Special Aircraft Service
Battlefield - Airborne - Tactical (BAT) => BAT Missions and Campaigns => DOF (Dawn of Flight) => Topic started by: cbradbury on December 31, 2019, 08:19:57 AM
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(https://i.postimg.cc/3JbWFVg5/2019-12-29-14-48-37.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/ZCpTTf7V)
0800, a few clouds but generally a nice morning. I set off in my Fokker Spinne near the Slovenian coast. I planned a flight down to Trieste for lunch. All was well for a while, a quick check on my pocket compass put me on an approximate course. I would rely on landmarks and map reading as the flight went on. Then the weather started closing in. Visibility was poor, and I soon became disoriented and completely lost. I came across a river and followed it for a while before realising I was travelling in a totally wrong direction. I consulted my compass again, hoping to get a bearing, but this was of little use as I was now unaware of my actual location. Of course, with no instruments I had no idea of my airspeed or altitude.
I reversed direction, following the course of the river in the hope that it would take me to the coast. However the weather then worsened further. It started to rain, and visibility was getting close to zero. I knew that my engine was unreliable, and was worried that an engine failure would put me in real trouble. I had no choice. I was forced to find somewhere to land. I was fortunate. I found a fairly level field near the banks of the river. I did skim the surrounding trees on the way down but got down safely. I faced a long walk in the rain to the nearest village. This new sport of flying is not everything it is cracked up to be!
If this type of experience appeals to you, my ‘Pioneers of Flight’ mission pack is available for download below. Essentially they present pleasure flights for the following aircraft:
Bleriot XI
Fokker Spinne
Santos-Dumont Demoiselle
Goliescu Avioplan
Eastbourne Monoplane
The pack provides one flight per plane, using maps which you probably do not use often, but look great and importantly have well-defined geographical features. After all, this is at the very start of flight – you have no instruments except a pocket compass which you can glance at occasionally. You must navigate primarily by following features on the ground. Additionally, engine unreliability is simulated (by random selection of fuel load). I assure you that you fly very differently when you have no idea of your speed, altitude, or whether your engine might pack in on you at any moment! You will need to keep a constant lookout for potential landing areas as you fly.
There are no objectives or waypoints set in the missions – these are pleasure flights – set your own objective. Of course you are free to fly around the map at random, but personally I find a simple objective adds focus to the flight. ‘Today I will fly from A to B and land near C’ is typically quite enough. Now will you achieve that before your engine fails?
The weather conditions at mission start are generally quite good – the pioneers did not, indeed - could not, fly these aircraft in adverse conditions. The C&C ‘dynamic weather’ object is used in all missions, so conditions may well change as you fly. Mission duration is intended to be c.40 minutes or so, but again this depends entirely upon you (and how long your engine may last).
Download link:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/yld7pqyr4mu4vrz/Pioneers_of_Flight_Mission_Pack.7z/file (https://www.mediafire.com/file/yld7pqyr4mu4vrz/Pioneers_of_Flight_Mission_Pack.7z/file)
I hope you enjoy the missions for a real change of pace.
Yours,
Clive
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Have you thought to do the famous Tony Fokker flight around Haarlem in 1910?
That 3D model was from a Dutch MSFS2004 modder who released it as freeware with it being made in the anniversary of Fokker's flight. A group of sim enthusiasts had set up a PC sim at Lelystad's Fokker anniversary days with FS2004 and that model for people to try their hand at flying around Haarlem.
It's a beautifully detailed model, a work of art.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fubTPKf6Xyg
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Sadly no Haarlem in Il2. The closest you could get is to add Notre Dame to the Hague as a substitute for the Grote Kerk!
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Maybe in the future as someone is presently working on a huge North Sea map that will include all of the Netherlands and Denmark. I like these Pioneers of Flight mods.
I had started one with Fighter Squadron: WWI mod for SDoE, made a 1911 LaMouche..
(http://www.fsww1.com/Pictures/LaMouche.jpg)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALv7NEvRMVk
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That is one beautiful aircraft, fester, is there any way to to adapt it for il2?
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Sitting here reading this I started to put myself in these peoples minds, it must of been amazing to fly for the first time when balloons were the only way to get aloft.
This must be the true meaning of flying by the seat of your pants !
For most of us, other than the first flight, we are used to flight.
So thanks for this I will enjoy flying these .
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Oh, this is a great idea for campaigns! I will fly. Thanks!
This is probably the most romantic time period in aviation...
Oh the link is dead :(
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Oh, this is a great idea for campaigns! I will fly. Thanks!
This is probably the most romantic time period in aviation...
Oh the link is dead :(
So it is! Please find updated link in first post.
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Downloaded, thanks again!
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That is one beautiful aircraft, fester, is there any way to to adapt it for il2?
If you can open AC3D files and port them into IL-2, you're more than welcome to adapt most of my Pioneering and early WWI aircraft.
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That is one beautiful aircraft, fester, is there any way to to adapt it for il2?
If you can open AC3D files and port them into IL-2, you're more than welcome to adapt most of my Pioneering and early WWI aircraft.
Whew! Definitely above my pay grade...