Didn't Want To Hijack

[tgycgijoes]

With the FR B-24 Liberator in the works and having and still enjoying the Alphasim/Virtavia B-24 as some of you are, I am considering creating a virtual 461st BG in Italy to fly multiplayer missions. To do a good job is a lot of work so I am kind of posting this as a poll of who might be interested. I have belonged to a few groups in the past and enjoyed the comradeship and mutual interest. If there's enough interest I will start and even test the waters if you will with Alphasim and'or Virtavia B-24Js. I started to do this just for myself about 3/4 done with Torretta AAF today and thought HEY! So let me know.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Flight 1 B24 Liberator

While looking for a FS2004 paintkit for my Alphasim B-24J, I accidentally found Flight1 marketing a B24 Liberator that really looks nice with all kinds of animations, repaints and models. Anyone have this? Is it worth buying until FR's is released?

 

[falcon409]

No obvious takers posting in the thread, just curious if anyone has PM'd you to express interest.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Funny You Should Ask

No obvious takers posting in the thread, just curious if anyone has PM'd you to express interest.

Just got the first reply by PM from someone who I have not talked with before. So yes, 1. I am currently working on A.F. Scrub's B24J which I have an updated VC in and am going to start doing repaints for.

 

[tgycgijoes]

FR B24J Liberator Waiting

In the meantime I downloaded the freeware B24J that was updated for FSX as "Dragon And His Tail" available at a couple of sites onine like AVSIM etc. Last week I created from it a natural metal paintkit to work with the replacement aircrafts of the 461st's four squadrons. The original aircraft were almost entirely OD so I undertook the project of making an OD layer and it worked as you can see. Then started on artwork. I have 12 JYAI B24J's that I will be creating flight plans for out of Wendover AAF where the 461st started training so that I have aircraft on the field as I am training in the Liberator too. I held out a couple of the noseart I created and couldn't decide which one I wanted to fly myself and finally decided. Here are a couple of shots of it finished. All artwork is mine pretty close to the real aircraft as you can see from the enclosed shots. Its very satisfying when it comes out as you wanted as you creators of repaints and scenery know and oh so frustrating when it doesn't LOL. Not looking for any "atta boys" just wanted to share here.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Fun Flying From Wendover AAF

I updated KENV or should I say backdated it for my purposes. I also completed the flight plan for the 8 JYAI B24J's that I repainted including the noseart. Here are a couple of shots I just took. Getting down to serious training tomorrow.

 

[downwind]

I've held back because the B-24's for FSX are so marginally modelled. Could a different aircraft such as Milton's bombers be used? Also raids on Germany would be long and tedious and we live in assorted time zones.

 

[modelr]

Are you planning on sharing your paints of John's B-24's ? They look fantastic. I would really appreciate being able to add them to my flightline. I'm sure others would, also.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Raids etc

I've held back because the B-24's for FSX are so marginally modelled. Could a different aircraft such as Milton's bombers be used? Also raids on Germany would be long and tedious and we live in assorted time zones.

The 461st was part of the 15th Air Force stationed in Italy so shorter missions were flown than the 8-10 hours missions that I flew to/from Germany when I flew in the A2A B-17G with the 91st BG a couple years ago. They can be long. We had members from all over the world including Australia and many in Europe. What timezone are you in? If we started a mission at 0800 Eastern US Time it would be 1300 GMT which is definitely not flying in the middle of the night. When we flew the D-Day commemorative flight, we started it early in the morning. The beauty of the flight simulators is that time, date and weather can be started at any time to accomodate all multiplayers. Since I have not had much interest in multiplayers flights here yet, I have not set up any missions. I was not tasked with that in the 91st, just showing up at the airfield on time and in the correct hard stand. Further down the road if more guys want to participate, I'll create a mission. In the meantime I will be flying with FSCAI in FSX to have 3 wingmen. I'm waiting for FR's B-24 Liberator too but I'm having a lot of fun with this one in the meantime.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Sharing

Are you planning on sharing your paints of John's B-24's ? They look fantastic. I would really appreciate being able to add them to my flightline. I'm sure others would, also.

I probably will share them here in the warbirds library and will post in my thread when I do.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Wendover AAF Utah

There are only a few photos of Wendover AAF so I improvised but here is what it probably looked like when the 764th Bomb Squadron was training there. You can see all 12 B-24Js on the line. Interesting (I have a photo) that "Stinky" No. 3 has a white not a red tail markings and serial number. It is the only one that way. Here are two screenshots one from each end of the field on the apron.

