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Heinkel He 51
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Trotski, in Thirdwire - First Eagles 1&2 File Announcements
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By Trotski
View File Heinkel He 51
Heinkel He 51
Birth of the Luftwaffe
I present you with my latest collection of skins, this time for the Heinkel He 51, one of the first Luftwaffe aircraft to see active service, in a air war, the first time for Germany since the end of WWI. The He 51 was a biplane fighter, which was to see service in the Spanish Civil War. It however was found to be very un suited for use as a fighter, as , to be honest, there wasn't much really ground breaking, and there were certainly far better biplane types in service around the world, than the Heinkel turned out to be. Where it was found to shine however, was in the light ground attack role, in which it was quite successful. Several future Luftwaffe aces cut their teeth flying this aircraft, before transitioning across to the BF 109 , which swiftly replaced the biplane in the Jagd role.
It was however, an attractive aircraft, and was as I mentioned before, quite a successful recon and ground attack aircraft. I was used by the Luftwaffe, probably as a squadron hack, until the middle of the war. It was only exported to 2 countries, those being Bulgaria, and Spain, The Spanish had these old girls still in service until the mid 50's. It appears the Bulgarians used them until around 1942 -43.
So, on with the blurb. I have included 3 skins for aircraft of JG 88 Condor Legion, from different JagdGruppe ( 2, 3, 4 ) Also I have 4 colourful examples from around 1936 or so, in Luftwaffe colours of the time, with their colourful markings. next there are 2 variations on the Bulgarian machines, pre Communist, and post Communist, the final real skin is a Spanish post 1939 scheme. The last 2 I have thrown in for fun. The first is a Parani one because I KNOW some of you lot do play Paran Dhimar. and finally, An Imperial Elbonian Air Service skin, just because, SO THERE !!
This aircraft is a model made by Stephen 1918. I have completely redone the skin , panels, rivets etc. etc. All the files you need are included in this upload EXCEPT for the LOD's. For those, please be kind enough to download Stephens original model FIRST Before attempting to fly the beastie !! I have however included all the .INI files, that are pertinent to these skins, so please, after you have downloaded the aircraft from the FE 2 Golden age download section, you ensure that the files I have included , replace the ones you will get with Stephens original aircraft. There are reasons for this, such as gunsights, sounds, weapons, pilots etc. etc. So please rename stephens .INI files just in case you want to use those instead of mine. I cannot see that you shall want or need to though.
I have included everything else all in their respective folders, so you should be able to drop it into your save file, wherever that may be. So Sounds, guns, bombs and tank, sounds, and pilots, and of course Decals are all here for you. Just please follow the directions I have stated here. and you will be good to go. As a side note, I have found that a good terrain to utilise for this aircraft is the Finland one, seems to work well. However if you are wanting this aircraft to use in FE2 then wait as I shall be doing a separate upload for First Eagles Spanish Civil War, these skins in this format WILL NOT WORK IN FE !!
Anyhow, that about wraps it up. Thanks to Stephen, who is very kind to me, and allows me to bugger up his lovely aeroplanes. So major kudos to him for making the model in the first place. Any glitches, problems, gripes, whinges, or moans, please contact my P.A. Mrs Ramsbottom. She will occupy you and deflect ALL your woes, with her rather nice Victoria sponge cake and a nice cup of Tea ........failing that, message me and I shall see about correcting any bugger ups
Finally, as ever, ENJOY (I have enjoyed flying around in this rather attractive aircraft, I even got 2 kills in her )
Submitter trotski00 Submitted 03/15/2021 Category Other
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By Trotski
Heinkel He 51
Birth of the Luftwaffe
I present you with my latest collection of skins, this time for the Heinkel He 51, one of the first Luftwaffe aircraft to see active service, in a air war, the first time for Germany since the end of WWI. The He 51 was a biplane fighter, which was to see service in the Spanish Civil War. It however was found to be very un suited for use as a fighter, as , to be honest, there wasn't much really ground breaking, and there were certainly far better biplane types in service around the world, than the Heinkel turned out to be. Where it was found to shine however, was in the light ground attack role, in which it was quite successful. Several future Luftwaffe aces cut their teeth flying this aircraft, before transitioning across to the BF 109 , which swiftly replaced the biplane in the Jagd role.
