ROCHESTER AIRPORT, Kent(U.K) version3.0
by Charles Watson
This zipfile contains two rebuilds of Rochester airport for use with FS2002:
(a) RCHCWVFR.zip contains the files for use by those who possess the commercial "VFR Photographic Scenery for East & South-East England, produced as a joint venture between GETMAPPING, VISUAL FLIGHT & JUST FLIGHT.
(b) RCHCW3MS.zip contains the files for use with the Microsoft FS2002 DEFAULT scenery.
LANDMARKS ADDED IN THIS VERSION:-
Gillingham Football stadium (representation only; not photo-realistic).
MODIFICATIONS MADE to previous version:-
1. Airport completely rebuilt. As the Microsoft default scenery is positioned differently from the VFR Photographic scenery, I have had to produce two versions together. In the VFR photographic version, it has been possible to place everything exactly where they
should be, to fit their "footprints" on the photographic scenery. The MS default scenery is displaced by a couple of hundred metres, or thereabouts, further South. The RCHCW3MS version has therefore been positioned, according to the FS2002 default scenery.
2. Landmarks outside the airport area, such as buildings, bridges, docks etc. have now been separated out into their own individual .BGL files and re-positioned to fit the photographic scenery. This is so that those who wish, may just use the elements they want. For example you may wish to use someone else's version of the airport, but still be able to use my version of the Chatham dockyard. The BGL filelists are shown within the relevant Zip file. The only exception to the rule is the aerial farm on Blue Bell Hill, which is still part of the airport BGL.
3. My attempted corrections to river and roads in the earlier version have been removed as they were not very effective visually, on top of the default FS2002 scenery and are, obviously, not required in any case, with Just Flight's VFR Photographic Scenery.
4. Powerstations re-scaled so that the chimneys are now the correct height.
5. Sheppey Bridge re-scaled.
6. 'Floating' battlements on Rochester Castle fixed.
7. Airport Control Tower rebuilt to correct a visual problem and certain other buildings re-scaled. More trees added.
8. Static aircraft removed from parking area to permit parking of AI aircraft by users of AFCAD.
9. Oldest covered slip(with bell-end) in Chatham Historic Dockyard re-engineered to eliminate the problem of the vanishing roof.
HISTORY:
Although very small, Rochester airport has a long and distinguished history. Shorts used to have a factory in Rochester, beside the river. Here they built flying boats and later, during the Second World War, Blenheim bombers. The fuselages and wings of the latter were transported by road,through the narrow streets of the City of Rochester and up the hill to the airport. Here they were assembled and flown out. One of the airport hangars was hit by a bomb, destroying I believe, two Blenheims.
Since those days, the airport has been leased by G.E.C. Avionics and B.A.E. Medway Aircraft Preservation Society, who work in a hangar on the airfield, have to the best of my knowledge, managed over the years, to restore several classic aircraft to an airworthy condition, including Spitfires and Hurricanes. There is a flying school and a flourishing flying club operating from the airport.
Unfortunately, despite local protests, plans are currently afoot to re-develop half the airfield as a Science Park. If this happens, it will leave the airfield with only one runway.
Chatham dockyard has a history as long as one's arm. Suffice to say that, (although now housed in Portsmouth), H.M.S.VICTORY, Admiral Nelson's famous flagship was actually built here in Chatham. At the other end of the scale, Nuclear submarines were maintained here.
The dockyard was closed in the late 1970s but is gradually being re-developed and some of the older part restored and kept as a heritage site. Well worth a visit.
KEY TO CONTENT OF .BGL FILES:-
List contained in each of the relevant .ZIP files
INSTALLATION:
FOR THOSE WHO ALREADY HAVE A PREVIOUS VERSION:
The enclosed files completely replace the earlier scenery and texture files, which should be deleted. Once this has been done, you may install the new files.
If you do NOT possess the VFR Photographic Scenery for East & South-East England from Just Flight, use the files from RCHCW3MS.ZIP.
If you DO possess the Photographic VFR scenery from Just Flight, use whichever files you wish from RCHCWVFR.ZIP
If you wish, of course, you can install both versions, but in totally separate folders from one another.
