Operation Frantic auto-installer released!

[Rami]

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

Description: This is Part II of the “Operation Frantic” auto-installer. This second package will provide nearly all of the scenery objects, airfields and other GSL scenery (including Ettico's EuroTargets) along with the actual campaign and mission files required for flying “Operation Frantic.” The files include the work of Ettico, Captain Kurt, Canion, Pen32Win, Simonu, Paul Rebuffat, Serge Tremblay, Bismarck13, Davmag, Franz Von Baron, Metal Dreams, Ajax, Rockster22, Lawdog2360, Cees Donker, AF_Midway, Achim27619, and Ian Elliot, as well as GSL scenery created by me.

“Operation Frantic,” is a campaign of twenty-five missions that attempts to chronicle the seven shuttle-bombing missions conducted by the US 8^th and 15^th Air Forces in the late Spring and Summer of 1944 between England / Italy and three Soviet bases located in the vicinity of what is now Kiev, in the Ukraine. This was an actual event that occurred in WWII, & I've done my best to provide synopses of each mission so you can get an appreciation of the actual raids, and have made many of the raids as close to the facts as this sim will allow, though the raids are certainly scaled-down.

Please note that great care has been taken to include specific information in the mission description and debrief sections for each mission, so if you are interested in the history, you should certainly feel free to read them. This campaign is not a rework, it is a brand-new effort on my part to bring a relatively unknown aspect / exercise of the war to light, much like my Corpo Aereo Italiano / Chianti Raiders did for the Battle of Britain. The primary source material for this campaign leans somewhat heavily on the book “The Poltava Affair” by Glenn Infield, though USAAF chronology websites and other materials also proved exceedingly useful, especially for the size of the raids and the aircraft types used.

From a simulation aspect, you must be prepared for missions from Italy - England, Italy - the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union - Italy, and England - the Soviet Union to be extremely long. It does certainly help that these are one-way flights, but even so, missions from Italy to the Soviet Union generally average about 1,100 miles, and missions from England to the Soviet Union & most flights from Italy to England are approximately 1,400 miles. Accordingly, it is imperative on escort missions that you don’t engage enemy fighters unless they directly challenge you, releasing your drop tanks will likely cause you to run out of fuel before reaching your destination.

For those who like to keep “pure” theatre installations for their sim, this campaign may throw a monkey wrench into it, because it involves elements of the Eastern Front, the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as Western and Central Europe. As such, I have provided the airbases for Italy, Romania, and Russia in this pack, thus allowing you to install only the bases outside of Western Europe which you need, and you may then remove them at your leisure. A modified “master” airbase.dat has also been provided, and of course you may switch back to the traditional one for Western Europe after this campaign has been flown.

"Rami"

[Rami]

Good afternoon.

Since I replaced the original download with Part I in the library, here is the new description...

This is Part I of the “Operation Frantic” campaign. This package contains all of the aircraft required for Operation Frantic. In this package, you will find all aircraft and repaints required for this campaign, which I also use in numerous other ETO campaigns. The aircraft in this package include the aircraft and repaints of Akemi, Allen, Andrew Wai, Kelticheart, Beepee, Captain Kurt, CFO Gauges, Chefkoch, DauntlessDriver546, Dbolt, the FDGv2 freeware team, the FDGv2 Donationware team, Gabriel Miranda Naon, Ignacio Alfredo Mendive, Jerry Beckwith, the Groundcrew team, David Copley, Krystof Malinowski, Morton, Lawdog2360, Sopwith Chameleon, Maxstuka, OBIO, Paul Rebuffat, RobH, Shessi, SteveB, thicko, VB_Planes, and Watchdog22.

All aircraft in this package have been modified, when necessary, to include the appropriate repaints, when possible, for the aircraft. To lessen issues with frame rates with many waves of aircraft in the sky, all exhaust effects have been removed, if they were included in the original models.

Kelticheart has also been generous enough to provide new prop textures for the Donationware Mustang, the FDGv2 B-17s, C-47 Cargo plane, the K Malinowski Ju-88s, the Groundcrew He-111, and the DCC P-38 Lightning model! Many thanks for this gifts, my friend!

