REF:Airbase building
ATT PEN32WIN
Where do you go to do your research for ww2 airbases coordinates pics and details?
dog1
Well it depends on the drome. Most of it comes from books and the web (Pacific Wrecks dot com is a super research site). Google is my best friend for this kind of stuff. Combine that with Google Earth and a good portion of just plain old dumb luck, sometimes good, sometimes you have to use your imagination to fill in the gaps. Google Earth is a great way to find the center of the old runways. In many cases even packed dirt fields like all of those in the Wewak area can still be located. Europe is actually harder in the case of many of the German fields. Thin documentation and massive over build. You get some of this in the PTO, like Henderson fighter II is now a golf course, but not nearly as much as the ETO.
When luck is running my way there's a good line map of the field to go with the war time photos. Sometimes the photos are good and it's easy to pick out the details, most of the time they're not that good. Take the field I'm currently working on. There are no maps of the field and only a few photos taken from an F-5 (P-38 Recon Bird) and they're OK. From my reading I know there are 88 fighter revetments at the SE Dispersal and 15 Bomber at the NW; but in the photos you'd be doing well to find 10. So you know the area and what its function was and you can see the taxiways. From there it's just guess work. Reading about the field can give you a lot of info about the runway surface, conditions, length and headings, AA postions. So you have to take all of the parts you can gather and just do the best you can.
Getting it perfect is not my goal, 70+ years on it's just unrealistic. I try to get it in the right location with the right runway headings and from there any detail I can confirm and recreate is a bonus.
PS. A couple of other little hints to keep you from going insane.
1. The coordinates on the map may not exaclty match the CFS2 world, especially around shorelines. Match the terrain, not the numbers.
2. Sometimes, just when you think you're done with a base a new photo or map shows up. If it's a little off, let it go. If it's alot off do it again. It's never as easy as it sounds, always a tough call...LOL. Remember, bases where in a constant state of change. We can't do it all. I tried with the ETO and I drove myself nuts with the details to the point that I didn't want anything to do with it anymore. Spare yourself the frustration.
