Castle Archdale Project. :: Archived

[Nelson]

Hi All, I have been asked by Adrian to recreate the world war 2 flying boat base at Castle Archdale in Fermanagh, N.I. as an add-on for Flightsim 2004.
It will be only my second project and I would like to know if anyone has any knowledge, photos, maps, etc. which they would be willing to provide via e-mail to help me in this quest.
Thanks for your time
Regards
Dave

[Nelson]

Progress so far on the Castle Archdale project.
Built the invisible runway and taxiways for the AI Catalinas on Lough Erne (Lake) and I'm now about to start on the shore base.
Regards
Dave


Taxiing to the Lake1

Taxiing to the Lake2

Taking Off

On Approach

Moored At Castle Archdale

[Shadow_Bshwackr]

Thank you Dave and keep us posted! I for one am very interested...

[Nelson]

Hi Bushwacker, thanks, nice to know, makes it all worthwhile.
Cheers
Dave

[Uhu_Fledermaus]

in case off , still available as guinnee piglet here Dave


fled

[Nelson]

Hi Fled,
sorry it's in the Sunderland airport post. I sent you a reply with my Afcad attached and some piccies,

Regards
Dave

[Uhu_Fledermaus]

no worries m8!

I'll jump overthere


fled

[Adrian_Wainer]

Dave are there any AI Catalinas in RAF Coastal Command colours available? Superb progress todate well done!

And just for reference here is a photo of Castle Archdale which appeared in the other thread, though it is from a later date than the PBY Catalina mission that spotted the Bismarck.

www.junobeach.org/f/4/...p.htm#null

Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer

[Nelson]

Hi Adrian, I'll look out for some RAF Coastal Command.
You already sent me the picture, mostly nissen huts and trees from which I can make out. I'll have a go.
Regards
Dave

[Adrian_Wainer]

maps.google.com/maps?f...006748&t=k

maps.google.com/maps?f...iwloc=addr

maps.google.com/maps?f...iwloc=addr

maps.google.com/maps?f...iwloc=addr

maps.google.com/maps?f...iwloc=addr

[Nelson]

Hi Adrian, yes that's a great map, thanks, can you point out to me what is 1940's and what is new? I can see the old taxiways and roads, is the marina on the left part of it or seperate? What about the jetties , were they there then?
Regards
Dave

[Adrian_Wainer]

Quote

Hi Adrian, yes that's a great map, thanks, can you point out to me what is 1940's and what is new? I can see the old taxiways and roads, is the marina on the left part of it or seperate? What about the jetties , were they there then?
Regards
Dave

UnQuote

I am looking at the black and white photo of the Sunderlands at Castle Archdale and it seems to match up pretty well, with the Google satellite shot, I would presume the marina at left is a modern addition. There presumably would not have been much post war development of this base as a military base, since flyingboats as maratime ASW and maratime patrol aircraft would be becoming obsolete by 1945, so the hardstandings and roadways are presumably pretty much now as then. The airfield would have required a launch to act as tender to the flyingboats but my guess is that it operated out of the inserted slipway

maps.google.com/maps?f...7,0.005026

that appears just [ immediately ] to the left of the slip for the flying boats to enter the water and which appears now to have a boat house over the part which would be over water and a desent slope to enter the water just before the boat house.

Hope that helps

Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer

[Adrian_Wainer]

This a FS2004 Tirpitz which was the sistership to the Bismarck

www.fs-shipyards.org/i...ew&iden=23

Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer

[Adrian_Wainer]

This is a FS2004 HMS Hood sunk by the Bismarck during the Battle of the Denmark Strait.

www.fs-shipyards.org/i...ew&iden=22

At approximately 05.30 on Saturday 24 May, as the German squadron was about to leave the Denmark Strait, Prinz Eugen's hydrophones detected the presence of two additional ships some distance to port. By 05.45 both were in sight, although the German fleet had not yet identified the enemy force. In reality, it was a British battle-group comprising the new battleship Prince of Wales, and the battlecruiser Hood, under the command of Rear Admiral Lancelot Holland. Prince of Wales had only recently been completed and was still being worked up (indeed, she sailed to meet Bismarck with civilian technicians still on board completing her fitting-out). Hood had been built as a fast battlecruiser and modified to give her protection more like a battleship, but still had relatively weak deck armour. That other British ships had detected them was not unexpected by the Germans but that they would turn out to be capital ships was a nasty surprise.

