NOTAM Dambusters' 70th Anniversary Mission Released.

[ddavid 149]

The latest version of the Operation Chastise Training Mission has been uploaded to the MH File Library - you should find it here:

 

http://forum.mutleyshangar.com/index.php/files/file/2240-operation-chastise-training-mission/

 

 

Why not have a go and see how you'd compare with the pilots and crews of RAF 617 Squadron when they attacked the Ruhr dams with 'Upkeep', Barnes Wallis's Bouncing Bomb.

 

Although the mission was designed for the MKIII Lancaster, you can fly an aircraft of your choice (as long as it will attain 200 KIAS!)

 

Post your screenshots here - Thanks! 

 

And Thanks to the Beta Team - you know who you are!!

 

Cheers - Dai.

 

[hurricanemk1c 195]

It is a very good mission - haven't tried it in the dark, but did manage to get 1 bomb in against the wall!

[needles 1,012]

Very Well Done Dai!

A fitting tribute to 617 Squadron.

I still haven't hit the Dam though.

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Well, let's get the ball rolling picture-wise on the historic day:

 

 

[brett 2,310]

Nice shooting Chuck.  One thing about a mission like this is you can fly it over and over and still enjoy it.    Another reason for flying it more than once is for the fact that I still have not gotten three in the zone after many flights. I'm using the JF-DC3. Thanks for the entertainment Dai.

 

I did take one pic on the initial flyover but forgot all about taking any more, once I started. I will try to get more later.

 

One thing I wanted to note is that if you click on the make changes to the mission box when starting the mission, to change aircraft, the user will not get a reward on mission completion. I could be wrong on this but thought I would just let you know. Now I am off to fly and get it done right this time.......

[ddavid 149]

Thanks for your screenshots and kind comments, Lads! I think I've enjoyed making and flying this mission more than any other. Paul's Bouncing Bomb was a real revelation - fitting the mission around it wasn't straightforward but I hope the result is as enjoyable to you as it was me! Thanks again.

Cheers - Dai.

[mutley 4,495]

I have a video of a successful bomb on my other PC, will post if you like?

 

Dai, I had a lot of bombs pass through the dam wall without exploding, I guess there must be some target point it must hit. Also, 60 ft above agl I make it 790 ft when over the reservoir? That is under the bottom of the red square and the bomb will fall sort of the target, a little fine tuning and explanation of how to achieve the perfect mission would be welcome!

 

I am addicted now and will have to have another go before leaving for Weston.

 

PS, I have been flying the B17-G as I don't have the Lanc. 

[ddavid 149]

The video sounds good, Joe, if you can upload it - Thanks.

O.K. - the base of the hoops gives you roughly 60' AGL - taking into account the additional height of your chosen AC's centre of gravity (in the 3DSmax or gmax model). Paul Denton's Upkeep has dropable object flight dynamics which take into account drop speed and height but probably not air/water frictioin/bounce dynanics. Anyway, the faster/higher you go the further the Upkeep will bounce before coming to rest. I positioned the red hoop at approximately where it should be for the Aeroplane Heaven/Just Flight Lanc - you'll need to adjustyour own release point for different AC's, drooping height and speed. It took me a few times around to get the sweet spot for the Dizzie and then it was fairly consistent (Ha! - Ed).

I too found the mission a bit addictive! Good fun, eh?

Cheers - Dai.

BTW see ya later...

[brett 2,310]

I flew the JF DC3(C-47) at 192kias while skimming the top of the bottom edge of the hoops and made my release when the nose passed through the red hoop and got a pretty consistent grouping. I did have trouble maintaining an exact speed due to the quick changes in my flight path while dropping down to altitude from the final WP and after clearing the small peninsula. In this case I would apply a bit of Kentucky windage and make my release just before or after the hoop depending on my speed. They should have included this mission in Flight and it might have caught on.  I did finally get three in the zone and am now working toward perfection. Thanks for the challenge and not having us fly the full six hour flight.    

[mutley 4,495]

Hi Brett,

I am flying the B17-G, the drop zone is definitely different than that for the Lanc,

I have had a few hits so far but not 3 in one mission, still "aiming" for that.

Cheers,

Joe

[adrians69 159]

Well, here's my first attempt, the first bomb bounced over the dam and the second and third hit land. No idea where the 4th one went but I will have to perfect the technique!!     I am using my Mosquito B Mk IV as I have no Lanc.