 

[tgycgijoes]

FSCAI and Virtavia Lib

Finished my repaint for the Virtavia B-24J I got last week from PCAviator on super sale (thru the end of September half off). Its not the A2A B17 but then its nice for the price and I know its been around for a while. Here I am airborne with a wingman generated by FSCAI and he does try to stay in formation. I don't have any Axis aircraft loaded...waiting until we deploy to Italy and then I will find some to have adversaries and see how that works. Here is a screenshot of us

 

[tgycgijoes]

Historic Realism

Earlier this evening I created a flight plan from Hamilton Field CA (actually Travis AFB since no Hamilton exists) to Palm Springs to Phoenix Sky Harbor to Midland AAF Texas with AIFP3 and the 12 AI B24Js I created. I am going to actually fly this tomorrow with Swee Pea in formation but I wanted to test it out tonight first. All I can say is WOW!!! This was so cool! One by one the B24s started their engines and left their parking in a single file line and taxied to the active runway taking off one by one. They came together from different taxiways and gave way as needed just as if they were real. I am going to try and video the screen tomorrow to share this. I have Flashback but have not used it in probably a year so we'll see how that works. This is the first leg of their journey using the real route from California to Torretta, Italy. Looking forward to it myself and hope that I can share it with you all.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Hamilton AAF

I have to amend the above post after this morning's search I did on Google. First I found Hamilton AAF/AFB photos and information on a great site Little Known Abandoned Airfields California and then in the same Google search found in the CalClassic Forum where Kenny Fox of http://www.fsvintageair.com/
a really nicely done rendition of the Airbase. I am going to redo my flight plan since I already added it to my FSX and went out there with "BOB". Here are two screenshots of his work.

I am still going to fly and try to video or at least take screen shots of the flight of 12 plus me later.

 

[tgycgijoes]

Torretta AAF Italy

I just finished as best as I can do from the few photos, the 461st Bomb Group Base in Italy in WWII. It has 100 hard spots for parking mostly concrete, some steel mats as I saw in some of the aircraft parked photos. It will be a few weeks before all the assigned aircraft arrive from the states because I am flying the actual ferry routes in FSX with myself and ai aircraft. From California to Airzona, Texas and Tennessee. From there south and then across the Atlantic to North Africa before flying across the Med' to Italy. Once we are settled in Italy I will start flying some of the actual missions they flew in a chronological order from April 1944. There is a lot of good info on the 461st site. Plan on finishing up the 764th nose art on a few more AI and then moving on to each of the other three squadrons: 765th, 766th and 767th with one flyable aircraft in each.

This is "Swee Pea" #18 of the 764th BS parked on a cement hard stand at Torretta AAF, Italy. I am able to use 4096 bit grass which I think looks a lot better than FSX's "blurry" grass.

This is a birds-eye view of Torretta in FSX.

The taxiways and the hard stands are laid out over the farmland and tree stands if you look at the actual photo below in my opinion. I originally used an airport background but it was too bland for this. The field was also muddy but I don't know how to realistically replicate that in ADEx for FSX so although there will be seasons because I am not using photoreal background no mud in the winter just snow.

The runways do go 340/160 correctly but in top view in FSX if you go out too far they shift direction. I used this photo to trace the taxiways and stands exactly where they belong with the exception of relocating them around the lake in FSX. The airfield is also exactly located according to Latitude/Longitude co ordinates which btw in Google Earth don't show FSX's "lake". Phooey on them. It is LTOR with the L for Italy and the TOR for Torretta which is long gone and no other airfield in Italy is using these ICAO letters. Have to have them for FSX or P3D for that matter to locate it. Once it was added in scenery it can be called up. After I had traced this photo with just taxiways and hard stands, I opened it up in FSX and shot a screen shot of it. Then I used that as a background image in ADEx to be able to put things where they should be FSX-wise like around the lake not in it. So there is a little "artistic license" to work within the sim. I like it though and look forward to a lot of fun flying designed missions of the real ones.

 

[xpelekis]

Nice. You seem to have much interest into this.

