RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

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Rick Piper
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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by Rick Piper »

Hi Guys

Fulmar possibly missed.

My list was cut & paste from a google search & the Operation Overlord tag was the only time Thorney had an HMS tag as far as i can tell

"Whitewell" was used then but no idea why.

Regards
Rick

hobby
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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by hobby »

For Rick:
Today is the day of double scenery files. First the 'Ark', this evening I discovered two Thorney Island scenery files by different authors. At one time Rick after applying your AFCAD files I had two complete Thorney Islands in front of my nose. Soon sorted most of that but I have to look at my FS9 Flatten drill. Tomorrow for that one.

For Dave B:

I downloaded my Ark4, the best one, from 'all nodes busy' today but there is no 'read me' file in that download. Do you have a 'read me' file that I could deal with tomorrow please. A bit late to deal with it tonight.

What a shock the inexperienced pilots must have had meeting the arrestors and cats for the first time on a moving ship!! No simulators in those days except the dreaded Link Trainer - as an ATC cadet I spun one of those into the ground! How lucky we are today. Real weather too from the Internet.

I used to know an National Service Seahawk pilot but he flew from RNAS Abbotsinch so his service period of two years may have seen him 'not carrier qualified.' He got a lot further than many NS pilots though who just got to Harvards and never flew the fighters of the fifties, others more fortunate qualified on Hunters.

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DaveB
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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by DaveB »

Hi Hobby :)

Well.. Peter Mcleland's intro to the Hunter was a few sheets of A4 and a lecture by a type-rated pilot so yes, things have most definately changed (no twin-holers in those days!) :lol:

The readme file for the arkroyal.zip is cunningly disguised as file_id.diz. As you well know, this file is a pre-requisite for Allnodes and briefly precis the file detail. On this zip.. it's the actual readme!! I have to confess, I only looked in there because I couldn't find a readme :roll:

If you can't find the file or don't have it, I'll be happy to either post the content here or forward it to you ;-)

ATB

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DaveB
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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by DaveB »

Hobby..

On the Arrestor/Cat problem..
I have found that there was a single arrestor wire introduced at Yeovilton during the 50's and 60's specifically for the Sea Vixens. It may have been used by other aircraft during this period though I can't confirm that. Bringing the timescale a little closer, the arrestor was not used by our last big carrier aircraft.. the Phantom ;-)

ATB

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hobby
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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by hobby »

For Dave B:

Thanks for the excellent instructions Dave for Ark Royal IV. I read the disguised 'read me' as you suggested and all works as it should. A really splendid looking ship.

I have spent the whole day going through that routine and checking the four locations and appearance - all OK. I then added an NDB/VORDME to the Channel 'Ark' and also arrester wires and catapults. I found that the AFCADs had to be placed in the Addon Scenery/Ark Royal/scenery for the four specific carriers to get them to register in the FS9 scenery as Ark1, Ark2, Ark3 and Ark4 rather than in the Addon/Scenery position as indicated in the original 'readme' text. Many ccts and missed wires in my Seamew partly because I had loaded a prepared arrester wire list for this Ark Royal from Avsim. The arrester wire locations were 8 figures from an Abacus program so I had to go back and do the whole four sets of arrester wire locations myself. Satisying to catapult oneself off but I am blowed if I can achieve a successful arrested landing. Try again tomorrow.

An interesting note regarding practice arrester wires and the fact that the Phantom did not make use of them ashore.

I left the the service in 1979 but I thought that many (too few today) of our service airfields were equipped with arrester systems of some sort to stop disabled aircraft careering off the runway due to hydraulic or other failure - has all this kit been removed now that many of our acft are capable of vertical t/o and descent?

For Rick:
Fleetlands/Thorney Island. Many thanks for the AFCAD. Still cannot solve a problem in FS9 with that scenery. I run FS Global 2005 not VFR scenery so at runway 1 I see a bit of runway which then disappears into a minor earth hill before reappearing a couple hundred yards further on. The taxiways achieve a wondeful bridging effect on parts of the perimeter so the flatten and exclude files are not working. Ho Hum!! The previous FS9 version of Thorney was incorrectly positioned and the hangars incorrectly placed so that there would not have been room to manouvre a C130 or Andover in front of the doors. Despite the drawbacks this edition of Thorney is much better.

