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U-2 Grand Tour Mission Pack by comrpnt 1.0.1

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About This File

U-2 Grand Tour Missions over North Vietnam (1966) by comrpnt

 

Welcome
Welcome to a small set of missions related to the USAF's use of the U-2 over North Vietnam during the mid-1960s. This mission pack was inspired by Giles Whittell's excellent book Bridge of Spies.

 

This mission pack is designed to work with ThirdWire's StrikeFighters - Series 1, Wings Over Vietnam (WOV), patched to October 2008. Note that some external add-ons are required to carry out the missions in this pack. Missions included in this pack
The following missions are available in this pack; fly as the U-2 pilot over key strategic targets in North Vietnam, avoiding a multitude of SAMs and interceptors that attempt to engage you, or fly as a pilot of the Vietnam People's Air Force and attempt to 'down' the U-2 as it violates your airspace. Each mission takes place early in the morning, in daylight conditions with broken cloud. Note that daylight operations were required to assist the array of cameras on board the U-2. For each mission, waypoints are provided to guide you.

 

U-2 Grand Tour In a U-2A, take off from RTAFB Ubon and head, at altitude (~70k ft), for the border with North Vietnam, south of the disused airbase at Dong Hoi. Then head north towards Hanoi, before heading south-east to Haiphong, and then turn south-west for the long trip home.

 

U-2 intercept (MiG-19) Attempt to intercept the U-2 as it enters your airspace, south-west of Dong Hoi. Depart from the VPAF airbase at Ben Loi, west of Vinh Son.

 

U-2 intercept (MiG-21) Using the more advanced MiG-21, attempt to intercept the U-2 as it continues to make its way north to the capital, Hanoi, and then escapes south and west via Haiphong. Depart from the VPAF airbase at Bai Thuong, south of Hanoi.

 

Acknowledgements, Disclaimer and Terms
Thank you to all those modders who have provided the prerequisites I have used in this mission pack. If there are any problems with these missions and my own modifications, then please contact me directly, not the authors of the prerequisites.
Released under Fair-Use terms, as defined at CombatAce

 

Contents
This download includes the following:

  • Details of mandatory prerequisites.
  • Details of optional enhancements to the game engine.
  • Details of changes required to various models INI files to set-up flight characteristics and weapons management.
  • New Target definitions and updates to Type definitions.
  • Mission briefings and maps.
  • Mission files.

 


Good luck.

 

comrpnt (September 2016).


What's New in Version 1.0.1

Released

  • 1.0 Initial drop
  • 1.0.1 Added U-2 ClimbSpeed details in readme, to fix missing install instruction.



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INI changes - The What and Why

 

As requested, here is a breakdown of the INI changes required to get this mission pack installed and running successfully.

 

_Targets.ini

  • Date specific definitions required to setup the mission briefing text for the U-2 and VPAF missions. These defns. disappear from the terrain after the specified date so as not to contaminate it for dates outside the range of the mission pack.
  • Target defns. for SAM sites at most of the VPAF airbases, with accompanying AAA protection nearby. This is to enhance the realism of the missions, especially the U-2 grand tour. Despite little effectiveness above, say 50k feet, it's still quite unnerving sitting in a U-2 waiting for multitudes of SA-2s to pass harmlessly by. Even at 70k feet, these SAMs will exceed the U-2 ceiling.

 

_Types.ini

  • Enhanced detection values for EWR and SAM radar units, and SAMs - to improve the chance of detection and cause many more SAMs to be fired as the U-2 flys overhead.
  • Introduction of dummy enemy position type, for use with mission text _Targets (see above).

 

U-2_Data.ini

  • Adjust default [MissionData] ceiling value to enable it to reach 70k feet. Without this change the U-2 model will only reach ~65k feet.
  • Adjust [FlightControl] values to enable it to climb quicker to max. altitude and cruise slightly faster to avoid near stall characteristic, which under AI control looked strange with constant pitch-up and correction.
  • Engine emitter change - obvious - given how 'clean' the J57-P37A was (not!).

 

MiG-19PM_Data.ini

  • The [RadarStation] and [RadarStation] x,y,z changes bury the two fake pilot objects inside the fuselage so that they don't appear in external views of this add-on. This was a cosmetic bug left in by the original developer. My changes simply fix the bug without changing the operation of the model.
  • The [LeftWingStationOutboard] and [RightWingStationOutboard] changes enable the aircraft to attach infra-red missiles. Otherwise the Atoll-As will not be permitted to attach, even during manual loadout.

 

_LOADOUT.ini

  • Changes are made to the [AirToAir] weapon points used to attach air-to-air missiles, replacing the stock defns. This ensures that the Atoll-A is used. Loadouts are defined in the mission files, so there should be no need to manually load the aircraft before each mission. This change helped to automate the loading process.

 

The remaining add-on aircraft and stock aircraft changes have similar effects to those described above. i.e. to raise the ceiling altitude and provide fixing points for A2A missiles.

 

Hopefully that explains everything.

 

Regards, comrpnt (Southampton, UK)

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