well, somebody just had to do it.
After reading many books and researching, I started my first scenery design project and I'm about half way through.
Outline
The Solomon Islands were the showplace of a huge effort of forces from the US, New Zealand and Australia to push back the Japanese movement towards the south Pacific and New Zealand. It is also the showplace of great despair, suffering and violent battles. After reading books like “Jolly Rogers”, “Baba Black Sheep” or “Black Cat Raiders” I started to fly over the Solomon in FSX to get a feeling of the area. In the beginning I was disappointed, because the landclass was way off and the mesh not at all like the real thing. FSGlobal mesh and third party landclass did some good corrections on that part, but now the meager or non existing airports started to annoy me. Thanks to www.pacificwrecks.org (please donate, Justin Taylan is doing some great work and without this information FSX Solomon 1943 would not have been possible) and ADE – airport design editor – I was able to do some vital corrections and additions here. Most of my photographic reference data for the airfields date around the fall of 1943, so I chose the scenario to be around September 1943. The Americans had taken Vella Lavella already and were pounding Bougainville and Rabaul. The next airfield of the Japanese navy, the Ballale airfield island off the coast of Bougainville, was knocked out already (left to "wither on the vine") and the two airfields on the south coast of Bougainville were badly damaged.
Recommendations
I strongly suggest using a decent mesh for the area, like FSGlobal, FSGenesis or freeware. Also a correct landclass product is needed, the original FSX is horrible.
Surprisingly, some of the nicest payware aircraft fit right into the scenario:
There are also a lot of free aircraft to be had, e.g. a very nice H6K Mavis, a Mitsubishi Claude, Grumman Wildcats / FM2, Kingfisher and Grumman Duck, and so on. Unfortunatly a decent P39 Airacobra is nowhere out there…
You might want to download the FSX WW2 aircraft carrier group, which also comes with a nice FM2 (GM built F4F Wildcat). Historically it is dated after September 1943, especially the camouflage used later in the war, but it still fits nicely into the scenery and gives the opportunity of Coral Sea carrier ops.
Special Scenery
Thanks to the outstanding work of Justin Taylan from http://www.pacificwrecks.org, I was able to place all the important and still visible shipwrecks and even some aircraft wrecks
Airports or Seaplane bases - Status
The airfields have tower frequencies, prominent ones have NDB transmitters, and static planes in revetments and vehicles as well as other contemporary objects. They are designed after original maps and photographs of late 1943.
already completed:
Name Location Bomber 1 / Henderson Field Guadalcanal Bomber 2 / Carney Field Guadalcanal Bomber 3 / Koli Field Guadalcanal Crash Strip Guadalcanal none Fighter 1 / Lunga Field Guadalcanal Fighter 2 / Kukum Field Guadalcanal * Renard Field / South Field Russell Islands P38 and P39 bomber units Banika Field / North Field Russell Islands fighter units, F4U, F6, F4 * Segi Airfield New Georgia fighter units Munda Airfield New Georgia fighter and bomber units Ondonga Airfield New Georgia fighter units, P40, RNZAF * Vila Airfield Kolombangara not used, destroyed * Gizo Airstrip Gizo not used until after the war
Gizo seaplane base Gizo USN PBYs * Barakoma Airfield Vella Lavella F4U, F6F USMC, USN * Ballale Airfield Ballale Japanese Navy * Kahili Airfield Bougainville Japanese Navy
*
These are left to be completed:
Tulagi Seaplane Base - Florida Islands - ex Japanese, small RNZAF base Halavo Seaplane Base - Florida Islands - RAAF, USN, RNZAF PBYs *
Rekata Seaplane Base - San Cristobal - Japanese Navy * Tonolei Harbour - Bougainville - Japanese navy / seaplanes
*
Emergency Strip - Guadalcanal - n/a none
Seaplane Base - Russell Islands - small PBY base, and ferry traffic
Other work to be done:
- I need to populate the airfileds - this is step 2 in my workflow
- Ive never programmed AI traffic, so I have to do some learning on that part
- I've never designed scenery objects... I will have to learn how to design and texture 3d objects
- I need to gain some knowledge on how to define landclasses and redesign shorelines or build small islands and such. There is much to be done here.
- I want to build a "destruction library" that will include bomb craters, destroyed planes and other equipment or scenery to populate the airfields with
- I want to build "used look library" to make the airfields more lively (oil stains, sand heaps, wheel marks etc)
AI traffic
I will include traffic at many airfields (CAP combat air patrols), as well as long distance patrols or other missions. You will see PBYs patrolling the coasts of the islands, and Corsairs flying high altitude CAPs, as well as B-24s, B-25s or B-17s flying missions.
You will also see high speed torpedo boats on patrols, as well as Fletcher class destroyers and supply ships on their missions. Submarines and small ships will also be seen, this includes Japanese traffic!
A landable aircraft carrier with destroyers will cruise between the islands of Vella Lavella and Kolombangara.
Japanese shipping will cruise around southern Bougainville and there will be some action around Tonolei harbour and Kahili.
I have one plea to make: if anyone knows a source were I can obtain some decent static or AI planes or ships of that era, please let me know.
Timeline:
I guess I need some 6 to 8 weeks to complete this project. I hope !
But now, here are some pictures of completed basic airfields.
FSX
Bookmarks