WWII Morotai (con't)

[jmfabio]

I have not posted on this in a while, but that doesn't mean I have been idle. One of the things I am struggling with is finding documentation of what Morotai looked like. There are no overhead pictures that show where buildings were. Not in the way European air bases were photographed, directly overhead by the photo section in hi resolution.

I have found photos of Morotai posted on various websites, taken by the men that flew. These are taken at oblique angles in whatever resolution native to the camera, sometimes clouds obscure portions of the picture. It is easy to see where things are, but not what it is in most cases.

As a result I have been placing things and if they don't "look right", I change it. a lot of changing.

As this is a large base with three runways, the AAF, the Navy (air and sea units), the RAAF and supporting units must be accommodated. 67,000 personnel were stationed there.

So here are some screenshots I have recently taken.


a portion of the 174th Station Hospital


Ground level port facility and warehouses


ground level tank farm and oil ship at pier



PT base on Soemoe Soemoe Island about 2 miles southwest of Morotai.

[jmfabio]

Tank farm with 174th Station Hospital middle of pic.


Navy base 2nd Emergency Rescue squadron (PBYs)



174th Station Hospital.



13th Bomber Command

[jmfabio]

Base complex looking west. Wama on left for fighters and cargo Pitoe on right for B24s.



Not an interesting shot. This is Blue Beach used during the invasion of Morotai for LSTs. Besides the three piers in use for cargo, this spot continued to be used for LSTs. (Now all I need to do is find some LST models.)

I have of course to finish object placement and set the level of complexity for the objects.

With all objects set to display at normal and FSX at extremely dense for complexity and autogen, my very tired 7 year old i5 650 @ 3.2 w/ 8 G ram with a 750 Ti 2 G gets around 30 FPS (locked at 30). It will only drop into teens when headed toward all the AI parked on the fields (30+). I only mention this because those with more recent computers and graphics cards should have little trouble using this scenery to its potential.

As always comments, suggestions, criticisms welcome in the spirit of help.

Thanks,

Joe

[Pips]

Fabtastic. Really looking forward to flying my Spit out of Wama Strip.

I'm sure you have already seen these, but on the Pacific Wrecks website there are a couple of photographs.
https://www.pacificwrecks.com/airfie...ama/index.html

And one I found on Google.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...945_OG1934.jpg

And the Australian War Memorial has quite a collection of photographs on Morotai. Most are of buildings and people, but if you have the patience to sort through them, there are several good overhead's too.
https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-sear...ppp=100&page=1

[jmfabio]

And the Australian War Memorial has quite a collection of photographs on Morotai. Most are of buildings and people, but if you have the patience to sort through them, there are several good overhead's too.
https://www.awm.gov.au/advanced-sear...ppp=100&page=1

Hi Pips,

Yes I can't remember if I have been to the Australian War Memorial site, but I know the memorial is located on Morotai. I have also found some pictures in my search from there. Believe me I have search loads of photos.

I was extremely lucky (in my opinion) to find this one.


I was sure it was the Gila Peninsula of Morotai.

Having taken this screenshot in FSX at Morotai, I am now convinced that it is. This project is teaching me alot, is a creative outlet for me and a lot of fun.

Thanks for the interest and comments.

Joe

[Dimus]

Indeed looking good!

Have you considered changing the shoreline to get a better looking one, compared to the real picture you posted? It is not so hard to do. If you want I can give you a how-to. SBuilderX or ADE can do it. I prefer SBuilder X for these things myself as it can give you sat images in the background to follow.

[roger-wilco-66]

My thought, Dimus :-)

PM sent :-)


Cheers,
Mark

[jmfabio]

Indeed looking good!

Have you considered changing the shoreline to get a better looking one, compared to the real picture you posted? It is not so hard to do. If you want I can give you a how-to. SBuilderX or ADE can do it. I prefer SBuilder X for these things myself as it can give you sat images in the background to follow.

Thanks Dimus.

To be truthful that thought never occurred to me. But roger wilco sent me a PM. thanks for the kind words.

Joe

[Dimus]

You're welcome Joe! If Mark PMed you I'm sure you're covered. Let me know if you need any further help.

Nice coastlines can make a difference compared with the crude default lines.

[Pips]

That is a good photo jmfabio. according to the AWM site, it labels the photo "MOROTAI. 1945-09-27. AERIAL VIEW OF HEADQUARTERS, ADVANCED LAND HEADQUARTERS, AREA ON MOROTAI PENINSULA."

Here are a few more photo's for you, from the same site. They are labelled, top to bottom, as
a) MOROTAI, HALMAHERA ISLANDS, NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. C. 1945-04. AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE WAMA AIRSTRIP ON MOROTAI ISLAND SHOWING AMERICAN AND AUSTRALIAN AIRCRAFT ON THE GROUND.


And according to this site: https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.ed...e.v6.Keogh.pdf the Uni Of Hawaii (UHM) has, among it's collection several hundred aerial photographs taken of Morotai and Halmahera by the USAAF prior to it's invasion. Now if you can get your hands on those......

[Pips]

That is a good photo jmfabio. according to the AWM site, it labels the photo "MOROTAI. 1945-09-27. AERIAL VIEW OF HEADQUARTERS, ADVANCED LAND HEADQUARTERS, AREA ON MOROTAI PENINSULA."

Here are a few more photo's for you, from the same site. They are labelled, top to bottom, as

a)MOROTAI ISLAND, HALMAHERA ISLANDS, NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. 1944-12-30. AERIAL VIEW OF THE AIRSTRIPS AT MOROTAI, WAMA STRIP (IN FOREGROUND ALONGSIDE BEACH) WITH PITOE STRIP (AT REAR) USED BY 13TH AIR FORCE, UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCE AND FIRST TACTICAL AIR FORCE, RAAF.

b) MOROTAI, HALMAHERA ISLANDS, NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. C. 1945-04. AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF THE WAMA AIRSTRIP ON MOROTAI ISLAND SHOWING AMERICAN AND AUSTRALIAN AIRCRAFT ON THE GROUND.

c) MOROTAI, HALMAHERA ISLANDS, NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES. 1945-04. AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF PART OF THE WAMA AIRSTRIP AT MOROTAI ISLAND SHOWING THE FIGHTER AIRSTRIP AND SOME OF THE DISPERSAL AREAS ON WHICH ARE PARKED DOUGLAS C47 DAKOTA TRANSPORT, MITCHELL, BLACK WIDOW AND LOCKHEED LIGHTNING AIRCRAFT.

And according to this site: https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.ed...e.v6.Keogh.pdf the Uni Of Hawaii (UHM) has, among it's collection several hundred aerial photographs taken of Morotai and Halmahera by the USAAF prior to it's invasion. Now if you can get your hands on those......

[jmfabio]

Here are a few more photo's for you, from the same site.

Thanks for posting those pictures Pips. They are among the pictures I have gleaned from the net. I used the USAAF Southwest Pacific Airdromes Guide (1944) to lay out the two fields. From the AWM photos I noticed an addition to Wama Strip at the extreme east end where the parking was expanded to accommodate the RAAF.

This was probably done in early 1945 before the invasion of Borneo.

Joe