Orbx Releases FTX: EU EGHP Popham Airfield

[rob16584 42]

EGHP Popham, located near Basingstoke, Hampshire and is developed for FTX England. Popham is the home of the Spitfire Flying Club which has over 400 members. The Club name is retained in memory of Charles Church who owned several Spitfires and whose family still own the airfield. There are 100+ aircraft based here, ranging from Microlights to ex-Russian fighter trainers. We have tried to capture both the history and natural beauty of the airport and surrounding area. Almost every single object seen in the real airport has been accurately modeled and positioned, allowing you to immerse yourself in a realistic flight simulation environment.

- Ground imagery 30cm & 60cm per pixel
- Unique undulating terrain
- Custom modeled static aircraft and vehicles
- Custom modeled airport
- Custom ground poly areas
- Features most of Orbx Flow tech
- Surrounded by large dense forests and beautiful green fields
- Photoreal scenery seasoned to blend seamlessly into FTX England
- TextureFlow for smooth flying!
- Developed by Sim720

For further details, screenshots and to purchase visit The FlightSim Store:
http://www.flightsimstore.com/product_info.php?products_id=2405

 

 

 

[britfrog 180]

I am so glad they have made this airport and appear to have done it well, I flew Gary from UK2000 all around here one day and he made a very passable version but that must be some 10 or 12 years ago so it is only reasonable to expect FTX to do a better job. It is by far the best airport in the UK to see rare, old  aircraft that cannot use paved runways and it is certainly the friendliest.

My wife and I used to hang out here on Non-flying days and get absolutely rat arsed, several times a year we would have a cricket match on the runway against the flyers from Blackbushe who thought they were gods gift to flyers, one day we had a guy in a quickie doing circuits overhead and giving a commentary on the radio frequency . I could bore you all for hours with the crazy things we got up to there over the years. Happy days!

[Christopher Low 63]

Can these FTX airfields be used with PlayHorizon VFR Generation X photoscenery? I would very much like to know if the base images blend well with the surrounding terrain.

 

EDIT: It seems that FTX England needs to be installed to use these airfields. If that is the case, then surely ORBx have missed a trick?

[mutley 4,487]

Hi Christopher,

Next Saturday, we will be publishing a review on FTX Goodwood and will address that very point.

Regards,

Joe

[mutley 4,487]

I like the look of this airfield, one I drop into every now and again in the sim.

 

BF, we would love to hear your reminiscences of Popham!

[brett 2,282]

Must be nice to have memories of these airfields from a RW perspective. I fly around and land at airports that are kind of faceless in a way. Is it silly that I look up the history of some of them before flying there to give them a bit of a face.

 

I never understood why ORBX did not figure out a way to make their standalone airports work both ways.

 

[britfrog 180]

Thanks Joe , I am sure over time a lot of incidents that went on there will come up in nigels ramblings,

However as you know Pophams is owned by the charles church estate , and his house and land is about a mile off the end of the runway near the grain silos. He has 2 runways there as well, Charles had bought a lancaster in Canada and he sent an engineer there to make it flyable back to the UK he also bought about 9 spitfire wrecks and a couple of hurricanes, a mustang or two and a meshersmitt 109, all of these were restored on his estate (some bought by Kermit Weeks) so when they were going to have their first flight we were invited over for a champagne reception and a private airshow. It made your hair stand up on your neck , because the crowd was under 500 people there were no rules, so we had planes dive staraight at us so low we all had to duck, I will dig out my old photo albums and scan in some pics. At any rate the lanc finally flew over and the engineer who had made it airworthy had been the manager at the strathallen collection in scotland, he is now about to retire having been the manager at Popham for many years, he does an excellent slide assisted speech of his life, if ever you want to have a good evening with some paying guests he is excellent. The lancaster was sent to british airospace for a full overhaul and whilst there the uk received a huge snowfall and the hangar fell in on the lanc badly damaging it. Sadly british airospace would not accept liability for the hangar collapse nor did the insurers, so the wreck was sold to doug arnold of warbirds fame, and was transported to blackbushe in crates, however doug died a few years later without doing anything to the a/c and as he was a bit dodgy as soon as he died all his large plane collection literally disappeared including the lanc.

At any rate I digress C/c bought the old Popham field and applied  for permission to make it much larger, originally there was a stand of trees between the clubhouse and the petrol station, with one tree missing , you had to wiggle your way through that obstacle when 20 feet up on very short finals. Understanably c/c  had all the trees removed even though they had tpo's on them  and when the council found out they threw a wobbly ( the actual story of this is very funny but would take to long to recouint) so he promised to plant 100 trees for every tree with a tpo , and he did he virtually created a new forest. If you go to Popham there are 2 runways one that runs parallel to the road the other goes across field and hedges because that was where the lanc was going to land it was going to be over a mile long !!! at the back of popham there is a wood with some areas that have been excavated near the boundary, this is where he was going to recreate the blast pens seen at war time bases where the fighters were protected against strafeing.. He was going to move the short runway from near the road to about 300 meters north but parralel to the existing runway. He had many good plans, Sadly they all died with him when he crashed his spitfire.

Mind you if he had completed his dream we probably could never have afforded to be members of the club. But can you imagine what it might have been like with at least 1 airworthy lanc , at least 6 spits, 2 hurricanes, mustangs, 109's and he even had a walrus to rebuild , so along with other purchases Popham would have been an incredible place to visit , however even though none of this came to pass, Popham has evolved in a different way to be now one of the most interesting airfields for a family to visit anywhere in the UK.

[Christopher Low 63]

Next Saturday, we will be publishing a review on FTX Goodwood and will address that very point.

 

I look forward to reading it.

 

 

I never understood why ORBX did not figure out a way to make their standalone airports work both ways.

 

I reckon it's because they want to have their cake and eat it. In other words, they want the entire world to be FTX only.

[brett 2,282]

The entire world would cost to much.   Anyone ever add up what it would cost for all of their products if you got them all at once?

[hurricanemk1c 195]

According to The Flight Sim Store, total download would be AUS$1,887.65 - that is US$1,962.21, £1,289.02 and €1,518.06. Eye watering really!

 

Looks quite nice!

[Kevin Firth 114]

Joe, I have some final additions to make to the review tomorrow when the developer's comments are received, hope that's ok..? K

[brett 2,282]

According to The Flight Sim Store, total download would be AUS$1,887.65 - that is US$1,962.21, £1,289.02 and €1,518.06. Eye watering really!

 

Looks quite nice!

 

And counting.......Thx  If I had it I would probably spend it.

[britfrog 180]

According to The Flight Sim Store, total download would be AUS$1,887.65 - that is US$1,962.21, £1,289.02 and €1,518.06. Eye watering really!

 

Looks quite nice!

 

This is why I stopped, stood back and took stock of things and decided where in the world I wanted to fly, it is all very well having some airports in aussie, PNW, NZ etc which are all engaging and well designed , but scenery is getting more and more detailed and using up more and more space, and becoming more realistic with every new arrival, so I have made the decision to fly in Europe , otherwise it is not beyond the imagination that in 2 years time , someone comes along with a new sim that is the nuts but it doesnt work with all the scenery that you have paid blood for, so you will  have to bin over 2k worth of scenery.

[brett 2,282]

So true. I have PNW and now England and am happy. I don't really mind default scenery that much and like to fly all over so it would be impossible to get it all. I get what I feel like when in the mood for something different. Right now it's England with a new purchase(sale) of REX and it is pretty nice and I have had some real enjoyable flights, MEBAR included. It is a nice diversion until the next one comes along. Misha's project is coming out soon................