your ideas are VERY much appreciated.

[Guest]

hello all.

to start this, a strange title, you might think for the subject im gonna witter on about, but i do need to feedback, and most importantly HELP!

some of you might know im in the ATC, and have been modelin a while now, and i, along with a friend have been set the tast of making a 1/72 45cmx45cm diorama.

the eara is WW2, and has to have planes in it, due to being in the ATC, though vehicles are vital.

a couple of ideas are to have maybe an RAF hanger, with a spit, hurricane, typhoon, any RAF plane i can fit in the hanger, and have one of them, then a few buildings, etc vehicles, such as refueling, staff cars and the like. now we all know bringing a diorama to life is crucial, so figures will be added.

right, enough messin about, onto work.

heres one i have just knocked together.

the white, none filled section in tarmac.

this is supposed to be a base in the UK, but, i have done resaearch into what the bases looked like, im mearly giving an example, so you can see what needs to be done.

i think, i can do axis airfields to, but im not sure, i would also like to do a desert airbase, so does anyone know anything about axis or allied airbases in the north africa campaign?

like on medal of honour allied assult, the german airfield? or even on call of duty 2 there is the german airfield, any reference photos, of course, would be a huge help.

thanks

iain

[stona]

Looks pretty cool to me. I don't know how mutch you want to compromise reality (all dioramas are a compromise) but Light AA guns like the Bofors were typically supposed to be sited around 400-600 yards from the enemy's intended target, and were sited to anticipate their likely attack profile. This is because low level fighter bombers typically released their bomb(s) from a shallow dive at about 600' and 300mph. This gave the bomb a forward "throw" of about 800 yards.

Don't let that stop you putting one in though!!! Who knows what they got up to in the real world.

I've certainly got some images of axis bases in North Africa which I can dig out in a few days time. There was remarkably little on them! A few revetements ,usually of old fuel drums and sand bags, to protect aircraft from blast and maybe some camo net on poles,and tented accomodation. Most work seems to have been done in the open.

Cheers

Steve

[Ian M]

I'm no expert on the matter but I am sure that there was no tarmac to be found on an air base in those days. Good old hand poured, leveled and ribed concreat!!!

Good luck with your project, sounds interesting. Keep us up to date with how things are going.

Ian M

[Guest]

yer, the north africa photos would be greatly appreciated, im liking the desert campaign, simply becasue its different. do you know if the germans had airbases like this one?

its a video, but if they had airfields like that, i think i could throw a hangar structure together and some oils drums, aircraft, welding equipment, you name it, just hope its slightly accurate. i still need to find a little bit more about it, but it would be great if this airfield was realistic.......

thanks

iain

[AlanG]

http://www.constable.ca/caah/airfield.jpg

http://homepages.maxnet.co.nz/bphprint/gerpics/cap1092.jpg (notice the stone walls)

[stona]

Most of the pictures I've seen (I will post some as soon as I get a chance) are of front line airfields. They are exactly that and more like the pictures Allyne posted. Most have very few solid structures,rarely much more than huts really. Revetments of filled drums,sandbags,rocks or any combination of such materials seem to be about the only protection afforded the aircraft. Maintainence work,at least at unit level seems largely to have been done in the open.

Here is a view across Gazala airfield,not much to see.

Here is the H.Q. of I.JG/27 on the same field. It's an old circus caravan somehow appropriated by the unit! Things were pretty basic.

Finally one of,I think,the same airfield showing a light (20mm) flak gun and its emplacement.

Cheers

Steve

[AlanG]

Probably so mobile an basic because they were constantly moving forwards or backwards. Depended on who had the upper hand at the time

[stona]

Probably so.

Servicing was done at the airfields by Flughafenbetriebskompanien (Airfield Servicing Companies).In 1941 there would have been 7 or 8 per Geschwader. They travelled with the various Gruppen and did most repairs taking not more than 48 hours. These are the men working in the open air in North African pictures.

Aircraft that could not be repaired in the field by Luftwaffe personnel and required depot-level maintenance were sent to a Frontreparaturbetrieb (Front Repair Workshop) organized and staffed by civilian engineers and craftsmen provided by the aircraft manufacturers and contractors, i.e., Junkers, Messerschmitt, Heinkel, Daimler-Benz, Siebel, Ago, Espenlaub, etc. At peak, these numbered around 100 and ranged from a couple of hundred employees all the way up to a couple of thousand. This looks more like the facility in your game footage. These depots could rebuild seriously damaged aircraft.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

so would such facilities be true, like in the game footage? so would there be maybe 4 huge hangars, with a motorpool and all that carry on.

or is that just the game designers making somthing up :P

[stona]

To be honest I think that is the game designer building an interesting platform for the gamer to fight in. Why should that stop you from building it anyway? There were of course large production/repair facilities but not in the North African desert!

A real airfield,like the one at Gazala would have its facilities widely dispersed over essentially a hot ,dry,flat,dusty plain. Not so much fun for the gamer. Of course when building a diorama you can compromise,particularly the distance between objects and place features (an aircraft in a revetement,a fuel dump,the H.Q building,gun emplacement etc) much closer together.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

hmmm, i see, thats a good idea, with the revetments, but for the larger style repair airports, as such, where would they be located?

[stona]

There was only ever maximum of about 100 such facilities. There were many in Western Europe and also in what we now call Eastern Europe (Prague for example). I'm not sure about North Africa as I haven't found a complete list. There would have been such facilities in Italy.

One thing is for sure,they would have been well behind the lines.

You've inadvertantly raised an interesting point. No airforce can operate without adequate logistical support but this is a much under-researched area. I have a lot of material relating to the Luftwaffe in WW2 but not one book on this most vital subject. I am happy to admit only the most superficial knowledge of these units and how they operated. My interest is piqued and I'll see what I can find out.....fingers crossed.

Cheers

Steve