 

[ian elliot]

I hope you upload these airfield's, i did an ADE file for Amendola, even made up a basic 97BG repaint for John Young's B-17, but i lost the file's few weeks back when i swapped HD's and did'nt back-up properly But a least you've cover'd another of the Foggia airfield complex to fly from

PS, its hard to explain, but i sometime's cut back the airport background poly really close to the taxi ways and parking, it give's me flattens and exclude's but also a natural temporary airfield look, ive try'd it in a couple of advance landing ground airfield scenery's in SE England, Although FSX dosent do mud and mud was a really serious problem for the Allies working up through Italy

 

[tgycgijoes]

Bummer

I hope you upload these airfield's, i did an ADE file for Amendola, even made up a basic 97BG repaint for John Young's B-17, but i lost the file's few weeks back when i swapped HD's and did'nt back-up properly But a least you've cover'd another of the Foggia airfield complex to fly from

PS, its hard to explain, but i sometime's cut back the airport background poly really close to the taxi ways and parking, it give's me flattens and exclude's but also a natural temporary airfield look, ive try'd it in a couple of advance landing ground airfield scenery's in SE England, Although FSX dosent do mud and mud was a really serious problem for the Allies working up through Italy

I have Physics X Configurator which does enhance a lot. I may send him a message about an update that would do mud if possible in FSX when it is rainy or snowy because he DOES enhance ice and slippery surfaces. Can't hurt to ask. I will up load the airfield which I just finished after final tweaks if needed. I didn't do an airfield background which I DO do on others because IMO it looks better over the fields like the BW photo seems to show. I just flattened it because it is hilly and the first version had floating runways. Keeping in touch here

Richard

 

[tgycgijoes]

P-40s in a Bomber Group?

"This is the P-40 that Brooks Lawhon and I stole one rainy night. Fast paint job and the 461st had entered the fighter era. "


When we picked up the plane it was night, no lights on the airfield but the runway lights they finally turned on for us to land. We had no contact with the tower. Col. Lawhon had made arrangements with a crew chief to flash a light to guide us to the revetment where the plane was ready for us to acquire.


This was a fast grab. Never did see the crew chief. Lawhon jumped out and ran to the P-40 while I made a fast taxi in our B-24 to the runway for a fast get away. It was a rainy night. Next time I saw the P-40 it had been painted over with our group insignia. I can tell you this - the plane was a piece of junk. After reading the tech order and having a crew chief help me start it up I took off to feel it out and learn to fly like those fighter jocks that thought they were so hot. I flew around a bit trying stalls, etc. to get the feel. Did a slow roll and all sorts of trash came flying up from under the rudder pedals and other parts of the plane. It was a dirty mess. Also if you landed at another field such as Bari, the coolant would leak out and have to be replaced while the engine was turning and the system was under pressure. It was pure fun to fly. I don't believe the pilots we chewed out for sloppy formations appreciated the ships as we hecklers did.


After being stripped of its desert-pattern camouflage, this P-40F was reworked in a resplendent natural metal and "Group Colors" scheme. Henceforth it would be referred to as "Big G" - for Colonel Frederic Glantzberg.

Unfortunately, we still have no photos of the P-38s used for the same purpose.

 

[tgycgijoes]

On The Way To Italy

These flights for us are all tests. Ed and I left Hamilton AAF yesterday and flew the 461/764 route from Hamilton to Palm Springs to Phoenix Sky Harbor. Used the Cal Classic scenery for the airfields. Today departed Phoenix Sky Harbor at 10:00 local time for a 2 hour 10 minute flight to Midland AAF. The KMAF Midland Texax Intl airport looks like it was the Bombadier School from the runway and taxiway layout comparing it to the 1943 photo of Midland AAF. After the flight ended I tweaked the AFCAD in ADEx so future pilots with us can fly through a more accurate rendition. Here is the comparison of FSX airport default AFCAD and a aerial photo of Midland AAF. Sure look close don't they.

Taking a couple days off...Friday we continue our trek to Italy by flying from Midland AAF which I did today adjusting Midland Intl stock airport to closely resemble the AAF to Memphis TN using again ClaClassic scenery there to get as close to the airfields as possible instead of modern ones.

We are both flying the Virtavia B24J with 764th Squadron repaints: he did his of #11 Ol' Bird and I did mine of Swee Pea #18. The Virtavia for an old aircraft is still a nice aircraft to fly for the most part. We are both anxiously awaiting completion of the Flight Replicas B24. Hope they provide a nice layered paintkit in PSD with it since I will have to do the repaints over.