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Gibraltar 1942

M

merlin2

Charter Member
I know that lots of people are interested in Gibraltar. Here is a pic from before the runway was extended. You can see that the extension is just beginning on the left. Bottom centre the cemetery is clearly visible, still there today. Top right corner of the cemetery is the grandstand, that remained after the racecourse was taken over to become the airstrip. the oval in the top right is apparently a German observation post in Spain, used to monitor all activity at the airfield. 233 RAF Squadron (Hudsons) used the area to the lower left of the runway for their parking lot. Upper left of the runway is the Spitfire parking lot. You can see that the field is becoming very crowded with aircraft. The book from which this was taken, "The Wedge in the Door" by Hudson pilot Everett Baudoux, 2006, asks the question, why did the Germans not react to the immense build up of aircraft at Gibraltar prior to operation Torch.

merlin2
 
Thanks Merlin for the pic that show how gibraltar was day by day transformed from the racecourse to become a very active airstrip on a limited surface.
working to complete this scenery I have some doubts about the take off and land on way during the WWII ,I've made them with a East to West direction ,not the same than it has today,could you light me in this point ?
icon26.gif


JP
 
As far as I can tell, the runway you see here is just slightly less than 90/270, and at the time was about 1000 meters long. It is exactly the same direction that the modern runway has, and it is in the same location. The only difference is that the moden runway was extended in 1943 to the west, by Canadian sappers! This of course allowed the bigger bombers and transports to land. (more safely). If you compare this photo with google maps, you will see that the cemetery is exactly the same and the runway occupies exactly the same orientation in relation to the cemetery. Aircraft would land E or W depending on the wind; but the rock tended to cause significant local crosswind! In order to avoid Spanish air space pilots waiting to land would circle the rock clockwise (if landing on 27) or counterclockwise (if landing on 9).
Also the above mentioned book talks about the levanter, a local weather distubance caused by air travelling past the rock; I don't understand all the physics but the basic point was that it could cause ground level fog at very awkward moments. And with the next nearest airfield in England or Malta, that was a very serious problem.

That's about all the information that I know.
I am looking forward to seeing your Gibraltar scenery one day! I hope that it is set for Rhumbaflappy's LOD8 mesh (which puts Gibralatar in the right place)!

merlin2
 
Thanks for the informations ,I've the right heading and I've made my airbase data to take off E to W in the harbor direction ,that's it's for the 43 version because there is also a grass "racecourse" 40 version,I've no made a 42 version cause as shows your pics behind 41 and 43 the runway was in building ......that could need four versions :40 41 42 43 and ....five for the jet age 59 ....
I 'm near to upload the Afnor scenery ,the part I Gibraltar Ceuta Oran is completed about the lines ,I'm in the finitions step, I'm working to make a texture for the concrete runway and port, to do some gsl adjustments ....and begin also the read me :kilroy: ....in two language....
I hope find time to do all that before mid july and upload it and if i can't before that will be in september ....
I 've built the scenery on lod9 mesh so they will work on rhumba's lod8
here some wip previews
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/album.php?albumid=132


JP
 
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