 

 

[brett 2,310]

I don't know, I'm starting to hate this mission now.   Keep trying......

[ddavid 149]

Great shot, Adrian - keep practicing! BTW, the Mosquito was used for another Bouncing Bomb, called Highball, against ships and even bouncing on land against railway tunnels!

Thanks for the enthusiasm, Lads - who knows, we could do a Multiplayer Mission, What?!?

Cheers - Dai.

[adrians69 159]

Cheers for the info Dai, I WILL hit that bloody dam if it kiills me! 

[hurricanemk1c 195]

Try it in the dark - then you really don't know where your bombs have gone.....

[ddavid 149]

I guess I'll have to nav lights on the Upkeep? Bet BW never thought of that...

 

Cheers - Dai.

 

[Funta 9]

Hi,

 

Have just downloaded and installed this mission. Many thanks for all the work in getting it up and going. Have personally visited all 3 of the dams and marvelled at the difficulty involved in the attacks, particularly the Eder, with tough terrain and major low level manoeuvring needed with a heavy, fairly unresponsive aircraft, at night!!! I was also lucky enough to crawl around inside a Lancaster, and marvelled that 60' over water was about as far under me as the wingtip was away from me as I sat in the pilot's seat!

 

Two questions:

 

(1) Although the Moehne Dam shows up well when running the mission, it does NOT appear when I simply locate myself there in Free Flight. Is there some setting I need to mod here?

 

(2) I have creates a .kmz file in Google Earth which contains all the inbound waypoints, for Wave 1+3, and 2, the various attack tracks for all 3 dams, and the various outbound routes. I've creates "Tours" from these which allow you to automatically fly the mission cross-country/water/country in Google Earth. I'd like to create a set of waypoints in Flt Sim X which I could use to similarly fly the mission(s). 

 

Although I've done a fair bit of FSX "flying" in various aircraft types, I haven't yet used the Flight Plan aspect, or the GPS.

 

Any suggestions a fix for (1), and the best way of going about (2)?

 

I'm a newbie to this site/Forum, so forgive me if these are topics already covered...

 

Funta.

[brett 2,310]

Hi Peter and welcome to the forums here.

 

I haven't seen Dai here in awhile so I thought I could help you but am coming up short. I decompiled one of the dam BGL files and only found the MDL files for the five sections, middle, left and right sides and no coordinates, so they wouldn't show up in free flight. When you added the included sceneries and exclusions to your addon folder it seems Dai used the mission XML file, by adding LibraryObjects, to call those addon sceneries and give them their coordinates. It looks like this one example below,

 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-1252" ?> 
- <SelectedNodes>
- <!--  Moehne_Dam_Section_Centre 
  --> 
- <SceneryObjects.LibraryObject InstanceId="{C73EB4A4-369E-46BF-961A-7D0236DBEDC8}">
  <WorldPosition>N51° 29' 22.45",E8° 3' 33.02",-000049.21</WorldPosition> 
  <AltitudeIsAGL>True</AltitudeIsAGL> 
  <Orientation>0.000,0.000,54.000</Orientation> 
  <MDLGuid>{DA56C05E-E6B7-421B-ADE2-934C683371BD}</MDLGuid> 
  <Scale>1.000</Scale> 
  <Descr>Moehne_Dam_Section_Centre</Descr> 
  </SceneryObjects.LibraryObject>
  </SelectedNodes>

I haven't done it in a long time but technically you could recreate the dam so you can fly it in freeflight but you would have to compile all the MDL's and their GUIDS for the dam and then include all the coordinates from the mission XML into another XML file and compile it into a BGL file to add to your FSX addon scenery folder. Plus you would also have to address the exclusions that Dai included in the scenery download, I gather he did this to help the mesh meld into the dam better.

 

I must say Dai did some work on this mission to make it not only work but look good too.

 

John Allard is the guy to ask about creating waypoints within FSX, it's easy to do in the freeware PlanG flight planner but I have never tried it in FSX. I believe you would have to create a BGL file for that too. You could of course use PlanG to create the flight plan and use it to show as a KML file to see it in google earth.

[Funta 9]

Hi Brett,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I think the technicals of creating the Dams for Free Flight is a bit beyond me at the moment, till I learn a bit more, but I'll look into the PlanG flight planner right away.

 

Thanks again,

 

Peter.

[brett 2,310]

No problem, my pleasure Peter. Please check your PM's.

 

You can find the PlanG flight planner here.