New Scenery: Historic Floyd Bennett Field

[simonovman]

Here is my latest project:

www.theoldhangar.com/FloydBennett.zip

This is a re-creation of the great old Floyd Bennett Field which saw so many of the famous flights. It is reasonably accurate within its limitations (I used default GW3 or Airport structures and kept everything simple to relieve the frame rates) and was designed from numerous photographs and plans and other documents.

This is a double package. You get Floyd Bennett Field as it was up to 1936 and also the post-1936 version. (1936 saw the construction of two big new runways, among other things.) You can choose one, or you can install both and switch back and forth by using the scenery library to activate or deactivate.

(You cannot have both of them active at the same time or you will get an afcad conflict which can be a very nasty thing. Don't ask me how I know this.)

This is a little complicated to install - there are files that have to be removed or deactivated, and others that have to be put in just the right place - so read the directions carefully.

I'll try to get a few screenshots up soon.

Merry Christmas.

[simonovman]

From the pre-1936 version:

[Kofi]

Thanks simo - have to load this one up

[simonovman]

And post-1936:







Concerning those two Goshawks, there's a special Readme. Be sure and do so.

[Kofi]

Oh yeah...I'm liking this

[simonovman]

Kofi, my bro, I'm glad you like my work but you really have GOT to start reading the instructions! You didn't take out those two files, did you?

You've still got the default GW3 hangars and apron showing, which shouldn't be there. (Shouldn't have been there in the first place, totally wrong location, wrong layout, wrong everything.)

Let's try this again: go into your main Scenery folder and look under Cities, and find these two files:

Fbennet.bgl
Fbennet.A16N.bgl

Either delete them or (my advice) deactivate them by changing the extension to bglxxx.

Trust me, you need to do this. Otherwise it's going to be completely wrong - you've got yourself an airport with two towers, which was not really the usual practice during the Depression!

[Kofi]

Yeah I know....LoL what happened was, I started the installation - then got interrupted by the wife... Came back and forgot where I was at...

I caught my first mistake (forgot to add the landclass) but then I didn't catch the BGL'.s.....

[Kofi]

simonovman said:

you've got yourself an airport with two towers, which was not really the usual practice during the Depression!

Ah....I was trying to increase employment opportunities (being that it was the depression and all) ;D

[ScruffyDuck]

;D ;D ;D

Mind you it could be a bit interesting if you got instructions from each tower at different times during an approach and they were different

[epsillon]

Simonovman,you did an incredible work!
Thanks a lot...

Stephan

[simonovman]

Oh, you'd find out soon enough if you forgot the landclass. How did you like the trees growing on your runway?

Thanks for the kind words, Stephan. Joyeux Noel!

[simonovman]

Here's a little project that might interest some of you, if you're feeling ambitious -

The Goshawks are really the wrong planes; as far as I know none was ever stationed at FB. What they did have was a squadron of Curtiss SBC dive bombers. And Clawson did a model in FS2002, and Mick (I think it was) produced a repaint in the colors of the unit that flew them out of Floyd Bennett.

So if you have TTools and know how to edit a traffic file, you could download the Clawson model and the repaint and change the Goshawks to the correct planes. I haven't actually tried it but Clawson models generally work very well as AIs.

Avsim has the repaints but not the planes. Simviation has the plane (and probably the repaint too) and I would imagine Flightsim has both.

If anybody tries it, post some screenies and let us see how it looks!

[Kofi]

Simon,
I changed the AI (to my liking of course) to Brewster Buffalo's, Grumman F3F's, and a Navy D-18

[mick]

First, a big THANK YOU for another great scenery! And a real must-have for GW3, too!!!

I already had a nice add-on scenery for FBF, but yours is better.

You're getting really good at this!!! ;D

As for AI, don't forget that Floyd Bennett was also a big Coast Guard Air Station in the Golden Age. There's Joe Binka's J4F Widgeon and my USCG paint, Mike Stone's JRF Goose and my USCG paint, Bill's Goose and someone else's USCG paint, Paul's J2F Duck and my USCG paint...

There weren't any F3Fs stationed at FBF - they were too first-line for the Reserves. (But I did post some accurate repaints of that F3F at SOH.) You're thinking of Paul's SBC Helldiver in my NY Reserve paint. And I redid the repaint when Paul redid the Helldiver for FS9. The FS9 model is a major improvement over the earlier one, and so is my paint. (Paul and I are both improving with age.) I also repainted Paul's Vought SBU-1 in NY Reserve colors, but I think that model is propless in FS9. But his upcoming one won't be, and I'll repeat that repaint as well. The one of the NY Reserve squadrons (there were two) had an SNJ in their colors, and I painted up the appropriate version of the daSilva Texan in that livery. (I can't recall whether I ever released it, but if someone wants it and can't find it, that could be remedied.)

I repainted one of Paul's Douglas O-birds, I think it was the O-38, in New York National Guard markings, but I don't remember if the Guard was based at FBF in those days. (I know they were after the war, but I don't remember about before the war.)

And blimps were known to pass through there. We've got the Golden Hawaii AI blimp. And it's easy to make an AI version of Anders Jerstead's blimp with my pre-war Navy livery...

And of course FBF had plenty of significant civil traffic, too...

I may have to do a major AI scheme for FBF. But not 'til I scale down my ORA AI package to something that gives me frame rates I can fly in...

[simonovman]

Thank you. Thank you all for the kind words. It means a lot to me.

I know where you're coming from, Mick. One of the nice things about FB is that you can do so much with it - especially with two different options covering all of the thirties. I've got it set as my default startup field now, because it's a good place to try out a new plane - you've got a reasonably long runway and very little in the way of obstacles, and nothing hitting frame rates, so you can concentrate on checking out your new ride. If you want just a short hop, it's only a little way to North Beach and you can try landing there, or across the bay at Flushing if it's not too big a plane.

Of course I used only the stock GW AIs - plus the FS9 Vega, and the Goshawk from GH - because I didn't want people to have to download anything else. (I figured most GW owners would have GH too; if they don't they ought to!)

Another thing you might consider - I thought about it - is adding AI floatplane traffic. There was a seaplane dock down by the marina in the later days, and before that seaplanes operated off Jamaica Bay over at the southeast shore of the peninsula. There's a program that lets you do it; I've seen it at Avsim, though I admit I've never actually tried it.

The great thing about FB, though, is just that it's so heavily documented and the material is very easy to find online. Lots and lots of photos; try doing a Google image search under "Floyd Bennett Field" and you'll be amazed.

(There is, however, one widely circulated aerial photo which may have been responsible for the error in the default GW scenery - it's been flipped! Probably a flipped negative; anyway it's completely reversed. Took me a few minutes to figure out what happened there.)

One thing to watch for: if you also have my Flushing scenery, Constantine did the traffic for that and he set a flight down to Floyd B. and back. So if you have this red Staggerwing showing up and hanging around and then taking off again, that's where it's from.

Anyway this winds up my New York airfield trilogy. Hope everybody has fun with them - and now, if you don't mind, I think I'd like to do a little flying. I think I still remember how....