WWII North Africa FSX Scenery

[FlyingsCool]

I've got a hankering to fly the A2A P-40 in North Africa, either for the British or Americans. Has such scenery/airports ever been created for FSX? I haven't been able to find any.

Thanks,

Tom

[tgycgijoes]

A quick search didn't find any...here is a reference for you to use. ADEx is not hard to use especially since you will be making single dirt airstrips in many cases. It takes a desire and a little practice. It is a really "user-friendly" program.

https://laetusinpraesens.org/guests/jwbj/jwb1.htm

[ceo1944]

I'm also really interested in the North Africa theater in WWII. It doesn't have the popularity or glamour of Western Europe or even the Ostfront, but it's full of interesting aviation combat situations that are almost never simulated by commercial air combat games. Thereby making it a perfect target for simulation in FSX/P3D with FSCAI.

I'm collecting info on the airfields and eventually will start using ADE to create some, but there so many! Most are pretty simple though, just a dirt strip with some sheds.

Here are some sources of info on the airfields in the area:

https://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20L...nd%20Egypt.pdf

https://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20Tunisia.pdf

https://www.ww2.dk/Airfields%20-%20I...20Sardinia.pdf

[BendyFlyer]

Flyings Cool Correct there is basically nothing available for North Africa for WW2. My interest was spurred by revisiting the Hurricane and like all things simulated, down the rabbit hole you go. Cut a long story short my focus sharpened to the Seige of Tobruk and hence the offensive by Rommel that almost got to Cairo before the push back. I learnt a few interesting things on the way, namely that a lone Hurricane squadron was based at Tobruk until they basically lost the lot in day after day of serious attack from overwhelming force, that the RAAF had a Hurricane Squadron (2 actually) who went on to P40s then Spitfires in Italy.

Back to scenery and the sim. Anyhow I have spent a lot of time looking at all the photos from the period I could when you read the accounts of various battles it becomes obvious that airfields were basically dirty strips quickly cut out on a bit of desert, maintenance was in the open air, everyone lived in tents they would be there a week or month or two then move on the next closest point to the front line which fluctuated month by month. I have now a list of all the relevant landing grounds with their lat and longs which if you want and PM me I can send you. My scenery tools are ADE and Instant Scenery. getting something together is not hard but a key problem is a dirt strip on sandy dirt little in the way of distinguishing features. I did one landing ground and it looked ok took off and promptly got lost and could not find it again (No GPS in the authentic Hurricane from AH) so even getting about and finding stuff in that environment is a challenge. ADE works fine to get your airfield started and will do the dirt strips for you but really caters for your more traditional airport (I use the Prokey version) and Instant Scenery has been great to put stuff in the scenery or about because there is a large amount of WW2 objects etc which are freeware that Instant Scenery will access. The other thing is all these strips just were given numbers like LG038, LG127 etc. Now and then a name for a place or its general location. They are spread out from Morocco across to Egypt.

I am back at the beginning with Tobruk airfield which is a challenge because the WW2 airport was actually right in the middle of town, then there was another built by the Italians further out but was not used by the allies because the town was under seige and it was outside the seige or defensive line and then both have since dissappeared and the modern day Tobruk airport is 30 miles to the south now. Finding pictures to get an idea of how it was has been hard as well. As you can appreciate if your under seige on the edge of the desert getting bombed and shot at day after day, taking photographs of the scenery was not a high priority.

I did not find anything of use from MS2004 or FS9 either, I know there is stuff for Combat Flight Sim but it does not work in FSX. So I guess it depends where you want to focus. Only tip is as you get back into Egypt the main RAF bases there are still major airports or airports today but all the names are different. If I can help out PM me. I could do all the landing grounds as ADE airports which could load into FSX that would at least give you a correct starting point for any other scenery you might want or can do at that location.

A couple of photos from the period to illustrate what I have outline above:

[InDeepSchit]

Not sure about any Allied airfelds, but I do know of two fictional North African Luftwaffe fields for FSX/P3D.

Al Bardi: https://www.ianpsdarkcorner.co.uk/fl...ardi-airfield/

Al Qa'arah: https://www.ianpsdarkcorner.co.uk/fl...aarah-airbase/

Both sceneries require object libraries here: https://www.ianpsdarkcorner.co.uk/fl...ect-libraries/

[tgycgijoes]

I also have the A2A P-40 and Iris P-40 too. Do you plan on doing any JOinFS Multiplayer flying when you get some scenery?

