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[solotk]

Lovely work Kiwi! However, what is  not readily obvious about Kenley, is it sits on a big hill! I know, I walked and cycled up to the airfield enough times as a young Air Cadet Gliding Instructor. Hayes Lane, a major feature, runs uphill from Whyteleafe station, and across the 1940 airfield on the Western side? cutting off 2 dispersal pans. The lane was subject to closure during WW2. I think you can see the feature on GE, especially if the 1940 rollback is available. There is also a significant cutting, as the railway runs between Whyteleafe and Caterham on the North? side of the airfield by Whyteleafe common. Kenley holds a great deal of significance for me,apart rom the BoB it's where I first learned to fly, and I look forward to your brilliant treatment of it.

Best regards
Solotk

Great idea Solotk, I've been wanting to try a rail feature.  Hope these look ok .   

RAF Kenley added elevation. Added Whyteleafe village, rail feature and cutting.
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EDIT BY ADMIN: NO FULL QUOTES PLEASE!!!

Kiwi you Star! You even added the little church by Whyteleafe station! In the churchyard, are buried the airmen and women who died in the 18th August attack. I used to go there often in summer. The famous photo of a Spitfitre being strafed in it's pen on 18/08 is the dispersal pan immediately on the right of Hayes Lane, the Fighter pen involved is still there. The BoB Ops Block was in front of, and to the left of the Officers Mess. It was bulldozed, unbelievably in the early 80's by mistake! The Officers Mess is now/was the 'Home Office Radio School" whatever that is Now you've dont it, you've put in so much detail you'll have to add Croydon :p  Many thanks for your work on this


One thing I forgot   The Hangar on the Hardstand at Kenley, also incorporated the (very haunted) Control Tower. It was burned down in mysterious circumstances in the early 80's , and we operated out of a Bessanou (sic) Hangar for a couple of years. Where the RAF found a hangar of that vintage was a mystery too! http://www.controltowers.co.uk/h-k/kenley.htm

[KiwiBiggles]

Hi !

If you are interested, I can share the documentation I used for the Etain-Rouvres airfield in my WestFront40 map:

You may notice that the north direction points up, so the main runway is oriented east-west.
The photograph is a later document (the layout seems to be a typical 1944 USAAF  ALG)
In the text ("The battle of France, then and now" - Peter Cornwell), it is described as "a vast football field"

A later reference in the book indicates that the runway was LATER (after the war) re-oriented north-south by the french Armee de l'air.

Generally, it appears that most France war airfields in 1940 were mostly grass fields...

Hi Gil,

that's great information, many thanks!  I'll change my version to an east-west runway too.  I want to use runway plates (just a personal preference for mission building) but I think I'll change them to grass plates like Manston.

All the best
KB

[KiwiBiggles]

Kiwi you Star! You even added the little church by Whyteleafe station! In the churchyard, are buried the airmen and women who died in the 18th August attack. I used to go there often in summer. The famous photo of a Spitfitre being strafed in it's pen on 18/08 is the dispersal pan immediately on the right of Hayes Lane, the Fighter pen involved is still there. The BoB Ops Block was in front of, and to the left of the Officers Mess. It was bulldozed, unbelievably in the early 80's by mistake! The Officers Mess is now/was the 'Home Office Radio School" whatever that is Now you've dont it, you've put in so much detail you'll have to add Croydon :p  Many thanks for your work on this

One thing I forgot   The Hangar on the Hardstand at Kenley, also incorporated the (very haunted) Control Tower. It was burned down in mysterious circumstances in the early 80's , and we operated out of a Bessanou (sic) Hangar for a couple of years. Where the RAF found a hangar of that vintage was a mystery too! http://www.controltowers.co.uk/h-k/kenley.htm

Thanks Solotk, I'm studying your info to see what improvements I can make.    I'll put Croydon on my to-do list, but I've got some other projects to take care of, like an update for London docks and Dunkirk.  I haven't had a good look over the Channel yet, but I'd like to take a look at some famous French fields like Abbeville for example (the JG 26 concrete layout I think).

Need to get this package finished first though! 

[KiwiBiggles]

Etain-Rouvre version two!
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I'm much happier with this version.    It has an authentic east-west grass runway as per Gil's documentation, some nice looking taxi-way and parking areas, and a nice boundary road.  I was able to save the extra detailing around Rouvre village that I did for the first version - so pretty good so far I think.

This version doesn't have the blank runway plates of Gil's original.  With stock-style runway plates it will play like the layouts in my update for the Channel Beta map - the idea is this will be a bonus layout so people can (if they choose) build some BoF missions that are consistent with the style of their updated Channel Beta missions.  My layout is a little bit bigger than Gil's to make sure it can cope with 12 AI fighters.  It will have the same simplified parking style as the Channel map.

KB

[KiwiBiggles]

Testing template mission for Hurricane MkI / Etain-Rouvres
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Having fun with Mike's camera mod too! 

Click images to embiggen in Photobucket.  No. 73 Squadron skin by Canon.

KB

[KiwiBiggles]

Dunkirk
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Finally summer holidays and my son's cricket season are over (of course rugby has started already!).  The airfields are all but finished, so I'm working on some mission templates to go with the package.  I've chosen a Spitfire Mk.I mission over Dunkirk for Manston, so Canon's map needs a little update for some port action.  Lot's of 'astistic licence' but the West and East sea moles look good - that was the main thing.  The updated cranes look nice too.  With some repainted ships from vp-Media's Ship Pack 3 - this scene should look pretty good. 

[mandrill]

Congratulations, KW, you have actually managed to make the Slovakia City textures look something like a real urban area. My hat's off to you.

Do you have a template of that?

[KiwiBiggles]

Hi Mandrill,

It's in mapbuilder so it's part of the map update now.  The port objects are Cannon's England: jettys, sea-walls, peirs, and old wharf-buildings. 

[KiwiBiggles]

Dunkirk WIP
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I've decided on a re-tile and re-population of Dunkirk to better define port and beach areas.  WIP pics in map-editing mode, forest=2 (for placing trees), click to enlarge in photobucket.

[vegetarian]

This is looking really good KB, detail is fantastic. With the World Cup over you should have some more time on your hands (shame about the Final).

[KiwiBiggles]

The World Cup was awesome!  Took my sons to South Africa v Pakistan, we were next to a special 'Pakistan Fan Zone' at Eden Park - the Pakistan fans were brilliant. The semi-final against SA was brilliant too, had everything, best sporting contest I've seen.  The Aussies were just too good in the final - but the tournament as a whole was a massive success, at least as good as the Rugby World Cup 2011.  My oldest boy especially is cricket and rugby mad, so he's been lucky to see both.  Lions tour 2017 next!

[KiwiBiggles]

Dunkirk Port and Town
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In the full mission builder.  Click to enlarge in Photobucket.  I'm happy with this layout.