Additionally, all weapons required for the aircraft have been included This includes the work of the FDGv2 team. The only separate files that will be required are the AI bombs by Tango Romeo. This should eliminate the need to hunt down many of these hard-to-find weapons that we all, at one time or another, have spent a good deal of time looking for.

“Operation Frantic,” is a campaign of twenty-five missions that attempts to chronicle the seven shuttle-bombing missions conducted by the US 8^th and 15^th Air Forces in the late Spring and Summer of 1944 between England / Italy and three Soviet bases located in the vicinity of what is now Kiev, in the Ukraine. This was an actual event that occurred in WWII, & I've done my best to provide synopses of each mission so you can get an appreciation of the actual raids, and have made many of the raids as close to the facts as this sim will allow, though the raids are certainly scaled-down.

Please note that great care has been taken to include specific information in the mission description and debrief sections for each mission, so if you are interested in the history, you should certainly feel free to read them. This campaign is not a rework, it is a brand-new effort on my part to bring a relatively unknown aspect / exercise of the war to light, much like my Corpo Aereo Italiano / Chianti Raiders did for the Battle of Britain. The primary source material for this campaign leans heavily on “The Poltava Affair” by Glenn Infield, though USAAF chronology websites and other materials also proved exceedingly useful, especially for the size of the raids and the aircraft types used.

"Rami"

[Rami]

Hello again,

I also want to point out that the GSL scenery is all new, with the exception of Warsaw and Gotenhafen / Gdyina. (Identical to the Fall Weiss / Poland 1939 campaign pack)

I haven't forgotten kdriver's request to consolidate all of the new GSL work into the ETO and MTO scenery packs, but I need to wait until I have it all completed first.

[dasuto247]

Very nice Rami. Thank you

[Rami]

Dasuto247,

Thank you. I will be re-uploading these packages with revised readmes, because a friend pointed out the difference between "Russia" and the "Soviet Union," which is something I should have caught considering my profession as a teacher and historian.

I'm not going to revise the missions or the installers, but it would have bothered me, having known this flaw, if I did not take steps to correct it.

[miamieagle]

Nice, thank you!

What about a B29 campaign from China?

[TheBookie]

Nice, thank you!

What about a B29 campaign from China?

All but 1 B-29 are very heavy on fps and that one is an AI.If you start putting the cockpit panels and such it will also be a little heavy on the fps.It's an old model from probably 2003 or 2004. I know it was used in some Korea missions ( Korea USAF ) uploaded a few years ago but with only 10 or 12 in the air it still cut the fps.

[Allen]

All but 1 B-29 are very heavy on fps and that one is an AI.If you start putting the cockpit panels and such it will also be a little heavy on the fps.It's an old model from probably 2003 or 2004. I know it was used in some Korea missions ( Korea USAF ) uploaded a few years ago but with only 10 or 12 in the air it still cut the fps.

So should I be putting building or re-building a B-29 on my ever growing list of things?

[TheBookie]

So should I be putting building or re-building a B-29 on my ever growing list of things?

That's up to you Allen.First check to see if there anyone interested in doing the campaign and if members are interested in the campaign.Second I'm not sure if the airbases we have now are long enough or large enough to handle B-29 ops.I think the only airbases for China were made by Xavier and I have only used the ones for the the Flying Tiger Campaigns.

[Allen]

Well if some one dose take an interest in making a B-29 campaign I will look into building or re-building a B-29.

[kelticheart]

....Kelticheart has also been generous enough to provide new prop textures for the Donationware Mustang, the FDGv2 B-17s, C-47 Cargo plane, the K Malinowski Ju-88s, the Groundcrew He-111, and the DCC P-38 Lightning model! Many thanks for this gifts, my friend!....

Thank YOU, for the huge efforts you keep pouring into these historical re-enactments for CFS2!

Between the two of us, a combat flight sim is not much of a use without combat missions and/or campaigns to fly, isn't it?

KH

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Thank you Rami and all who helped him for this wonderful package.