Western Front Maps

[chrispdm1 1]

Rabu's maps have had all the aerodromes placed on them and they have been labeled in a legend on each map as well. Please check the downloads section. They are mapped as they were in early 1916. There are some accuracy errors as the in game location of some cities does not correspond with their actual location. Apparently this is hardcoded into MCFS3. Ypres is the one I found that has the most innaccuracy. We have not completed figuring out the nationalities of the Allied aerodromes, and do not know if this will happen along with labeling which aerodromes switched hands. My best advice is to laminate and make your own notes as the war progresses.

 

THe file had been corrupted during the first uplaod, but it should be fixed now...

Edited April 27, 2009 by chrispdm1

[Olham 164]

Thank you for the info; I'll look in there right the next day, before flying.

I'd like to fly after a good map.

[rabu 9]

Rabu's maps have had all the aerodromes placed on them and they have been labeled in a legend on each map as well. Please check the downloads section. They are mapped as they were in early 1916. There are some accuracy errors as the in game location of some cities does not correspond with their actual location. Apparently this is hardcoded into MCFS3. Ypres is the one I found that has the most innaccuracy. We have not completed figuring out the nationalities of the Allied aerodromes, and do not know if this will happen along with labeling which aerodromes switched hands. My best advice is to laminate and make your own notes as the war progresses.

 

THe file had been corrupted during the first uplaod, but it should be fixed now...

 

Chris is being rather modest about his involvement in this. He went out of his way to gather location data, then relate it to information from Shredward and others and put it on the maps that I had restored and split up into smaller ones. He has really done a lot and done a great job on it.

 

I hope to have further improvements with more linked information, such as national identity of French and Brit fields, dates at each location, aces at each one, etc., but it's a huge project and at this point, Chris's efforts are greatly appreciated and I think will be very useful to any one enjoying using the paper maps with the game.

 

Thanks again, Chris.

[OlPaint01 0]

Chris

 

Absolutely marvelous effort!!! I applaud your work. I hope the spreadsheet list of OFF aerodromes that I gleaned from the game and sent to you helped in small part in its preparation.

 

I am off to get the map sheets printed up and put into clear plastic sheet protectors. I look forward for this map project being a "living" work as we discover and add updates to the few remaining unknown locations.

 

OlPaint01

[rabu 9]

Chris

 

Absolutely marvelous effort!!! I applaud your work. I hope the spreadsheet list of OFF aerodromes that I gleaned from the game and sent to you helped in small part in its preparation.

 

I am off to get the map sheets printed up and put into clear plastic sheet protectors. I look forward for this map project being a "living" work as we discover and add updates to the few remaining unknown locations.

 

OlPaint01

 

Sorry, OP, meant to give you a big thanks too. Also to Dirk.. thanks all!

[tttiger 0]

Brilliant work!

 

Thanks to all of you for making and sharing them!

 

A friend and I are going to do a tour of the Western Front in September. I doubt there is much (or anything) left of these aerodromes but it will be very useful to at least know where they used to be.

 

Tony

Edited April 28, 2009 by tttiger

[shredward 12]

Hi Tony,

Actually, you will be surprised at what is left at some dromes - much of rural France is much as it was 90 years ago. Of course, the tent and Bessonneau hangars are gone, but on some former dromes, other buildings are much as they were, and it's eerie how you can let yourself be transported back. Vert-Galant and Bertangles are two of the obvious ones, but there are many others where stepping back in time is very easy...I would highly recommend Mike O'Connors Battleground Europe - Airfields and Airmen series.

Cheers,

shredward

[Bletchley 8]

Great work! Thank you Rabu, Chrispdm1 and OlPaint01 :)

 

The map now looks very similar (and on a similar scale, now that Rabu has enlarged it) to those 1:250,000 scale (aprox. 4 miles to the inch) maps that would have been the main type of map used by the RFC. Other scale maps would also have been used - 1:100,000, 1:40,000, 1:20,000 - but these would have been only available for front-line areas within 30 miles or less either side of the lines, until late 1918 (and Rabu has reproduced some of these as well). The French used a black and white hachured 1:80,000 scale map, the Germans used a 1:100,000 scale map. All of them were based mainly on the original French mid-nineteenth century 1:80,000 mapping of France, often just enlarged and redrawn, and so the originals would also have had plenty of errors - roads and railways that weren't marked on the map, changes to size, shape (and even sometimes location) of many of the urbanised or industrial areas. So don't get too hung up on the differences between the map and the actual lie of the land - such errors and differences were there in 1914-18 as well, as the highly accurate maps we use and take for granted today are a relatively modern invention.

 

Bletchley

[tttiger 0]

Hi Tony,

Actually, you will be surprised at what is left at some dromes - much of rural France is much as it was 90 years ago. Of course, the tent and Bessonneau hangars are gone, but on some former dromes, other buildings are much as they were, and it's eerie how you can let yourself be transported back. Vert-Galant and Bertangles are two of the obvious ones, but there are many others where stepping back in time is very easy...I would highly recommend Mike O'Connors Battleground Europe - Airfields and Airmen series.

Cheers,

shredward

 

 

Shred,

 

I found six (Channel, Ypres, Arras, Somme, Cambrai and Red Baron) books of the series for sale at Amazon and ordered them all.

 

Thanks you for the tip! They look like they will be an excellent resource!

 

Many thanks!

 

Tony

Edited April 28, 2009 by tttiger

[rabu 9]

Great work! Thank you Rabu, Chrispdm1 and OlPaint01 :)

 

The map now looks very similar (and on a similar scale, now that Rabu has enlarged it) to those 1:250,000 scale (aprox. 4 miles to the inch) maps that would have been the main type of map used by the RFC. Other scale maps would also have been used - 1:100,000, 1:40,000, 1:20,000 - but these would have been only available for front-line areas within 30 miles or less either side of the lines, until late 1918 (and Rabu has reproduced some of these as well). The French used a black and white hachured 1:80,000 scale map, the Germans used a 1:100,000 scale map. All of them were based mainly on the original French mid-nineteenth century 1:80,000 mapping of France, often just enlarged and redrawn, and so the originals would also have had plenty of errors - roads and railways that weren't marked on the map, changes to size, shape (and even sometimes location) of many of the urbanised or industrial areas. So don't get too hung up on the differences between the map and the actual lie of the land - such errors and differences were there in 1914-18 as well, as the highly accurate maps we use and take for granted today are a relatively modern invention.

 

Bletchley

 

Thanks, Bletchley, and thanks for the loan of the maps in the first place.. this has been a really interesting venture we went on, look at all the involvement...pretty neat.

[chrispdm1 1]

Thanks all,

Big thanks to rabu OP, and dirk. Yes Olpaint, I did use your spreadsheet especially when it came to naming the aerodromes.