Although its newer, there is a scenery over at CalClassic of tons of Africa Scenery though its 1960 I imagine that it had not changed drastically from the 1940's though I could be wrong. These are city airports but fill in the spots like in Egypt and Libya.

http://www.calclassic.com/scenery_airports.htm

[Motormouse]

IIRC there's a Marble Arch airfield scenery, possibly one of Ian Elliott's... and Rob Sandersons Hurricane (for fs9) includes a 'Forward Airstrip' scenery that might fit the bill too

Ttfn

Pete

[ian elliot]

You guys have got me intrested now, although ive never actually done any North Africe scenery. The only airfields i know are the one's in IanP's all-in-one airfield pack mention'd above, I think there axis airfields but with the fast moving battlefront, im guessing they change'd hands a few time's.
As a side thought, it might be worth having a look in the CFS2 library, its a bit hit or miss and 3D structure's (what few there were ) tend not to show up but it might be worth experimenting

[Motormouse]

Ian, apologies , I miss-credited (is that a word) you with this one ; search Marble Arch at Flightsim.com

FS2004 Scenery--RAF Marble Arch 1960 in Libya, a WWII-era airbase which remained in RAF use until circa 1960. Also includes the Marble Arch landmark for which the base was named. This scenery requires additional scenery libraries to be installed, but all is explained in the readme. By Nikko Yaginuma.

ttfn

Pete

[tgycgijoes]

Pretty soon we should be able to fly.

[FlyingsCool]

Great responses! Thanks guys!!

[ceo1944]

Yes, the lines swung back and forth from one side of Libya to the other, and from the east coast of Africa to Tunisia in 1942-43, as we all know. I'm assuming the "Luftwaffe airfields" sources I linked to are actually airfields what switched back and forth, so will probably cover most of important ones and many other minor ones.

Ian, I really appreciate your work! I've installed all of yours, IanP's, and Klaus' RAF and Luftwaffe airfields plus done a few of my own, and struck down the skyline of modern Paris and London, also got rid of the giant airports EGLL and LFPG; all to restore that part of the world to approximately 1940-41. It's a WIP and moving quite slowly because of my other more pressing time commitments, but eventually I intend to share the whole package as freeware - with permission from the authors of course.

I'm also really interested in the North Africa theater and collecting everything I can find, plus doing some work there too.

Ultimately we could have a whole world of Luftwaffe vs. Allies with some combined effort.

You guys have got me intrested now, although ive never actually done any North Africe scenery. The only airfields i know are the one's in IanP's all-in-one airfield pack mention'd above, I think there axis airfields but with the fast moving battlefront, im guessing they change'd hands a few time's.
As a side thought, it might be worth having a look in the CFS2 library, its a bit hit or miss and 3D structure's (what few there were ) tend not to show up but it might be worth experimenting

[tgycgijoes]

Edackridge and I are actively creating Luftwaffe Airfields in Romania, Yogoslavia, Hungary and Italy in 1944-45 for the 461st Bomb Group Missions (thread here) in FSX@War. Ed is doing a tremendous job of creating the "real" targets using Henry L. deZeng IV fantastic works on Luftwaffe Airfields in WWII. If you don't have a copy of this yet, Google "Luftwaffe Airfields In WWII" and check them all out. I have been talking with him off and on when I get stuck creating an airfield and he is a terrific guy and spent years on this work. Anyone interested in WWII needs this "FREEWARE" work in their library.

FSX@War North Africa is available I believe too.

[FlyingsCool]

Here's a list of fields and locations of them during WWII

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...g_World_War_II

[BendyFlyer]

InDeep..t, good find, nice work. Everyone else great stuff this not may happen over night but there is a lot of interest. So I will keeo on doing stuff for this era as well. I have begun to do Tobruk. There were two airfields there, the one about 5 miles south west of town built by the Italians and then during the seige of Tobruk they put a short cross field right in the middle of town. Will have to look at the overall town as well as the FSX world (Global and Vector) I have is a bit lush and well not that North African looking. The thing I have noticed even modern day Tobruk looks a lot more tree covered and greener than it did in the 1940s where it looked very barren indeed but then I guess water was not piped or pumped about then like it is today, you had a well or or you carried it from a town well or cistern.

I have also done 6 LG's from the Wikipedia list and given everyone will probably have most of the relevant librarys from other RAF and WW2 sceneries this should go together well. End date hmmmm. might do a few LG's first and release them here bit by bit I guess.

The back and forth of the North Africa campaign is difficult because the battle lines moved constantly. It would appear the RAF used the makeshift fields for battle field support but kept the Egyptian bases as the main go to as well.

Another thought my FSX sim is almost pure Cal Classic and I think it is a good fit with this period for various places. There is some good stuff for Iraq, Cyprus and Malta as well by the Cal Classic guys. I found a French site that had done a complete makeover for Malta for WW2 with all the strips. I will have to dig out the links. If you guys look at the scenery pages at Cal Classic you will find the various sceneries listed. There is Basra Margil 1957, RAF Sharjah, RAF Muharraq Bahrain, RAF Habbinyah, RAF Khormaksar and one called Trucial States which has 3 or 4 old fields in this area in the one package and Cyprus 1962.



Here is the Malta Link it is in French but the download is near the bottom of the page and is listed as MaltaWWIIV2, my Malta is permanently fixed in this period. There may be other stuff there but I have not had a real good look.

http://www.vf-air.com/FSX2.htm

[BendyFlyer]

As an afterthought for those interested in WW2 scenery a chap called Ross McClennan did all the sceneries for the Dambuster and Tirpitz raids, the Eder Moehn and Derwent dams plus a variety of Bomber Command airfields in Britain. Very very extensive complete with AI. Originally for 2004 but has updated to FSX and can be found at FlightSim.com under Dambusters, there were about 6 packages all up at one stage. His is based on the Plane Design Lancaster which is no longer in business but Ross got permission to have the models or some of them in his packages.

