On 13, October 1923, a special USN board directed that semiportable mooring masts (160-foot poles of steel tubing 16 inches in diameter and braced by three sets of guy wires) were to be erected at Forth Worth, San Diego and Camp Lewis (Washington State). In August of 1924, it was decided that the USS Shenandoah (ZRS-1) would make a set of flights's from her base at NAS Lakehurst to the West Coast and back, using the mooring masts at Fort Worth, San Diego and Seattle (Camp Lewis). In accordince with this plan, the USS Shenandoah arrived at the Naval Air Station North Island at 2300 on 10 October 1924, and landed on the ground. She was then secured to the mooring mast the following morning, during daylight. She remained moored to the mast for the next five days, while some damage that was done during the landing the previous evening, was repaired. On 16 October the Shenandoah departed San Diego for Camp Lewis. On the 21st of that month she arrived back at NAS North Island, where she was again moored to the mast overnight. On the morning of the 22 of October, she left the mast on her way back to her home airfield in New Jersey. When the USS Akron made her West Coast visit in May 1933, she was moored to a mast at Camp Kearney (now MCAS Miramar). The Camp Kearney mast was probably not the same "High Mast" used earlier at North Island, as shorter (stub) masts were introduced following an incident with the USS Los Angeles on NAS Lakehurst's High mast in 1927. The Camp Kearney mast was used four times by the USS Macon in 1934.
INSTALLATION:
This Mast is designed and tested to work with my North Island NAS (KNZY) scenery, which is available at FltSim.com
1.Download and unzip the file, "NAS North Island Mast.ZIP" into a temporary folder. Open the "NAS North Island Mast" folder. You will see these folders and file:
* "READ ME FIRST.txt" file (you are reading it now)
* "Scenery Files" folder
* "Texture File" folder
* "North Island Saved Flight" folder
2.Copy the eight files inside of the "Scenery Files" folder into the "North Island NAS (KNZY)"\scenery folder.
3.Copy the file inside the "Texture" folder into the "North Island NAS (KNZY)"\texture folder.
4.Take the contents (three files) that are inside the "North Island Saved Flight" folder and put them into your Documents\"Flight Simulator X Files" Folder.
5.Start up FSX, and:
- Go to NAS North Island, (KNZY), San Diego, California. You should find a tall red and white mast located between approach ends of runways 11 and 36.
- Select "Open" on the FSX "Free Flight" screen. You should find a selection labeled "USS Macon - Moffett Field". Do not select this option until you have done the next step.
6.If you haven't done so already, download and install the USS Macon ZRS-5 airship, following the installation instructions given in that package.
Notes on using the North Island Mast Saved Flight:
In order to have Macon's flight dynamics work properly the ship has to weight virtually nothing. The trade-off (problem) with this is that if we start normally at NAS North Island's mooring mast, Macon will be moving forward when she starts (she has no drag) and you will run through the mooring mast in front of you before you can apply the brakes. To solve this we have provided this saved flight, which will start you with your nose up to the mooring mast, parking brakes on, with full bouyancy (flaps) already selected and engines running. When you are ready, "Push Back" (you do NOt have to release the parking brakes until you are airborne and away from the mast). As you (the Officer of the Deck) are normally standing on the left (port) side of the control car, you would bring the mooring mast past the Macon's port side as soon as you start to move forward - so you will want to use "Shift + P" (Push Back) to back away from the mooring mast. Do not move beyond about half of Macon length, or you will run the risk of falling off of the invisible runway (which is 1600 feet long). Shift +P again to stop your backward motion, as soon as you see that you have enough distance to clear the mooring mast. You can then apply full right rudder and then add full power to "Up Ship" (take off) normally. Release the brakes when clear of the mooring mast.
Landing:
The invisible runway extends all around the mast, so. you can land from any direction. Do not land too low and run into the invisible runway. Also make sure that you don't fly a conventional airplane to low around the mast and run into the invisible runway.
Aircraft Shadows:
REMEMBER to go into: FSX settings\customize\aircraft\exterior settings (on the right hand side) and de-select (uncheck) aircraft casts shadows on the ground. Then select OK. If you forget to do this, you will see Macons shadow on the invisible runway around the mast (which really spoils the illusion of Macon floating in mid-air. Also remember to return to FSX Settings after your flight, and re-select aircraft shadows.
About this scenery:
We elected to build the North Island High Mast because there is ample photographic documentation of that mast - and because it is a spectacular structure. We have been unable to find any plans or photos of the Camp Kearney mast.
I hope you enjoy this model of the NAS North Island Mast as much as I enjoyed building it.
