Christmas TURKEY has come early

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Readers of the KLM/Carters' It's happened to you adventures earlier this year may recall how disappointing the great historic city of Istanbul turned out in its FS9 default version. Maybe everyone else already noticed, but I just discovered that the great Toni Agramont has created some excellent Turkish scenery (Turkey West in Flightsim.Com, just Turkey in Avsim) including Istanbul/Constantinople:

I have taken some pictures like the above from over the city (Istanbul MEANS "The City"), but decided to fly in properly, partly to fill the gap in the Carter story...

Chose my local airline British Midland (HQ at nearby EGNX) and took G-AODG a Viscount 736 which they acquired in 1967:

Some nice retro AI in Greece from Cal Classics there, including a US MATS visitor. (Looks like I was busy testing the Viscount's flaps). Thought it would be quite realistic to fly in from the old Athens Hellenikon Airport in a sort of 'late '60s' or 'early '70s'. Not so, as British Midland didn't go that far afield in the period, but I've chartered it (and need the Viscount flying practice), so there! Here's the route:

Flying NE out of Hellenikon which was near the harbour of Piraeus (as seen previously with those Carters):

IFR arranged a neat exit:

Can't remember how exactly, but removed the modern (LGAV Eleftherios Venizelos) Airport of Athens, though some of the AI seem to be using the ghost of it. Here's a non-classic AI plane that Traffic Tools picked up going there:

Note that the old state-run Olympic Airways is now a privately-owned Olympic Airlines, though they sensibly kept the famous Olympic rings logo. More realistic AI for the late '60s:

BOAC Speedbird 707 heading east (Rome Fiumicino to Beirut).

Having some upload problems just now, but more to come later...

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

This is realistic late '60s AI for the area:

He's going from the Island of Limnos back to Hellinikon. And here's G-AODG herself crossing the Aegean at 11,000ft:

Over Lesbos:

And crossing the Anatolian coast:

Now we're flying up parallel to the Dardanelles:

Below the aircraft in the distance you can just see where all the fighting at the Battle of Gallipoli (Gelibolu in Turkish) was in the Great War. Australian and New Zealand viewers may be particularly interested in that spot and, like me, may well have visited it in reality. It's also close to Troy where the Bronze Age Trojan War took place.

Uploads seem to be working OK now, so I'll post the rest...

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

The Sea of Marmara between the Aegean and the Black Sea:

However badly the land fighting might have gone, British subs had some fun here in WW1... You can now just sight Istanbul ahead, Europe on the left, Asia on the right:

I love it when dusk falls in FS9; no need to improve on the default there. View from the 2-D screen:

And now you can see the airport quite clearly. Again, I have been there in reality and this is an accurate recreation of LTBA as it now appears:

Gear down, but I've lost the glideslope (taking pictures!), so did it on visual. Like almost everything important in Turkey the Istanbul Airport is now called Ataturk. But it was founded in 1924 and originally named Yesilkoy (which FS9 ATC uses). Incidentally, FS9 ATC had great difficulty with the word 'Midland', which the British always pronounce Midlund, but Americans can't say that and make it Mid-Land, two distinct syllables, not right*. Some of the more exotic airport & aircraft names, of course, they just give up on.

Got her down in one piece and taxied to the Gate:

Unfortunately the modern airport does conflict slightly with Cal Classic AI and the purple taxi lines went right through some of Toni Agramont's trademark static Iberians there. Of course there are jetways which wouldn't have existed in the '70s, but my more recent AI consists of aircraft that are too small (or cargoliners) to test those. This spot looked OK:

I put her under the Tower:

Here's a TT Explorer shot of a Speedbird there which I took before landing the Viscount. Most of the classic AI is OK at the 21st Century version of the airport, but some will need moving back from buildings a bit:

*Oddly enough, the British do the same with Maryland, which they pronounce Mary-Land (as in the Cookies). An American from there once told me that the correct way to say it is Merrilund (!).

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Followed this Turkish F-27 out for some more views of the airport and city:

A good view of the static Iberians there.

And one of those funny German Vikings that once graced the skies:

You can see some of the massive ancient walls that still surround miles of old Constantinople. Finally, here are some views from the seaward side of that oldest part of the city with a Turkish AN-2, some landmarks labelled:

Hagia or Santa Sophia was the Byzantine cathedral, converted into a mosque, now a museum like the famous Topkapi. Galataserai on the other side of the Golden Horn is home to thuggish (and Turkish) soccer fans.

IST3

I think the long avenue with a monument in the middle, behind the Blue Mosque, is the remains of the ancient chariot race arena.

Don't know if he will see this, but I would like to thank Toni Agramont for the Turkish scenery and for his other superb freeware downloads. Definitely NOT 'a turkey'!

 

[Motormouse]

*Oddly enough, the British do the same with Maryland, which they pronounce Mary-Land (as in the Cookies). An American from there once told me that the correct way to say it is Merrilund (!).

and oddly enough the British way is correct.. we Brits named it for the wife of King Charles 1st,
Queen Henrietta Maria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland

ttfn

Pete

 

[Willy]

I've passed through the straits there on ship enroute to and then back from Batumi, Georgia. Wish we could have stopped in Istanbul for a visit.

 

[tgibson]

Hi Ralf,

Nice job, thanks.

The missing LGAV might be due to my AFCAD zip file in the Classic AI package. In the FS/Addon Scenery/CalClassic Core/scenery folder, look for a file named something like AF2_LGAV_remove.BGL. That's the one that is removing the modern airport. You can move it to the main CalClassic Core folder for safekeeping if you want it to reappear.

Hope this helps,

Tom

 

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Thanks Guys, all useful information. Of course Virginia is named for Elizabeth I - who probably was the Virgin Queen (at least, if anyone did take her virginity, he never kept his head on his shoulders long enough to brag about it next day!).

Willy: you were lucky to see Istanbul from the sea, even if you didn't stop off. We arrived at that airport, then took a scruffy taxi through a gap in those old walls to our hotel, pretty close to the ancient centre. Trouble with Istanbul is that EVERYONE gets Byzantine Belly, Constantine's Revenge, or whatever you want to call it; it really is a Don't-drink-the-water destination. Even Turks who don't live there permanently get sick when they visit.

I don't mind LGAV Athens Venizelos being shut down, not wanting to take flyables there. It was only opened this century when they closed Hellinikon. Would actually rather remove the modern Istanbul Ataturk/Yesilkoy, but retain its surrounding scenery. Best of all when your Cal Classic team get round to doing the 1950s versions of those airports, Tom!

 

[Lionheart]

Sounds like a fun adventure. Thanks for posting this Ralf.

I am definately going to fly this route.



Bill