It has taken me awhile to get the right sim models but now have the Spitfire MK V and IX tropical and the Hurricane as my favourite rides. Be interesting to see if there are any representative paints for the Jahn C47 for this war theatre. (Well Monty's C47 was just released last week excellent). We await the FR Liberator in due course.

I have the PD Lancaster and the AH one and have to say I still prefer the PD version although compared to the AH version the textures are a little dated but flight performance is spot on.

[ian elliot]

Be interesting to see if there are any representative paints for the Jahn C47 for this war theatre

This is a good skin i use for tooling around Tunisia, Sicily and southern Italy


http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...jk_c-47_jiminy

[BendyFlyer]

This is a good skin i use for tooling around Tunisia, Sicily and southern Italy


http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...jk_c-47_jiminy

Thanks Ian missed that one in my travels. Another JK beauty.

[BendyFlyer]

Here is another scenery that came up with some searches it is RAF Marble Arch. Appararently the Italians built this huge arble march in the middle of the Libyan Desert before WW2 marking a dividing line of some sort, anyway the RAF built an airfield up the road from it and were actually there until the 1960s. The airfield is basic, which is fine but the Marble Arch would have been there during the desert campaigns. This was done by Okami one of the team who helped put the Cal Classic Africa 1960 series together.

It is at flight sim under 2004 scenery as: FS2004_raf_marble_arch_1960.zip. Works fine in FSX if you have the various FSX Cal Classic Libaries installed.

[FlyingsCool]

I also have the A2A P-40 and Iris P-40 too. Do you plan on doing any JOinFS Multiplayer flying when you get some scenery?

Although its newer, there is a scenery over at CalClassic of tons of Africa Scenery though its 1960 I imagine that it had not changed drastically from the 1940's though I could be wrong. These are city airports but fill in the spots like in Egypt and Libya.

http://www.calclassic.com/scenery_airports.htm

It may be a while before my scenery is up to speed, but I'd be up for some JOinFS at some point.

Good point somebody made about how easy it must be to get lost... How do we deal with that? Map is of course the easiest, but I'm wondering if there are other ideas?

[BendyFlyer]

Flyings Cool - Agree about getting lost. As ground charts for lots of different places are hard to come by I can admit to resorting to using the GPS in terrain mode as a map but that is all, I think that is reasonably legitimate. That was another reason why I thought the Marble Arch scenery was a good find a huge arch structure in the desert sure makes a great landmark. Other than that time honoured navigation technique is the only way - CLOCK- MAP - OUTSIDE.

I have just changed the mesh for this area using a freeware mesh for area 602, that has helped a lot to get some terrain shaping where possible.

[falcon409]

Flyings Cool - Agree about getting lost. As ground charts for lots of different places are hard to come by I can admit to resorting to using the GPS in terrain mode as a map but that is all. . . . . .

Case in point, the Crew of the B-24 Lady-Be-Good, who flew 440nm into the Libyan Desert assuming they were still over the Med. Trying to Navigate during that Era and mistakenly assuming the ripples in the sand below were waves. . . .during the day would be bad enough due to lack of references. . .but at night. . .that poor crew found out the hard way.

This has been a good thread thus far and of some interest since I was stationed in Libya for 2 years and spent about 4 days in the Sahara west of Tripoli. . . .but that's another story for another thread so press on!!

[ian elliot]

Its not the western desert im afraid, but Tunisia. Djedeida airfield, captured from the Germans and home to Marauders and lightnings until the invasion of Italy. Expect it by the weekend or so, just a few more details to add

[BendyFlyer]

Interesting how under done or lack of interest in Libya in the sim. Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt are well covered scenery wise, not specifically WW2 but certainly realistic compared to stock FSX. But apart from a few addons here and there, Libya and indeed the Desert War is a bit of a black hole. That goes for information on air operations, ground ops are well covered but the airforce etc only partially. I guess given the sheer non stop dynamic of the battles there back and forth everybody was busy and keeping records for later was an afterthought. It is also interesting that the official air force histories are quite bereft of any detail. Still using 6 Squadron RAF who were there from the beginning, the number of aircraft changes they had was phenomenal, from early biplanes Gladiators etc to Lysanders to Hurricanes to Beauforts to Hurricanes to Spitfires which reflects the shortage of aeroplanes and the Brits just threw anything they had into the arena. Anyhow led me to start picking up some interesting sim models, the Lysander, the Avro Anson, the Gladiator, the Hurricane IIC. I have not even begun to look at the US effort from the west later on.

Anyway what I can find that may be of interest I will share for those interested. I think it is a fascinating project.

[FlyingsCool]

https://m.warhistoryonline.com/world...-campaign.html

Biographies of 6 American pilots from the desert campaigns.