EXAMPLE FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT have the VFR Photographic Scenery for East & South-East England from Just Flight:
1. Create a folder such as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002\My Scenery\RCHCW3MS.
2. Within the C:\..\..\..\RCHCW3MS folder, create two subfolders called Scenery and Texture respectively.
3. Unzip RCHCW3MS.zip
4. Extract whichever .BGL files you wish to use, to the C:\..\..\..\RCHCW3MS\Scenery folder.
5. Extract ALL .R8 and .BMP files to the C:\..\..\RCHCW3MS\Texture folder
6. Enable the scenery, either by editing your FS2002 Scenery.Cfg file, or add via the FS Scenery Library.
EXAMPLE FOR THOSE WHO DO HAVE the VFR PHOTOGRAPHIC Scenery for EAST & SOUTH-EAST ENGLAND from JUST FLIGHT:-
1. Create a folder such as C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\FS2002\My Scenery\RCHCWVFR.
2. Within the C:\..\..\..\RCHCWVFR folder, create two subfolders called Scenery and Texture respectively.
3. Unzip RCHCWVFR.zip
4. Extract whichever .BGL files you wish to use, to the C:\..\..\..\RCHCWVFR\Scenery folder.
5. Extract ALL .R8 and .BMP files to the C:\..\..\RCHCWVFR\Texture folder
6. Enable the scenery, either by editing your FS2002 Scenery.Cfg file, or add via the FS Scenery Library.
CREDITS:
I shall be eternally grateful to those at Rochester Airport who were so kind and helpful, when I walked over to the tower, early in 1995 for information, which I needed for my first version of the Medway scenery I did for FS5. Not only did they answer my questions but fished the 1994 Pooley's Flight Guide out of the wastepaper basket and handed it to me as a gift. Noone could have asked for a better start!!
This scenery was built using ASDv2.1, and FSDS from Abacus. AIRPORT by Pascal Meziat was used to place certain objects in this version.
I am also most grateful to the following, for their constructive criticism, information and help:-
RON SALT: Responsible for the reconstructed bell-end on the oldest of the covered slips in the dockyard.
Ron also carried out an extremely low pass by Rochester Castle and survived!! This revealed "floating" battlements, which have now been fixed.
FRANK ALLEN: Introduced me to MARTIN WRIGHT's Mgrab program, which has been invaluable when accurately placing elements of the scenery.
FRED POPPLEWELL: For letting me know the correct heights, given on an air chart, of the Isle of Grain and Kingsnorth powerstations. I have re-scaled these to make them nearer 810ft and 670ft respectively.
BILL SUMMERS: For asking whether it would be possible to separate elements of scenery, which fall outside the airport area itself, into separate .bgl files.
DAVID HANSTATER: For mentioning lack parking spaces for AI aircraft due to the presence of static aircraft. I have cleared the static aircraft from the parking areas, so that users of AFCAD may now use these areas for AI aircraft.
ALL THE OTHERS: for their kind and most interesting e-mails and suggestions. I am sorry that I have not been able to satisfy all your requests, but hope that you will understand.
VFR PHOTOGRAPHIC SCENERY for SOUTH & SOUTHEAST ENGLAND is produced as a joint venture between GETMAPPING, VISUAL FLIGHT & JUST FLIGHT.
TEXTURES:
Photographs used for Rochester Castle, Chatham War Memorial and Chatham Dockyard buildings were taken by me and digitised using JASC Paintshop Pro 7.
Textures named xxxxcw.bmp/r8 and RCHxxxxxx.bmp/r8 are my own,created using Paintshop Pro 7 by JASC Software.
Textures named Abxxxx.bmp/r8 are provided by Abacus
I believe the others are standard Microsoft textures, but I am unsure about this so have included them for safety's sake. If this is incorrect, I do apologise to the real authors.
N.B: YOU WILL REQUIRE VOD 3.0 TEXTURES by Rafael Sanchez. These are not included with this Zip file but are freely available from Flight Sim.com and elsewhere.
COPYRIGHT:
This scenery is released strictly as Freeware. Copyright Charles Watson. As Freeware you are permitted to distribute this archive, subject to the following conditions.
-The archive must be distributed without modification to the contents of the archive. Redistribution of this archive with any files added, removed or modified is prohibited.
-the inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another archive(unless distributed as Freeware), without the prior permission of the author is prohibited.
-No charge may be made for this archive, other than that to cover the cost of its distribution. If a fee is charged it must be made clear to the purchaser that the archive is Freeware and that the fee is to cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive.
-The author's rights and wishes concerning this archive must be respected.
Kind regards,
Charles Watson
E-mail: charles.watson1@btinternet.com 18th January 2003
