Flying By Map And Compass, Part Deux

[RAF_Louvert 101]

Good Morning All,

 

The subject of flying by map and compass in OFF has been discussed numerous times in these forums. Some folks get the hang of it and enjoy the added immersion factor, others find it nearly impossible and don't wish to suffer the exercise. This of course is one of OFF's best features: the versatility and adjustability provided the virtual WWI pilot, allowing each to tailor the experience to his or her own liking. I am one of those who enjoys taking on the challenge of navigating as much as possible with the compass and a separate map, using the in-sim pop-up map as little as possible. Sometime back I outlined the method I use, and have continued to refine it, and I would like to touch on it again here for those who might want to give this a go. The most recent improvement has been adding the aerodrome names to the map I use when flying and this has been a real boon, (and with Olham thoughtfully providing the map section he just did I was able to speed this job up considerably). For those who aren't aware, beautiful and accurate maps are available in the OFF Downloads, courtesy of rabu, chrispdm1, and Waldemar Kurtz.

 

Now then, I have a second computer set up portside of my flying computer that I use for my maps, so my procedure will differ slightly from those folks using a paper map, but the basic idea is exactly the same, and it goes like this. Begin with a new pilot in a new campaign and once you know your area of operation create a copy of the appropriate map, or maps, needed. If you are using paper maps clip them onto a board of some sort and place a clear plastic overlay on top that you can mark with dry erase pens, (or flip out of the way when you want to mark directly on the map itself). If you have a second computer set up, open the map in an image editor program such as Paint.NET and work on the map in layers. OK, you are now ready to fly a few "Cook's Tours" of your AO to get familiar with the map and local features seen in the landscape you fly above, using your in-sim map initially to help ID the positions of certain features. For instance, just west of St. Omer there is a small diamond-shaped lake that is very distinctive and easy to see, even from 10 to 15 miles away. It is not on your "paper" map but should be, so mark it in right on the map itself, (refer to the image I have posted below). Continuing with this particular example, as you head towards Bailleul you will see another landmark that is very handy for navigation and that is the "Woods" east of Bailleul Asylum and Bailleul aerodromes. This is a long slender forest running roughly north-to-south and looks quite a lot like a stretched monkey's foot. Again, you can recognize this feature from many miles out, and again it is not on the "paper" map, so add it in as well. Continue with this process, and be sure to pay attention to other items such as: rivers, (blue lines); roads, (red lines): and railroad tracks, (black lines). Railroad tracks BTW are the most reliable of the man-made features in terms of the paper maps matching what you actually see in the sim. Rivers are quite accurate as well, but can be tricky to follow as there are many smaller tributaries and canals you will see in the sim that are not shown on the paper maps.

 

Another item to pay particular attention to is the location and "look" of your home aerodrome and how it is situated in relationship to the landscape around it, (I always highlight my home drome on my map to make it quicker to find when I am drawing in my mission routes). In my current assignment with RFC 4 in January of 1915 I am flying out of St. Omer field, which lies about 2 1/2 miles southwest of St. Omer, and easily found by looking SSW of the blue "Ace of Diamonds". As to the mission route itself, (shown as a purple line in the example below), I draw that in by using as a guide the in-sim map given at the pre-flight mission briefing. You may find you need to bring up the in-sim map once when you are far enough along to see the assigned patrol points or target, but try to do this only once and make the needed notes to your paper map then. After that do your best to navigate the mission with your compass and paper map. One final item, you will also want to use your dry erase marker to draw in the current location of the front lines in your area, keeping in mind that this can change a bit from time to time during the War.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's about it. If you have comments or questions about this, or your own improvements to the method, please feel free to post them. Also, if you have run across distinctive landscape features when flying in the sim, such as large woods and lakes and what-not, let me know where they are and I can add them to the map I am compiling and make it available in the downloads when it is relatively complete.

 

Cheers!

 

Lou

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited March 3, 2010 by RAF_Louvert

[Hasse Wind 46]

Wow, that's really hardcore. I'm such a lousy navigator that going successfully from place A to place B in real life is difficult enough. I'd be completely lost in OFF without the in-game map. Yep, I'd have sucked as a WW1 pilot.

[chrispdm1 1]

And if your using that map... do not use Ypres to navigate by.... :P its way out of wack in the game.... same as Verdun... The only other thing to add is make sure you get it right with miles and kilometers. It's been a while since I've flown by map, but I remember running into that issue - something like it says in game that its miles but is actually listing km or vice versa. I don't know if that was fixed or not, that was a while back.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Yes chrispdm1, that is a good point. Those two towns are about 5 miles out of position. I don't tend to use towns very much as navigation aids as they are not that individually distinctive in the sim and can be very hard to see at all when you are 10,000' up. There are exceptions, such as Armentieres with its large spread and "quad" feature.

 

 

Hasse Wind, you should give it a try, you might surprise yourself. Or, you might land at a less-than-friendly drome and become their guest for the duration. Either way it could prove to be an adventure.

 

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[Morris 2]

that is hardcore...

[Luther1517 0]

RAFLouvert-

I think that is great concept. Historically, did most WWI A/C have good enough quality compasses to navigate by degrees? Just a thought. If so, then, in the mission flight plans, it would be realistic to be given the actaull coordinates for the waypoints on the in-flight map. Maybe that did not sound right...what I am getting at is, in the mission briefing, to get from the aroedome to the target, give the pilot the information in compass headings times (x) time. For instance:

 

Take of heading 060>climb to alt and fly for x # of mins to way point A. Turn to heading 120 for x # of mins to waypoint B. And so fourth until the the target is enguaged and mission completed. I have done my own missions in CFS3 so I know the map coordinates are in the mission "program".

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Luther, from my readings over the years it would seem that while the aircraft compasses were relatively accurate they could be rendered nearly useless after sudden or severe aerial maneuvers, requiring up to 20 minutes to "settle in" after such instances, (and sometimes they didn't settle in until after the pilot had landed). That being said, they were used as a basic course guide by many pilots, keeping in mind that the majority of navigation was done by landmarks and position of the sun, moon, and stars. From the mission briefings I've read precise compass headings were not usually given but rather a simple N-S-E-W down to the "finer" NNW, SSE type directions. For instance: "You will take off and climb to 12,000 as you head NNE towards Dixmude. Turn south upon reaching the city and patrol the lines to Ypres and back for 60 minutes and return to base via Ypres. Keep enemy planes from crossing the lines and drive them down whenever possible. Preventing B/R's from doing their work is of primary concern."

 

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[Luther1517 0]

Thanks for insight, RAF_. I do not like to fly with TAC or "Z Info", so I try to use my compass and verify position with the in-flight map (as little as possible). That is how I have found to increase the imersion factor for navigating. Your use of extra map reources is a great idea.

[Hasse Wind 46]

When I'm flying DiD missions, I use the plane's compass and the in-game map. But when I'm not doing the hardcore DiD, I leave the TAC on and make it show only ships. No ships on the Western front (at least I haven't come across one yet), so the TAC acts as a waypoint guide without showing any aircraft and ground units/buildings. Just follow the line and have fun on the way.

[chrispdm1 1]

yep, the small towns are impossible to fly by as there are clusters of houses all over the map!! but the bigger ones are easy enough to see.... Ypres being one of them. Ypres and Verdun are the only ones I have run across where they are improperly placed by MCFS3. The others seem to be fine, not that I have done tons of flying with these things though...