It was however, an attractive aircraft, and was as I mentioned before, quite a successful recon and ground attack aircraft. I was used by the Luftwaffe, probably as a squadron hack, until the middle of the war. It was only exported to 2 countries, those being Bulgaria, and Spain, The Spanish had these old girls still in service until the mid 50's. It appears the Bulgarians used them until around 1942 -43.
So, on with the blurb. I have included 3 skins for aircraft of JG 88 Condor Legion, from different JagdGruppe ( 2, 3, 4 ) Also I have 4 colourful examples from around 1936 or so, in Luftwaffe colours of the time, with their colourful markings. next there are 2 variations on the Bulgarian machines, pre Communist, and post Communist, the final real skin is a Spanish post 1939 scheme. The last 2 I have thrown in for fun. The first is a Parani one because I KNOW some of you lot do play Paran Dhimar. and finally, An Imperial Elbonian Air Service skin, just because, SO THERE !!
This aircraft is a model made by Stephen 1918. I have completely redone the skin , panels, rivets etc. etc. All the files you need are included in this upload EXCEPT for the LOD's. For those, please be kind enough to download Stephens original model FIRST Before attempting to fly the beastie !! I have however included all the .INI files, that are pertinent to these skins, so please, after you have downloaded the aircraft from the FE 2 Golden age download section, you ensure that the files I have included , replace the ones you will get with Stephens original aircraft. There are reasons for this, such as gunsights, sounds, weapons, pilots etc. etc. So please rename stephens .INI files just in case you want to use those instead of mine. I cannot see that you shall want or need to though.
I have included everything else all in their respective folders, so you should be able to drop it into your save file, wherever that may be. So Sounds, guns, bombs and tank, sounds, and pilots, and of course Decals are all here for you. Just please follow the directions I have stated here. and you will be good to go. As a side note, I have found that a good terrain to utilise for this aircraft is the Finland one, seems to work well. However if you are wanting this aircraft to use in FE2 then wait as I shall be doing a separate upload for First Eagles Spanish Civil War, these skins in this format WILL NOT WORK IN FE !!
Anyhow, that about wraps it up. Thanks to Stephen, who is very kind to me, and allows me to bugger up his lovely aeroplanes. So major kudos to him for making the model in the first place. Any glitches, problems, gripes, whinges, or moans, please contact my P.A. Mrs Ramsbottom. She will occupy you and deflect ALL your woes, with her rather nice Victoria sponge cake and a nice cup of Tea ........failing that, message me and I shall see about correcting any bugger ups
Finally, as ever, ENJOY (I have enjoyed flying around in this rather attractive aircraft, I even got 2 kills in her )
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By Trotski
Heinkel He 51
Spanish Civil War era
A set of skins for Stephen 1918's HE 51. This is the same format , and arrangement, in my previous upload, except this is purely for FE 2 and specifically the Spanish Civil War map. All files except for the LOD files are included, you will need to download Stephens original Heinkel HE 51, then drop my files into the folder that has Stephens original aircraft in it, allow the overwrite, as the .INI files are slightly Different from Stephens. The Skins are 3 different ones from Condor Legion J 88, then 4 Luftwaffe examples in their colourful pre war plumage. 2 Bulgarian examples, one is pre Soviet , and the other post Soviet. Finally there is a Spanish 1939 version.
Any problems or errors, please do message me, and I will hopefully rectify the issue.
Enjoy
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By 33LIMA
La Guerra Civil Espanola in the CFS3 ETO Expansion!
