WWII Pacific Theatre Planes and Maps

I've flown the various jets in DCS and the P-51, I-16, Christen Eagle, and Bf-109. A lot of fun. But there's an entire group of radial-engine carrier planes missing. These are the primary 7 planes, as I see it...

Fighters: (all of these have flightworthy examples today)

F4F Wildcat (I'd prefer the FM-1 version)

F6F Hellcat

F4U-1D Corsair (in works by Leatherneck Simulations - YES!)

Torpedo Bombers

TBD-1 Devastator (don't laugh, this is a cool, historic plane, just as is the I-16) - although there are none left, I think a pretty good approximation can be made with available data.

TBF Avenger (I think I prefer the TBM-3 or 3E version) - there are many of these aircraft flightworthy with videos of them on YouTube.

Scout/Dive Bombers (both of these have some flightworthy examples)

SBD Dauntless (I think I'd prefer the SBD-5 version)

SB2C Helldiver

Here's a pair of YouTube videos to get you interested...

Flight Deck Crews: Landing and Re-spotting

Catapulting off a US Navy Carrier 1944

Both films take place on the USS Sicily CVE-64 (I believe).

And for adversaries (from my point-of-view) - Just the carrier-based ones.

(If there isn't enough data to make these flyable, then at least as AI aircraft)

Fighters

A6M Zero-Sen "Zeke" (at least one flightworthy)

Attack

Aichi D3A Type 99 Dive Bomber "Val"

Nakajima B5N Type 97 Torpedo Bomber "Kate"

Nakajima B6N Tenzan Torpedo Bomber "Jill"

Yokosuka D4Y Suisei Dive Bomber "Judy"

...there are many more land-based aircraft, too.

As well, there should be at least one Pacific Map of a vast range of ocean and some famous islands. I suggest a 1,000 x 1,500 nautical mile area of the Philippine Sea/Marianas, covering Guam, Saipan and Tinian; Truk, Yap and Palau islands. It should be relatively quick and easy to create as it is about 99.9% water. But would provide a vast area to patrol and range out with WWII carrier battle groups. ...no GPS, no INS, no TACAN, very few landmarks. Just pilotage, dead reckoning and radio-DF for navigation. More detailed area maps could follow.

Ships

Essex-class carrier in WWII configuration.

Cleveland-class light cruiser

Sumner-class destroyer

Casablanca-class escort carrier. (50 of these carriers were built)

Fletcher-class destroyer

Buckley-class destroyer escort

And, of course, an array of IJN ships.

The F4u Corsair is in the works I believe a Pacific theater asset pack is as well.

Maybe some Burmese Indo-China or Korean map would also work as these WW2 PTO birds were also vertrans of Korea Vietnam Malay emergency etc...

Personally I think a PTO in DCS should not be high in the agenda for a number of reasons.

Firstly - the Normandy map and modules are not fleshed out with suitable match ups. Secondly the lack of documentation on Japanese planes makes it very difficult to simulate them, even for a non fly able module. Combine that with DCS non physics respecting ai and it would be a recipe for guess work and disaster.

Thirdly - even if you fix this gap enough for Single player without flyable Japanese planes what is the point from a Multiplayer perspective? Fictional match ups vs German planes?

Lastly - we already have the Jug and the Mosquito being worked on.

I feel it is much more likely that Il2 could do PTO than ED Within an acceptable time and cost.

Leatherneck has working on a Saratoga carried (Lexington class) and talk about build WW2 japanese / us AI aircrafts, I dont see the problem on building Pacific assets. And the "on hold" Iwo Jima map.

Personally I think a PTO in DCS should not be high in the agenda for a number of reasons.

 

 

Firstly - the Normandy map and modules are not fleshed out with suitable match ups. Secondly the lack of documentation on Japanese planes makes it very difficult to simulate them, even for a non fly able module. Combine that with DCS non physics respecting ai and it would be a recipe for guess work and disaster.

 

Thirdly - even if you fix this gap enough for Single player without flyable Japanese planes what is the point from a Multiplayer perspective? Fictional match ups vs German planes?

 

Lastly - we already have the Jug and the Mosquito being worked on.

Leatherneck is working on the corsair, which leaves two possibilities. Either they need to work on Pacific theater assets or Korean war assets. They have plans for a Lexington class carrier-I would have preferred an Essex since they also have the Crusader planned as well. I would have preferred the Korean War

I do not understand DCS have made the map of the English channel and you have not entered two Italian fighters that participated in the battle of England the fiat g-50 and the fiat CR-42 in this case the theater is there and present, and it is important also add Italian fighters.

FIAT G-50

FIAT CR-42

ITALIAN IN BATTLE OF BRITTAIN

the Hurricanes and the gladiator are also missing from the English side.

I would kill for a pacific theater... Fingers crossed it happens. Midway would be the battle I'd really want to see but I think Iwo Jima is more likely.

