How to Create Ground Attack Missions
10 January 2001
Ever wonder what it's like to dive into a maelstrom of flak to attack a crippled
battleship? Or to strafe an enemy airfield before any aircraft can scramble to defend
it? Now you can find out!
You can download the missions we've already created, or learn how to create
your own. There are hundreds of possible missions and scenarios, and thousands of
battles yet to be determined!
|
DOWNLOADING
PRE-MADE MISSIONS |
If you'd like to just download the missions that we have made save the following
files to the Missions folder inside your Combat Flight Simulator 2
folder (right click on the links, and choose save target as
).
Now you can launch Combat Flight Simulator 2, and from the Single Missions
menu, select your new mission and fly it!
|
CREATING
YOUR OWN MISSIONS |
Here's the basic rundown on creating ground attack missions in Microsoft®
Combat Flight Simulator 2. These general steps are not necessarily the only way
to create missions. We chose two historical examples that combine the inherent dangers
of ground attack with a dose of historical drama.
Each example features a CFS2 historical consultant-ace. The first highlights
Saburo Sakai's lone strafing attack on Seven Mile airfield at Port Moresby. The
second highlights Joe Foss' attack on the IJN Hiei, a Kongo class battleship. There
is also a basic outline you can use as a general guide for missions of your own
creation.
The historical or fictional events that surround a mission do not change the
procedure for creating that mission. You can adapt these steps to fit almost any
ground attack mission.
Now let's create two specific missions based on the exploits of WWII pilots
Saburo Sakai and Joe Foss.
Saburo Sakai attacks Seven Mile Airfield at Port Moresby
On July 26, 1942, Saburo Sakai attacked Seven Mile Airfield at Port Moresby.
Sakai's report indicates he was alone on this mission, and he claimed no confirmed
kills. Other reports claim that he was not alone, and was actually accompanied by
Toshio Ota (34 official victories), and Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (once rumored to be
Japan's highest scoring ace with 36 official victories and 86 unofficial victories);
however, these reports appear to be from two separate incidents. (See page 197 of
the CFS2 Pilot's Manual for a good anecdote about one of these incidents.) For the
sake of simplicity we will leave the other aircraft out of this mission. At the
time of the attack, Seven Mile Airfield was home to a squadron of U.S. SBD-2 Dauntless
dive-bombers and RAAF P-40 Kittyhawks.
This mission is very basic to configure, having only one moving aircraft, and
stationary ground targets. You can increase the number of ground objects to add
to the realism and difficulty of the mission, but for this demonstration we are
using the minimum number of objects.
Joe Foss' attack on the IJN Hiei
On November 13, 1942, a Japanese task force attempted to bombard Henderson
field at Guadalcanal. An American surface fleet intercepted them before they could
succeed, forcing the Japanese to retreat. During the fighting the IJN Hiei, a Kongo
class battleship, was damaged and separated from the task force. As a diversion
Joe Foss led a flight of eight F4-F Wildcats to attack the Hiei: the purpose was
to draw the attention of the anti-aircraft artillery so a flight of TBFs could torpedo
the damaged battleship. By this time Hiei had received defensive reinforcements
and was guarded by three Kagero class destroyers. This is our recreation of that
mission. Draw off the anti-aircraft fire long enough for the TBFs to sink the Hiei.
This mission is slightly more complex to create, as it involves two flights
of eight moving aircraft. The target, however, is simpler to configure, with only
four ships to set up.
If you'd like the general instructions for creating new missions:
And that's what you need to create the air-to-ground missions!
