Minot AFB North Dakota

[Jorgen]

Phantomfreak, by "Launch Control Facility" I assume you mean missile launching facilities.

Now, if that is correct, then the flights out there would be by USAF, and the helos would then be UH-1F's... or am I completely off my rocker?

Jorgen

[John Young]

Yes indeed Jorgen, I think we are all on the same wave-length.

John

[Jon]

One thing to keep in mind is that the helipad is outside the fence of the LCF.

[John Young]

That makes it much easier then, particularly when the helipad is on the access road, as in this case:



John

[Jon]

For flight planning purposes, at Malmstrom the 12 would not have helicopter support for Missile Crews unless the sites were snowed in for more than 48 hours. In the 10 Delta and Echo you have one helicopter dropping a crew at Delta, flying on to Echo, shutting down for 20 minutes then heading back to Delta to pick up the off going crew then back to base. Regarding the 490 November and Oscar would fly out together dropping a crew at November shutting down at Oscar then heading back to November. Lima and Kilo would follow the same pattern, but closer to 30 minutes at Kilo.

Crews were only flown out if the helicopter pilots needed to make hours, and the missile crews doing the outbound were less than thrilled because it makes for a longer alert since your relief crew was going to have to drive 2 to 3 hours to the site.

The other bases would follow a similar pattern, but since I wasn't assigned there the planner will have to use your best judgement.

[John Young]

Thanks for that, so no regular crew transfer flights. I have however watched videos of security force training exercises to protect the sites. I could schedule a few of those.

John

[Jon]

Correct, convoy security/overwatch support, security drills would be the primary focus for the helicopters.

[phantomfreak]

I placed a grass runway either on the same side as the helipad or across the access road depending on the surrounding landscape.

Now, if that is correct, then the flights out there would be by USAF, and the helos would then be UH-1F's... or am I completely off my rocker?

Jorgen

The helos would be UH-1H or N's, the F's were retired in 1987.

[John Young]

I don't see the need for grass runways Jorgen. I'm just trying out a sample MAF (Missile Alert Facility - Minot B-01) to see if the real-world position fits with the highway in both FSX and P3D and indeed it does:



My intention is to place an invisible 300ft helicopter runway where the red marker is. I'll close the left hand end for take-off and the right hand for landing. That should prevent U-turns and give the shortest taxi distances from the helipad. I'll be sending the occasional UH-1N from Minot on a security exercise.

My next job is to set up the runway and test it. I'll then make the MAF buildings. I may just include 3 of the MAFs in the package. There are a lot of them and they are all different in shape and layout, so potentially a lot of work. I'll see how it goes. Minot airfield is all done and ready for packaging so I don't want to extend the upload date more than a week or two.

John

[Jorgen]

Er, John - my nick is not Phantomfreak... I think he quoted me.

Jorgen

[John Young]

So, placing the helicopter runway over the access road wasn't a good idea - there wasn't enough room to manoeuvre. The better option was to place it at right angles over the grass and make it invisible (1ft width). With that done, along with the custom scenery, the visiting Huey is now working fine in both FSX and P3D.

This particular MAF (Missile Alert Facility) is Bravo-01, about 35 miles south east of Minot AFB:









Bravo-01 is one of 15 similar launch sites, spread around Minot. It's too big a job to make all 15, but I am intending to add Kilo-01 to the west and one more to the north. With all the models made that's quite doable in a short time span. That should allow me to move on and get the whole Minot package assembled and uploaded shortly.

John

[TheFoufure]

Perhaps can you add a launching site, with a Silo. (in a object library)

Free to everyone to place other

Regards

[TheFoufure]

Hello John,

To complete this wonderfull scenery, and your great Huey, did you envisage to make a model for the Boeing MH-139 Grey Wolf (as a bonus to the scenery) (and from your already builded AW139) ?

This MH-139 will remplace the Huey soon (some are already in service)

Thanks.

Regards

[John Young]

Yes, but in due course. At the moment, the only MH-139A's that are of interest are the two at Malmstrom that are being used for training and conversion for Global Strike Command. Apart from those two, Maxwell has one with the 703rd HS for training and Shaw has one with the 582nd HS. I assume that's for Reaper support or similar.

I'll continue to monitor Scramble to see when others come into service.

John

[John Young]

I’m just writing the manual for the Minot project and I wonder if someone with P3Dv4 could help me please? I am designing with P3Dv5.4 and that necessitates a completely different approach to adding night lighting compared to the FSX version because of the dynamic lighting in the former. P3Dv5 lighting won’t work in FSX and FSX lighting will cause the light splashes to rotate 90 degrees into a vertical plane in P3Dv5.4.

The lights are working fine in both my sims with the different design methods, but I have kept them in their own .bgl files so they can be removed easily if anyone has a problem.

Could anyone tell me please, which version (FSX or P3Dv5.4) works best for P3Dv4 so that I can add some guidance to the Minot manual. A good test will be my Embraer Factory scenery for the Brazil project.

Which version did P3Dv4 users install please?

John

[Victory103]

Thanks for helping me troubleshoot that lighting issue I'm seeing in P3Dv5.3 recently, so I guess I let some FSX lights slip in.

[shaggy22]

I’m just writing the manual for the Minot project and I wonder if someone with P3Dv4 could help me please? I am designing with P3Dv5.4 and that necessitates a completely different approach to adding night lighting compared to the FSX version because of the dynamic lighting in the former. P3Dv5 lighting won’t work in FSX and FSX lighting will cause the light splashes to rotate 90 degrees into a vertical plane in P3Dv5.4.

The lights are working fine in both my sims with the different design methods, but I have kept them in their own .bgl files so they can be removed easily if anyone has a problem.

Could anyone tell me please, which version (FSX or P3Dv5.4) works best for P3Dv4 so that I can add some guidance to the Minot manual. A good test will be my Embraer Factory scenery for the Brazil project.

Which version did P3Dv4 users install please?

John

I had to install the FSX version for this, the 5.4 version did not work at all in v4.

[John Young]

Thanks Dan.

[John Young]

The Minot packages are all done and uploaded for processing to the MAIW Hangar. There are two versions, one for FSX and the other for P3Dv5 and above. From what Dan says, P3Dv4 users will probably need to use the FSX version.

So, just a last update on what I have added, starting with the Missile Alert Facilties (MAFs) that are destinations for some of the Huey’s. I have included 3. I did assess a few others, but found that the roads that the MAFs connect to are missing from both FSX and P3D. It just makes the sites too isolated unless connected to a main road. I am not going to re-design the road network in the vicinities, so have left it at 3 sites that are connected, which is about right for 7 Huey’s at Minot:



This is Kilo-01:



Continuing the vehicle modelling, I have made the AGM-86B transporters and placed a few in the scenery close to clean B-52H’s ready to receive them:



I have also added an AGM-86B convoy leaving the storage area, escorted by Lenco Bearcats, as seen in videos:



Night time is of course better in P3Dv5.4, were Dynamic Lighting illuminates’ objects, including the AI aircraft:



Although FSX night lighting doesn’t illuminate the aircraft, the ground splashes coupled with _lm textures on objects, including vehicles, is still quite atmospheric:



Seasonal textures are switchable automatically in P3D, but unfortunately, the MCX method of doing that doesn’t work for FSX. Instead, I have provided alternative winter textures for the trees and grass-covered bunkers for FSX users to switch manually, when and if they want to. This is winter in the FSX version:



As always, please allow time for the upload to be processed and made available.



John

[Jorgen]

Damn, I am SO looking forward to that one!

Jorgen