WWII Airfields of SE England

 

This flight takes us on a tour of WWII airfields in the south east of England.  The flight is open to anyone who would like to join in and fly in a multiplayer environment.  The sole prerequisite is that only FSX users can be accommodated (not FSX-SE or P3D, unfortunately) as this is a limit of the multiplayer system used.  Apart from that, the only important requirement is a wish to enjoy flying! A good sense of humour, or even humor, would come in handy as well though (we promise to only laugh the first time you crash).  If you haven't participated in multiplayer before, we are happy to help get you set up.  All you need to get started is to set up teamspeak (links below) and come and say hello to us.

 

We start at Duxford, site of the Imperial War Museum as well as being a former RAF and USAAF fighter station, then make a quick stop at Fowlmere, Duxford's satellite airfield and later a major USAAF base in its own right.   The tour continues to Debden and North Weald before reaching Stapleford, which as well as being a former RAF station was the location of RonA's recent flying lesson (it survived both).  After a quick stop at Hornchurch we then have a nice cruise out along the Thames Estuary to Manston.  When we leave Manston we fly along the south coast, passing the famous White Cliffs of Dover and the resort towns of Hastings, Eastbourne and Brighton before landing at the oldest airport in the UK, Shoreham. From here it's a short hop to Goodwood, now known for its auto racing circuit as well as the airfield within, after which we visit Dunsfold (possibly familiar to Top Gear fans) and Northolt.  We will then overfly central London (Tower Bridge is pilot's choice: over, through or under; extra points for inverted) before turning south to land at Biggin Hill.

 

Recommended aircraft

 

Spitfires, Hurricanes, P-51s.... any European theatre warbird would be an ideal choice.  We have over 250nm to cover as well as quite a few landings so an aircraft capable of over 200kts is advised.

 

Date and time: Saturday 26th September, 1800 UTC

 

Where: AVSIM RTWR Teamspeak - Casual Flights Channel

 

Teamspeak Server Address: ts.teamavsim.com

Multiplayer: FSX Multiplayer (IP will be provided on Teamspeak)

 

Don't forget to enter your aircraft details on the multiplayer speadsheet! (linked here)

 

Flightplans

Plan-G format

FSX format

 

Zip containing flight plans and narrative available here.

 

Recommended scenery

 

The only scenery that is somewhat necessary for this flight is Ian Pearson's freeware WWII airfields package, as this includes WWII airfields that no longer exist and therefore are not in FSX.  Some existing fields are also remodelled back to their 1940s states.  All the airfields are in a single ZIP, as are all the libraries required (just remember to activate them all).  Ian's website is http://www.ianpsdarkcorner.co.uk/

 

IanP's WWII Airfields (freeware)

IanP's WWII Airfields libraries (freeware)

 

Orbx England (payware) is likely to greatly enhance the flight but is not required.

 

The following optional sceneries could also be beneficial:

 

ACG Duxford (freeware) - very well done, worth having anyway

Richard Bui's freeware enhancements for Orbx England, particularly for the towns of Dover, Hastings and Eastbourne and the coast between. Richard's website is http://wwvecscen.blogspot.fr

Dover

Hastings

Eastbourne

Thames Barrier (freeware, Bryan Wallis)

Orbx Stapleford Abbotts (payware)

Orbx Shoreham (payware)

Orbx Goodwood (payware)

 

A narrative will be added later in the week (probably) (maybe).

 

The narrative has been done! Get it here.

Good presentation Nick. That should bring in new blood in droves (sorry about the mixed metaphor) 

 

Weather forecast for south east England looks to be fair. :smile:  None of that low visibility nonsense!

The narrative for this weekend's flight can be downloaded here.

 

The flightplans and narrative are collected in this zip.

 

Back to deciding which aircraft to fly.....

Thanks Nick! Will see you tomorrow.. In the meantime, something for your viewing pleasure.... St. Barts approach, with a slightly different perspective.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=100&v=B-bEiW_L1Jg

 

That Tigercat is AWESOME! - "Screamin kitty cat"

Thanks Roman, that whiled away an hour and a half! :smile:

In the meantime, something for your viewing pleasure.... .

 

Thanks Roman, enjoyed that!  Very cool.. what a setting.

Skyvector for your fold'n map.

PIREP - Airfields of SE England. Circa 1942.

Preface - Quotes of the day.
"FSX bows to nobody" (Tianhe-2 crashes all the time when running FSX) 
"No Worries - Cuz it's a known FSX bug"

The only shot I could get at the beginning. Over the radio - "I'm overheating - and leaving..... Me too, said the others"



Rons getting a little hot. - It's time to boogie.