At 05.49 Holland ordered fire to be concentrated on the leading German ship, Prinz Eugen, believing it to be Bismarck. Fortunately for the British, the captain of Prince of Wales was soon to realise the error and changed his target. Holland amended his order on the correct ship to be engaged but this did not reach Hood's gunnery control before the first salvo. Hood fired first at 05.52, in daylight, followed very soon afterwards by Prince of Wales. The range to the German ships was c. 12.5 miles.

More than two minutes went by without a reply from the Germans, before Captain Lindemann ordered fire to be returned on the lead British ship. This was the Hood, which the Germans had identified only when the British squadron made a turn towards them at 05.55. This manoeuvre was undertaken, it appears, in an attempt to place themselves in the "zone of immunity". Closer in, the Hood would be less vulnerable to plunging fire and the advantage of superior German gunnery control would be lessened. The disadvantage was that, during the dash, eight of the eighteen British heavy guns could not be brought to bear.

Both Bismarck and Prinz Eugen opened fire on the Hood, at a range of 11 miles. The early gunfire from the German ships was very accurate and within two minutes the Hood had been hit by an 8? shell from Prinz Eugen. It struck the British ship near the mainmast and caused a huge fire which the Hood's crew tried to bring under control. However, Bismarck had also been hit by the Prince of Wales, causing a fuel leak from the forward tanks; therefore Lütjens ordered his cruiser to switch its guns towards the Prince of Wales, which his own secondary guns were now targeting. At 06.00 Hood, which was about to turn to port to bring her full weight of armament to bear on Bismarck, was hit amidships by at least one shell from Bismarck at a distance of under 9 miles. Very shortly afterwards observers on both sides saw a huge jet of flame race skywards, followed by a rumbling explosion that split the huge ship in two. Splinters rained down on Prince of Wales, half a mile away. The Hood's stern rose and sank shortly before the bow, all within three minutes. Admiral Holland and 1,415 crewmen went down with the ship. Only three men (Ted Briggs, Bob Tilburn and Bill Dundas) survived this disaster and were rescued about two hours after the sinking by the destroyer HMS Electra. The British Admiralty later concluded that the most likely explanation for the loss of the Hood was a penetration of her magazines by a single 15? shell from Bismarck, causing the subsequent catastrophic explosion. Recent research by submersible craft suggests that the initial explosion was in the aft 4? magazine and that it spread to the forward 15? magazines via the ammunition trunks.

Prince of Wales had to turn towards the German fleet to avoid hitting the wreckage left by the flagship and was hit hard a number of times, losing several crew on the compass platform. Still, her own gunfire had caused damage to the Bismarck. The British battleship turned away, laying smoke, her aft turret firing briefly under local control. She had received 7 hits (3 of them from Prinz Eugen) and mechanical failures had left her with all but one of her main guns out of action. Bismarck and Prinz Eugen were forced into emergency manoeuvres when they believed they had detected the sounds of torpedoes and then by the appearance of a Sunderland flying-boat. Although Captain Lindemann wanted to chase Prince of Wales and "finish her off", Admiral Lütjens ignored his suggestions since delay risked the possibility of encountering more warships and prejudiced his main task of convoy destruction. Incredibly, in a battle lasting less than 20 minutes Bismarck, with her impressive consort punching far above her weight, had destroyed one capital ship and forced another to turn away, something almost unknown in the Royal Navy and which was to cause the Admiralty to hold a special board of inquiry.

Faulty intelligence had led the Germans to believe that Prince of Wales was not yet ready for action, therefore reports from Bismarck referred to her as King George V, the first of that class, which had been active for some months.

Despite the jubilation onboard the Bismarck, the battleship was not safe. The British knew her position; her forward radar was out of action (a consequence of the skirmish with the British cruisers the previous day); and she had received three hits, one of which caused water to leak into and contaminate fuel oil in storage. From then on, she had to reduce speed to a maximum of 20 knots to conserve fuel. Lütjens eventually decided that he would have to head for the French coast (the dry-dock in St Nazaire) for repairs. The British continued to shadow her, the Prince of Wales having rendezvoused with Norfolk and Suffolk. At one stage Bismarck rounded briefly on her pursuers, in order to give Prinz Eugen the opportunity to detach and escape with the message: "Good hunting".

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...p_Bismarck

Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer

[Nelson]

Hi Adrian, wow, thanks for all that
I believe there was E-boats there as I've seen pictures of E-boat pens?
And in the black and white photo of the two cats over Lough Erne on the front of the book you can make out cats and smaller boat-like objects on the lake.
Regards
Dave