The Spanish Civil War, fought between 1936 and 1939, foreshadowed the monumental clash that was to follow between fascism and communism, with the Italians and Germans backing the Spanish nationalists and the Soviets backing the republican side. For all that, this was a distinctly Spanish affair, the product of a deeply-divided society. Matters came to a head in 1936 when the Left, having secured a narrow electoral victory, nevertheless pressed on with a radical programme. Divisions deepened and political violence spiralled. The Right responded with an attempted coup, led by elements of the army, which failed in places like Madrid the capital, culminating there in siege and massacre at the Montana barracks. These events set the tone for the long, bloody and vicious civil war which ensued, won in the end by the nationalists under Franco.
Air power played a key role from the start. Fanco's leadership was established after the revolt's original leader, General Sanjurjo, was killed when the DH Dragon Rapide carrying him back to Spain crashed, supposedly from overloading with all the personal luggage the 'Jefe' insisted on bringing. Later, Hitler commented that Franco should set up a victory monument to the Junkers 52 transport, the type having flown in from Spanish North Africa colonial troops who helped secure, then advance, the nationalist cause in mainland Spain.
In the actual fighting, the German Condor Legion despatched to Franco's aid played an equally important part and tested out many tactics and weapons that would be used to good effect in WW2, including the Ju87 Stuka, the Bf109 fighter and the 88mm flak gun. The devastating Condor Legion air raid on the Basque town of Guernica became infamous, and was one of many air raids on urban areas in which civilians suffered badly. The Italian Regia Aeronautica also contributed 'volunteer' personnel and aircraft, while the Soviets supplied the republican side with some of their own latest military hardware, including I-15 and I-16 fighters and SB-2 fast bombers. Thus was the scene set for some of the fiercest air operations in Europe since the World War.
If you want to 'fly' in the SCW, there are several options, including the venerable Luftwaffe Commander (which actually runs on my Vista 64 machine) and the Strike Fighters SCW add-on, available at the A Team Skunkworks, under 'All inclusive installs', which looks great and I'm looking forward to trying out:
http://cplengineeringllc.com/SFP1/[link]
This mission report features a different option - the CFS3 ETO Expansion. Amongst the Expansion's many and varied additional aircraft is a decent selection suitable for this conflict, all in appropriate markings. From a quick look, this comprises:
Nationalist:
Messerschmitt Bf109E
Henschel Hs123:
Fiat CR-32 'Chirri'
Breda 25:
Savoia Marchetti SM 79:
Cant 501 floatplane
Junkers 52 bomber:
Fiat G50
Republican:
llyushin IL-15 'Chaika':
Ilyushin I-16 'Mosca':
Grumman G23:
...plus some aircraft captured and repainted eg the CR-32 and the Il-16. the main gap seems to be a bomber for the Republican side; the Soviet Tupolev SB-2 fast bomber would have been ideal.
Although the Expansion doesn't feature a CFS3-style dynamic campaign for the Spanish Civil War, there is a good set of single missions which enable you to fly in - and against - the appropriate aircraft in Spanish skies, for both sides. And stock CFS3 covers much of northern Spain, no messing about here with mere map segments.
The mission
Before firing up the ETO Expansion, I used the supplied 'spawn selector' to set 'stock spawn mode' and then the 'era selector' to start the ETO expansion in '1936 to spring 1940'. To be honest, I've not yet worked out exactly what difference this era selection makes, as planes from different eras seem to be available no matter which is selected; I suspect it's a way of getting around a CFS3 limit I've forgotten on the number of installed planes, which in CFS2 was 90, if I recall right.
No matter; thus prepared, I opened the list of Historical Missions and selected the first one labelled 'SCW' - titled 'Air conflict over Llanos airfield'. This assigned me the role of a fighter pilot in the Nationalist Air Force, flying an Italian Fiat CR-32 biplane fighter and leading a formation of six.
