RAF Shepherd's Grove in Suffolk, UK

[felixdk]

I want a period base to operate F-86 Sabres of the 92nd and 116th FIS out of, so I'm trying to recreate RAF Shepherd's Grove circa 1951. This is a scenery creation learning experience for me, but I'm also being hampered by a lack of reference material as Shepherd's Grove was not a major base and was turned into a Thor missile base in 1956. If anyone has or knows of any aerial photos of the base or pictures of the structures on it, I'd appreciate any help they can give. I'm doing the base for FSX, but I don't think it would be too hard to convert to FS9. Here are some shots of what I have done so far from info on Google Earth and in the book "Action Stations, Volume 1".

[Roger]

Looking good so far:ernae: Can't help with the references though.

[IanP]

The layout you have pretty much matches my references and my usual other haunts say nothing more, so I can't help with the layout either, sorry.

Looks good, though - welcome to the WW2 airfield bulldozer driver's society. ;)

[felixdk]

Thanks anyway Roger, I'm hoping someone from your side of the pond will have info. I should probably try the Sabre Pilot's Association also.

Thanks Ian, although I think that I'm at more of the pickaxe and shovel level of construction :icon_lol:.

[Panther_99FS]

Looks great ta' me so far! :applause:

[MCDesigns]

:ernae::ernae::ernae:

[Kevboy]

Nice painting on your web site:applause:

Have a few books at home, will have a look for you about RAF Shepherd's grove.



Kevboy.

[felixdk]

Thanks for the encouragement Panther and Michael. Thanks Kevin, if you mean the Sabre painting, it was definitely a labor of love. I'm hoping to do one of some 92nd FIS birds in acrylics if I can get my act together anytime soon. Your site brings back fond memories of those great old aviation books and magazines. Stop by and discuss aviation art with us on Cat2 some time.

[Kevboy]

Found this, has an extra bit of runway on this version.


Kevboy.

[IanP]

That's exactly the same image (and book! ;)) I have, kevboy. The runway extensions and readiness pads were added in 1950, so they're actually accurate for the Sabres.

[felixdk]

Thanks a lot for that scan, Kevin. This gets curiouser and curiouser. If you look at Shepherd's Grove in Google Earth (.kmz attached), the main runway measures out at 6000 feet without the additions, which matched the airfield diagram from "Action Stations, Vol. 1". The additions are very obvious in the Google Earth view, but I guessed that they were done after the Sabre era when the 81st switched to F-84Fs, which were notoriously underpowered and would have benefited from a longer runway. Their existence in 1944 would change everything. One of the small "spectacle" dispersals is also in a different location from the diagram that I have. I definitely need to find photos somewhere. Thanks again Kevin, I owe you one.

[felixdk]

Thanks for the confirmation Ian; back to the drawing board (and shovel :wave:).

[felixdk]

Here's the diagram that I was working from.

[felixdk]

Updated version. Runway 19/1 is now 8,000 feet long. It was originally a heavy bomber base, so I guess that's not out of line.

[Kevboy]

Felixdk, have I found some gold for you check this site. this suff is made for you. Loads of stuff to look at and use in your project.:wiggle: have fun.
http://www.airfields.fotopic.net/c1452483.html

Kevboy.

Edit did you see the Flashearth link here what a zoom. http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=52.316751&lon=0.916574&z=14.9&r=0&src=msl

[felixdk]

Thanks Kevin, that's outstanding! Lots of info to sort through; it all looks like gold:jump:. The Flashearth pics are better than Google's and the Shepherd's Grove pics are priceless. I joined the AiX forum as it looks very worthwhile. You may have saved me from having to fly back to England :wave:. I owe you Big Time.

[ananda]

This is what I see in FSX, the photographs must have been taken about 1999:

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/8559/shepherdsgrove.jpg (http://img12.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shepherdsgrove.jpg)

[felixdk]

Hi Ananda,

So you've got the UK photoreal scenery?. That looks like the Google Earth "Historic" photo that I'm using for locations and measuring. It's hard to get it back to the state that it was in in 1951 as so many changes were made over the period of the field's operational life, such as the runway extensions and the storage bunkers for nuclear warheads just below runway 8/26.

It's turning out to be very interesting doing the research.

[IanP]

Depending on how serious you are about getting this right, one of your best ports of call would be the Department of Research and Historical Services (DoRIS) at the RAF Museum, Hendon. If they have drawings and/or prints available, then copies are available at a pretty low price. Even if not, they may be able to help with records, unit movements, dates of major civil engineering works at airfieds, etc.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/index.cfm

[felixdk]

Ian,

I'd like to get a usable version together that is as close as I can make it using whatever RAF buildings, etc are available and then gradually replace all objects with ones that I make from Shepherd's Grove references. This will be an ongoing project, since I'm going to have to learn some new software packages. The idea of getting reference drawings from the RAF Museum is a good one that I will pursue.