Lt S D Culley DSO of the RNAS - Lighter released!

**baldy** · September 26th, 2018, 06:32

On the 10th August 1918 Lt Culley took off in his Sopwith Camel from the flight deck of a modified Admiralty Seaplane Lighter. This lighter was being towed by HMS Redoubt, an R class destroyer of the Harwich Force at about 30 knots to give enough headwind for a successful take off. Once airborne Lt Culley attacked and shot down incoming Zeppelin L53 which was on its way to a target in England. Having completed the attack he landed his aircraft on the sea close enough to the lighter for both him and his a/c to be recovered.

The following screenies loosely depict this action

**baldy** · September 26th, 2018, 06:42

**baldy** · September 26th, 2018, 06:46

I felt this was interesting enough to attempt to show it

Zeppelin by Allen Downey, L.M. Brown "OldWheat" and John P Fortin

Sopwith Camel by Gary Aumaugher etc.( texture modified by baldy )

Destroyer RN_S_ClassDD_1918_LOD by Stuart277

and finally

Admiralty Seaplane Lighter by me

baldy

**Roxane-21** · September 26th, 2018, 09:10

Excellent! Will you upload the mission file with the lighter?

**kdriver** · September 26th, 2018, 09:34

Brilliant Baldy!

**baldy** · September 26th, 2018, 09:38

Since you're kind enough to ask - I will - just need to do a readme

Lighter plus mission uploaded

**Ravenna** · September 26th, 2018, 13:37

What a great idea. Thanks Baldy! I hope Lt. Culley was a strong swimmer.

***The B24 Guy*** · September 26th, 2018, 16:13

**baldy** · September 26th, 2018, 17:13

A new entry has been added to Add-Ons Library, category CFS 2 Ships Add-Ons

Description: A towed lighter to enable a Sopwith Camel to take off at sea to attack Zeppelins before they reached the English coast. Lt S D Culley shot down Zeppelin L53 on 10th Aug 1918 using this method.

To check it out, rate it or add comments, visit Admiralty Seaplane Lighter.zip
The comments you make there will appear in the posts below.

***Rami*** · September 26th, 2018, 17:19

Baldy,

Outstanding job, thanks for all of your work on World War I, you're filling a major gap!

**stuart277** · September 26th, 2018, 22:46

Hi Baldy
Great research.
The mission looks super.

I will whip up an Admiralty R Class DD over the next couple of days.
Cheers
Stuart

**baldy** · September 26th, 2018, 23:15

Thanks for all the comments - I got the idea when watching a tv show about shoreline archeology where they were examining the remains of a lighter - and went on from there - Fleet Air Arm Museum in Somerset has a restored lighter in their storage facility

the mission is very basic and the lighter doesn't stay behind the destroyer for long ( I don't know if the game supports ships being towed ) - so if anyone wants to improve it please feel free

baldy

**Captain Kurt** · September 27th, 2018, 03:21

Fun idea Baldy. Kudos to you.

**highpockets** · September 27th, 2018, 09:52

I had no idea there was such a craft!

**Roxane-21** · September 27th, 2018, 10:45

Originally Posted by baldy

**baldy** · September 28th, 2018, 01:22

That's true Roxane but as the actress said to the bishop 'my, that's a big one ! '

baldy

**Ravenna** · September 28th, 2018, 14:21

Originally Posted by baldy

'my, that's a big one ! '

baldy

Sounds like a line from "Carry On Culley". I'm hearing Barbara Windsor.

**Roxane-21** · September 28th, 2018, 23:50

Originally Posted by baldy

the lighter doesn't stay behind the destroyer for long ( I don't know if the game supports ships being towed ) - so if anyone wants to improve it please feel free

The lighter has no weapons, and it is known that unarmed ships will not follow any waypoint when used in missions. You need to add at least one gun to your lighter, as stated by Nibbio : http://web.tiscali.it/jobim/cfs2/tipsntricks.html

**baldy** · September 29th, 2018, 00:05

Thanks Roxane - there's something new to learn everyday

baldy

**baldy** · September 29th, 2018, 11:16

something else I'm working on -conversion of Jens B Kristensen's Felixstowe F2A from FS9 to CFS2

it converts well, just need to work on the panels and dp -- Jens has given me permission to upload when ready

baldy

**Ravenna** · September 29th, 2018, 14:50

Originally Posted by baldy

something else I'm working on -conversion of Jens B Kristensen's Felixstowe F2A from FS9 to CFS2

it converts well, just need to work on the panels and dp -- Jens has given me permission to upload when ready

baldy

Baldy,
A lovely surprise. Looking forward to the Felixstowe. It will be interesting to see it alongside Stuart Green's version.
The RNAS floatplane family is now very well populated thanks to you.
Any chance there might be an opposition floatplane somewhere down the track? I'm thinking W.12 or W.29

**Roxane-21** · September 29th, 2018, 23:59

Great, can't wait to try this one!

Originally Posted by Ravenna

Any chance there might be an opposition floatplane somewhere down the track? I'm thinking W.12 or W.29

And don't forget Brandenburg W.18 and Macchi M.5 as well. I would love to be able to recreate fights over Adriatic Sea.

**baldy** · September 30th, 2018, 01:21

How did I miss Stuart Green's aircraft ? I must be going ga-ga ! The main point was to try to replicate an F2A on a lighter - it doesn't really work because when the game generates an a/c on a flight deck it's very hit and miss where it's going to appear, also the lighter ( even with guns ) wont really maintain station to look as if it's being towed - it stays close but moves alongside the destroyer ( its 25 knots must be faster than the destroyer's 25 knots ) --

baldy

**Roxane-21** · September 30th, 2018, 02:35

Originally Posted by baldy

the lighter ( even with guns ) wont really maintain station to look as if it's being towed - it stays close but moves alongside the destroyer ( its 25 knots must be faster than the destroyer's 25 knots )

When they see the Zeppelin both lighter and destroyer feel themselves under air attack, then start a right-hand turn as evasive maneuver. Since the lighter is behind the destroyer it will turn inside the destroyer's trajectory and will overtake it. I don't know much about how to manage ships in missions. Maybe it should be possible to make them sail straight forward even when attacked (like bombers do).