The mission was an air start, flying on the northern front. This was one of the country's few industrialised regions, where the Spanish coastline meets the Bay of Biscay. It was October 1937, over a year into the war. Our task was described as a Combat Air Patrol - a piece of (originally USN WW2?) jargon I dislike to see used out-of-context - what other sort of patrol are combat aircraft going to fly? Anyhow, the briefing helpfully described our patrol as part of a 'Nationalist Air force attack on Llanos airfield', which is on the coast between the towns of Oviedo and Santander. Looking at the mission 'Assignments' tab, I could see that we were not on our own. Our order of battle for this mission comprised:
- six SM81 'Pipistrello' bombers (a type I missed when looking up the available planes, so not listed above - it's a 3-motor bomber like the SM79 but with fixed undercart);
- six Breda Ba 25 biplane army co-operation planes (what their role was, I have no idea, but I'm relieved not to have been flying one on this trip!);
- another flight of six CR-32 biplane fighters, like my own flight.
The default loadout gave us a pair of small bombs. These, I kept: I reckoned that we could always ditch the bombs if we encountered aerial opposition. And if we didn't, we should hopefully do some useful damage with them, down below.
Here's the briefing. As well as our flight (yellow aircraft icon), you can see other icons representing what I take to be other flights. Friendlies are blue; enemies red. I'm not sure why there appears to be an enemy airfield well out to sea (red crossed runways icon, there's one just off the top edge of the map in this screenie); maybe it's on a small island. Anyway at least I was now able to orient myself.
And here's my mount. The CR-32 was apparently one of the best of the pre-WW2 biplane fighters, lightly-armed but highly manoeuvrable; a good match for most enemy machines iin spanish skies and seemingly superior to the mediocre Heinkel He-51s which formed the fighter component of the Condor Legion until the early Messerschmitt 109s were rushed into action to replace it. The Fiat is a neat bird, sleeker than the later tubby radial-engined CR-42 and she looks the part in her ETO Expansion incarnation, complete with Nationalist Spanish camouflage and markings. I'm not clear whether my unit or my machine's 'skin' represented one of the Italian 'volunteer' formations or an indigenous unit flying the sleek Italian fighter, but no matter, she looks like a typically racy Italian job.
And here's the 'office'. In flight, you'll notice the benefits of the extra power if you've been used to the biplanes of Over Flanders Fields; one being that your wingmen keep formation better, recovering more quickly during course changes, instead of drifting well wide and being left behind. Even if they still look rather far away, thanks to the CFS3 'wide angle lens' look, which tends to distort things, especially in the external, 'spot' view.
Below us were the hills of northern Spain. Having flown over this area often enough on holiday trips, the topography looks to be captured fairly well, although the textures are to my eye a little green and lush for the region and the field patterns and hedgerows look more northern European.
Turning on aircraft labels. I was a little bemused to find we were all apparently Germans. Strange, as I don't think the Condor Legion flew Italian fighters in Spain, unhappy though they may have been with their Heinkels. Perhaps we were on an unofficial exchange programme...yes, that must have been it.
I turned on the CFS3 Tactical Display and cycled through target types. It picked up a flight of aircraft some distance to our left. Part of our attacking force...at least I hoped so. I kept a better watch in that direction, just in case, even though such use of the 'TAC' was a bit naughty - lacking radios, we should not have been able to get any help from a ground controller in locating stuff we couldn't see for ourselves.
I considered for a while orbiting to let the other friendly flights catch us up, but we seemed to have been awarded the dubious honour of going in first so I kept on my way. As for the actual flying, I had trimmed elevator to keep my kite's nose from dipping at a fast cruising speed but the torque kept pulling down my left wing, which I contented myself with correcting without resort to aileron trim. And what were we flying into? 'Light air opposition' the briefing said. Were the Republican pilots going to come out to play, or were they not, I wondered? So far, the six of us seemed to be on our own in this particular patch of sky, and at least until we'd dumped those bombs - preferably upon something deserving of them - I was quite content for it to remain so.
...to be continued!
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