Run tucking in his legs on take off. (The thought - uggh!)   



Jeff in the ground effect, looking good.



Looking REAL good...



Ron, over the fence, waaayyy too low, but for a reason.



Cuz he nailed it! Jeff is in the background planting tators. ( IE Taxiing )



Nick on approach to Debden with a "modern" London in the background. And....



Nailing it!



Ron doing the same thing at Debden, it was a touch 'n go for all of us except for the cameraman.



Jeff, once again in the hot seat. Looking real darn good! Until....



WOAH! Brown stains in the shorts. It all ended up good. :-) - The cameraman had the same maladies for most of his landings.



Submarine hunting @ 100 feet. Was looking forward to the cliffs of Dover the whole time. Got sixty rounds of 40mm just waiting to be used.



@ Dover - "Negative Sir, permission to fire is declined. They are friendly".



When I pass here I will have pushed so much air that I've increased the output by 1.5 megawatts - Merlin POWER!



This deserves a turn around for one more pass!



Oh my!



I'd rather not visit here from the stories told. Thank You, but, No thanks.



Do you see my vessel? Yep that's the one...According to fighter command the rest are all off limits. - Still have sixty of 40mm...



Ron coming in at EGKA (Shoreham), notice the rudder, cocked right at ~15*. Yep a crosswind landing with an aeroplane that DOES NOT like crabbing in nor a cement runway. Over the radio - "I'm going for the grass" reply - "Roger" was all that was said. He's got one of his mates coming in. (Look under the radiator)



Nailed it!



Jeff over the numbers @Shoreham as the Sun is showing it's angle as a reflection - it's getting late.



Nick and I at Shoreham ( Nick's home base BTW ) - I was all ready to do a formation takeoff with Nick. Unfortunately his Merlin did not want to turn over. Quite a bit of diagnoses went over the airwaves until the response was.... "I'm switching to a Hurricane" - YAY! a "mate" to fly with!



On his restart my particular alias for Nick was the T-28... No problem! It looks rather good as a representation! IE gear positions etc.. Others got the C172.   



"Heading for Cali" Westward ho... On the way for Goodwood®.



Ron coming in at Goodwood® - Chichester, dropping his legs. ( The thought! ) Purdy darn pretty ain't it?



NAILED IT! - Can barely see him in the "Night Fighter" paint.



I call it - "Going Home". Nothing more can be said.



From this point on we decided to hustle up as the day is growing shorter.
We decided to do a flyover of Dunsfold (EGTD) & permission to fly over Heathrow to do a T & G @ Northolt AB (EGWU) . Thence - (SID-STAR Humor) ........ Quote.

"Tower Bridge is pilot's choice: over, through or under; extra points for inverted"

Nick - Over the radio - "I got --------" "Negative,,, over the top" - The ailerons and rudder were all pointing somewhere.... A very cool shot.  # 1 for jail time.



Jeff, straight through, one last glimmer of the Sun as she sets, reflecting off the aft fuse. #2 for jail time.



Ron- Are you sure you have enough clearance? Clarence?....Somebody's cap got torn off as that person was walking over the bridge. Oh look.. the Moon! #3 for jail time.



Better get hustling...The others are at Biggin Hill already & it's getting close to 10:00 pm local according to Big Ben.



At the IP, HMS Belfast to the right.



Time to line up and descend.



Lined up - kind of..



Small adjustments - need to go just a bit lower...



And through... Time to join the mates in jail for pulling a stunt like this LOL.. #4



The "meeting of the minds" at Biggin Hill - just a sliver of light remaining.



Thanks Nick for the plan & write up! Have a few more books to read on the library list.

Something to share... One of those "feel good" stories. Jim Sorenson, Dr. Pepe Anderas &  Al Timmerman are all EAA 651 chapter members with Al being our chapter Vice President. We haven't seen Jim for a while due to his illness. Jim flew down to New Orleans on Thursday in one of Jet Air's Cessna Mustangs to be with the 100th bomb group reunion. He returned yesterday in Dr. Pepe Anderas' MU-2 with a water cannon arrival. So glad he made it. It's one of those things that cannot be forgotten. We must never forget the men & women of WWII and help anyway we can. There are very few of them left.  

 

Article - http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/local/2015/09/19/rewarding-flight-awaits-world-war-ii-hero/72381092/

 

 

 

 

The THUMBS UP!    :Applause:

 

 

What to say?   

 

 

Fantastic set of pictures of the flight as well Roman. :Applause: