textures below are from the original beta test of the plane and lack squadron ID, but depict SBDs from about July of 1943.
 
Willy,

That mid summer 1943 scheme didn't seem to survive the transition from beta to gold.

I currently have the Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, North Atlantic, Torch and late war schemes, but not the one with the red outlined roundel.

I think that the VMSB 231 (in a dive below) textures are as close as we can come to it.
 
I've got those other paints as well. The SBD is my favorite bomber even with the few issues the Dware one has. I darn sure couldn't build a better one.

I've also got the converted default CFS 2 one in FS9. With the old 1% airfile, it flies pretty good. But it does have the occasion LOD issue.
 
Another Day, Another Carrier

I buggered up a landing earlier this evening in a Constellation, so I figured what better way to tighten things up than some carrier traps? So I hopped back into the SBD on the Lexington (saved flight), figured out a flight plan to Jacksonville where reliable sources had it that the USS Langley (CV-1) was hanging around off the coast. Overflew the original Lexington (CV-2) after take off from CVT-16.

It took me a little over an hour to get to Jacksonville while pedaling hard. (It's the Navy's gas anyway) Once there I picked up the radio beacon for the Langley and found it easy enough. But as the SBD is a dive bomber, what better way to get into the pattern from 15,000ft than to go straight down? So, I split the flaps, put the deck in the gun sight and commenced the dive. Once down to 1500ft, I pulled out, closed the dive flaps and entered the pattern.

After being on an Essex class deck, the Langley seems pretty small, but then I only concentrate on one part of the deck anyway on landing. Greased it the first time like I'd been doing it all week. So, it's down to the Chief's mess for coffee and donuts while the Dauntless is gassed up and serviced for the next flight.

Think I'll head up the coast next and see what carriers I can find off of Norfolk.

(pics are in reverse order)
 
Changed to an Atlantic theater paint and headed on up the east coast and caught up with the original Lexington (CV-2) off of Norfolk VA. Almost didn't see it in the cloud cover below. I'd almost forgot how much fun SBDs and bird farms can be. The plane is a delight to fly although it's not going to win any races. It was nicknamed "Slow But Deadly" for good reason. Fortunately for the flight up from Florida, I had a good tailwind which hurried things along.

Anyway, dropped down, once around the pattern and set her on the flight deck. I got a pic just after I touched down showing right where the tail hit. Not too bad if a little off to the portside. I'll have to work on that.

I've heard tell there's a carrier rich environment off of Long Island and Cape Cod, so I guess that'll be the next stop.

(pics are in reverse order again)
 
Hadn't had much of a chance to fly most all week, so I hopped back in the SBD onboard the Lexington and flew northeast until I picked up the homing beacon for the Saratoga off of Montauk Point Long Island and landed on her. Before the Lexington was sunk at Coral Sea, the Saratoga had a large black vertical stripe painted on her funnel so she could be easily identified and not mistaken for the Lexington. Otherwise they were almost identical.

Anyway good longish overwater flight

Darn pics are scrambled again...
 
Headed on to Cape Cod and found Yorktown (CV-5) and Enterprise (CV-6) along with some cruisers. Got into the pattern and landed on the "Big E". These are some carriers that I wish I had more of scattered about the world. The SBD paint is a Scouting 3 aircraft from the USS Saratoga with the Midway era markings. After Coral Sea, Yorktown's squadrons were depleted and as the Saratoga was in the shipyard being repaired from a torpedo hit, they brought onboard some of Sara's Dauntless squadrons to bring Yorktown back up to strength for Midway.

(Task Force by the Virtual Navy)
 
Didn't stay on Enterprise long. Grabbed a cup of coffee and a donut down in the Chief's Mess and took off in a Bombing 6 SBD heading on to catch back up with the Lexington. Due the cloud layers, I kept it down under 5000ft so I could spot the Lex in time to land.

SBD paint by Bomber 12.
 
The Covered Wagon

Took off from the Lexington off of Maine and headed up to near Halifax Nova Scotia where I caught up with CV-1, the USS Langley (aka "The Covered Wagon"). This was the US Navy's first carrier which was converted from a collier. This is the ship that the US Navy learned how to operate aircraft carriers on. She was eventually sunk off of southern Java while ferrying P-40s in early 1942 (she had been converted to a seaplane tender in 1936). With a length of 540ft, Langley was a lot smaller than the Lexington class carriers that followed her.

While the SBD never operated off of the Langley, I don't mind the anachronism of landing on it. That small deck makes for good practice. Now the problem could be to take back off from it later. :icon_lol:

Darn pics got scrambled up again.
 
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