Many thanks to everyone for their help with both these pieces of scenery.

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DaveB
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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by DaveB »

Hi Hobby,

I don't know why the arrestors at Yeovilton were not used by Phantom's although it's true to say that Ark Royal had to undergo a refit in order for her to operate the Phantom and this included having her arrestors beefed up. I think that the 'catch' systems are still used for certain emergencies but these are the elastic band type things that are straddled across the runway and the jet flies/runs into it. Perhaps one of the RAF lads might be able to confirm this is the case :)

Glad you got the Ark sorted in the end. I'm sure you've found (as I have) that the extra fiddling and placement of files has been worth it ;-) I suppose I'm lucky in that I use FD3 as opposed to 3-wire so the arrestor info published on AVSIM and Allnodes worked first time for me :) I can still miss the wires on occassion depending on which aircraft I'm using and oddly enough, I can miss the wires easier on the Enterprise than I can on Ark!! Perhaps it's smaller size makes you concentrate that little bit harder :lol: I'm currently beta testing a carrier based aircraft that is both a joy to fly and I rarely miss the wires with. Sadly, it will not be freeware but even at this stage, I can guarantee it will be worth whatever the asking price is come release day ;-)

ATB

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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by hobby »

Hi Dave

Yes, very worth while getting HMS Ark Royal sorted out. An incredible model and a delight to see and use. Please keep me posted on forthcoming carrier aircraft. I have been through all my carrier books and cannot find a picture or reference to land based catapults. I used to have a copy of a wartime publication on the FAA which was illustrated and might have shown a land based catapult I have a vague recollection that CAM ship pilots ( a small number of merchant ships carrying normal cargo to Russia had a catapult bolted onto the bow from which they launched one Hurricane) practiced one or two launches before boarding their ships. That was before Escort Carriers arrived.

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DaveB
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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by DaveB »

Rgr that Hobby ;-)

Checking with my source.. during his time in the RN, it was definately only Yeovilton that had a 'practise' arrestor but it's fair to say his service time post dates the WWII era. I'm finding out through a 3rd party (his daughter.. who works for me) why the Phantom didn't use it so expect a reply on that shortly ;-)

I believe that moves are afoot to produce more RN carriers for FS (perhaps by the team who put Ark Royal IV together.. can't remember now!!) which will give us more choice. Not before time too ;-) One thing I've noted is that Ark is pointing in the wrong direction (certainly the Devon model) for real weather ops so I hope any newer carriers are placed with the weather in mind :)
On the RN carrier front.. trawling sites like Allnodes and FSShipyard draws a blank so anything will be welcome! There is an Ark Royal III but this was made for CFS :roll:

Does 3-wire handle taildraggers OK?? FD3 was designed for tricycle gear models but it does, albeit reluctantly, work with taildraggers too.

ATB

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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by hobby »

Hi Dave

3Wire kept disconnecting at odd times from my FS9 setup so I am using rcbco-20. The latter program gives my taildragger Seamew a mighty shove (the launch speed and cat length can easily be adjusted for the aircraft or carrier). The lauunch speed can be adjusted from the panel but the cat length has to be done within the program. Recovery and arrested landing with that aircraft work well using the bars+ball indicator which does not need an ILs freq to work.

Extra carriers will be welcome preferably with multiple locations or the ability for the user to place vessel in any desired location. Absolutely essential that future vessels can 'weathercock' into wind.

My ambition is to operate a full 'Suez' RN mix of aircraft from both shore and carrier(s).

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RAF_Quantum
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Re: RAF Thorney Island and HMS ?

Post by RAF_Quantum »

Hope you don't mind, I've moved this topic here as it seems a more appropriate place for it.

Rgds

John
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