@ Xilon_X That is because the map was developed and designed around the 1944 invasion of Normandy and not the Battle of Britain. Italy at that point was pretty much out of the war. However, I don't think anyone would be opposed to more Italian WWII aircraft if the proper documentation could be found and the theatre was expanded upon.

I agree with the Pacific theatre request. Would like to see a Solomon Isles Map and the inclusion of the P-38 on that list and the resurrection of the P-40 now that VEAO is gone.

I do not understand DCS have made the map of the English channel and you have not entered two Italian fighters that participated in the battle of England the fiat g-50 and the fiat CR-42 in this case the theater is there and present, and it is important also add Italian fighters.

FIAT G-50

FIAT CR-42

 

 

 

ITALIAN IN BATTLE OF BRITTAIN

 

 

 

 

the Hurricanes and the gladiator are also missing from the English side.

Thats pretty cool, I know a bit about WW2, but musollini bombing england is one bit I didn't know. :thumbup:

Leatherneck is working on the corsair, which leaves two possibilities. Either they need to work on Pacific theater assets or Korean war assets. They have plans for a Lexington class carrier-I would have preferred an Essex since they also have the Crusader planned as well. I would have preferred the Korean War

Yeah, I think they should do this, but its their bird and all. I think a Korean war era F4U + carrier would be cool, plus recycling it for the crusader would be great but you'd likely have to have 2 designs. Though Crusaders flew off forsetalls too. So there will be an appropriate carrier for them to fly from.

Yeah, I think they should do this, but its their bird and all. I think a Korean war era F4U + carrier would be cool, plus recycling it for the crusader would be great but you'd likely have to have 2 designs. Though Crusaders flew off forsetalls too. So there will be an appropriate carrier for them to fly from.

Historically, although the Saratoga (Lexington Class) served WWII from beginning to end, it appears it never had F4U Corsairs on board. So, I don't know why it was being made for DCS. But it did have F4F Wildcats, SBD Dauntlesses and TBF Avengers right after the Battle of Midway. It's first battle was Guadalcanal, I believe. After the Battle of Coral Sea, Saratoga was a one-of-a-kind carrier. The Essex Class was the only one to carry Corsairs. 24 Essex class carriers were built. 17 of them were in time to serve in WWII. Several of them served in Korea with a more powerful version of the Corsair, the F4U-4. The Essex ships had some variations. 6 of them had a "short bow" and the rest had a longer, "clipper" bow so that they could carrier a pair of quad-mount 40mm AAA guns instead of one quad. Post WWII several of the ships were modified with angled flight deck, revised island structure and stack, revised arresting gear and more powerful catapults, including some steam catapults. Those with steam catapults could carry the F8U Crusader...they were from about 1957 through 1972. For WWII and Korea, all were straight flight deck with original island structure, except Oriskany, CV-34, was originally built with the updated island, but only served in Korea and later.

So, if the 3-D model of the Saratoga (or Lexington, they were essentially identical) is already built, then they should release that to be used in DCS. It For a Battle of Midway, a Yorktown Class carrier should be made. After 1942, only Saratoga (CV-3) and Enterprise (CV-6) survived to sail with otherwise all Essex class carriers (CV-9 thru CV-21 and CV-31 thru CV-34, 36-40, and 45 & 47).

And then there were the 9 light carriers of the Independence Class (CVLs) and 50 escort carriers of the Casablanca Class (CVE)...and a few other smaller CVE classes.

I would say, it depends on what PTO map (or maps) is made. I mean, the Midway battle area is practically all water except for tiny Midway Island. I would think that would be a very easy map to make, unless you include the Hawaiian Islands. Similarly, an Iwo Jima map and Guam/Saipan/Philippine Sea map are also 99.9% water and should be pretty quick to make. And with those 3 you could have some 5 million square miles of oceanic airspace. A fourth such map might be Okinawa. Here, one of the aspects was intercepting Kamikazes before they could reach the fleet. In DCS, the Kamikazes could be AI aircraft.

I think starting off with a Midway map of significant water area, at least 1000 x 1000 nautical miles, would be a great idea. Then make the Yorktown Class carrier and the Wildcat, Dauntless and Devastator aircraft. There are Wildcats and Dauntlesses still flying today to draw information from. If we can have an I-16, we can have these aircraft.

The F4F-4 Wildcat should be the first of these planes made, I think. If you want a Midway map, the F4F-4 is the plane.

Here is a link to a good video on the F4F Wildcat.

We have the I-16, "piece-of-junk" that I enjoy trying to fly. :) It's a well done DCS module, though! It's a really more interesting plane to fly than what your first impressions are.

I think the Wildcat is similar--short and ugly, with a similar windshield and crank-up landing gear-- but better. It can go over 300 mph (500 km/h). The Wildcat would make a great DCS module. We have no WWII carrier planes, yet. The F4U Corsair will be the first, but it wasn't a carrier plane until late in WWII. Nevertheless, I'll for sure be purchasing the Corsair when it's ready.

The second, then, should be the A6M-2 "Zero".

For a Midway map, the Yorktown class carriers should be made. There were 3 of them...all were at Midway for that battle.