[Mission_bug]

Now that my Thai Air Force campaign is released I have started work on converting that to play from the French side during this conflict.

The missions will be essentialy the same as in the Thai campaign but all the French aircraft will have take off and landing waypoints, in the Thai campaign some flights started in the air, here that will be reversed. I am also looking at including the earlier incidents that took place between the French and Japanese and I am currently looking for information on these.

Also looking at where best to put these events on Fabianfred's lovely Thailand map.

This is the career screen with text from the info file.



This is the background screen as the intro video is loading.



And the intro video beginning.




The above will probably all need altering if I include the earlier incidents but this gives you a feel for the campaign.

Wishing you all the very best, Pete. :wink:

[vtrelut]

THANK YOU! I am very grateful to you for this. :wink: :roll: 8)

[souzacarlos]

Hi Mission-Bug, you can try these entries:
http://www.geocities.com/thailandwwii/ftw.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco%E2%80%93Thai_War

Looking for Dl your Campaign.
Cheers.

[Mission_bug]

Vincent you will be glad to know I managed to do a rough translation of the information at the link you sent, gives me something to build upon, thanks.

souzacarlos, thanks very much for the links, I have already been to both during the build of my Thai campaign but appreciate your posting them.

Wishing you both the very best, Pete. :wink:

[Mission_bug]

Here is a very rough translation done through an online language converter, of the aerial activity between Vichy French and Japanese Air Forces during what is generaly refered to as the Lang Son incident of September 1940. The event is described at: aerostories.free.fr/event/langson/

21st September 1940:

E.C. 1/595 transfered to Tong. Loire 130 seaplanes of 1/CBS at Hanoi. A Farman 221 flies a recon from Tang over the Gulf of Tonkin. 10 kg bombs are issued for use on Potez 25's.

22nd September 1940:

Japanese forces cross the border to their advanced station near Lang, supported by KI-27and KI-48 aircraft of 84 and 82 Dokoritsu Hiko Fell. Two Potez 25's are sent to Lang.

September 23rd 1940:

Two more arrive at Lang. Four recon and one artillery spotting missions are flown. At 10:10 AM five Japanese KI-48 's bomb the French airfield at Lang and destroy one Potez and damage another. The remaining aircraft are moved as five more Japanese raids take place this day.

September 24th 1940:

A Potez 631 is assigned to the sector and arrives at 6:30 AM. Between midday and 14:00 it performs a recon of Loc Dinh-Chi My. A Potez 25 escorted by three Moranes of E.C. 1/595 flies over Lan Giai and is attacked by KI-27's, the Japanese claim one aircraft downed, but apparently there were no losses. Between 16:00 and 17:00 hours a Potez 631c on a recon flight spots a Japanese column near Dang Dang. A Loire seaplane patrols Haiphong but reports no enemy activity.

September 25th 1940:

Following the launch of two earlier recon flights by Potez 25, a third, escorted by three Moranes lifts off. One of the escort develops a technical problem and returns to base leaving the remainder to complete the patrol. These two Moranes see another Potez under attack by KI-27's and go to assist, but the Potez is shot down. A second Potez is attacked and again Moranes intervene, but no further details. A Potez 631c on a recon flight is intercepted by two Japanese fighters but out runs them and returns safely to base.

September 26th 1940:

Lang falls to a Japanese assault and the conflict is effectively over. The article states that only one recon flight is performed on this day by Potez 631c, but further on it describes what appears to be the interception of a Japanese twin engined aircraft by Moranes, also on this date. It may be that my interpretation of the translation is at fault here, the outcome though is the destruction of a KI-21.

If anyone is familiar with this article, which appeared originally in a French aviation magazine, and is able to offer a more complete version of these events please feel free to correct my version of events.

Reards, Pete.

[vtrelut]

Hello Pete,


You understood properly about the twin-engined bomber downed by Morane 406s on September 26th, 1940: it was shot down after the cease-fire, and since it was embarrassing the kill was not official. Before being shot down, the Japanese bomber's rear gunner fired at the Morane, and when the French fighter fired in return, he shot her down.

Regarding the second interception of a Potez 25 reco by Ki-27s on September 25th, the 2 remaining Morane escorted him effectively, forcing the attacking Ki-27s to leave, and it went back to base safely. One of the 2 Morane 406 making the escort was significantly damaged by the Ki-27s.

During this period in September 1940, the French engaged their aircraft five times in total against the Japanese. They lost one Potez 25 shot down, had one Potez 25 and a Morane 406 damaged in air combat, one Potez 25 damaged on the ground. They shot down a Japanese bomber. The Farman 221 made one recon sortie, the Potez 631 made several recon missions, without damage, thanks to its high speed against the Ki-27s. The Loire 130 was also used for reco, no damage.

The Potez 25 was used for reco and fitted with small bombs, for ground support and attack missions. The Morane 406 was used as escort. Thanks to Agracier we have an aircraft fake suitable to represent the Potez 25 biplane. 8)

This is truly a forgotten battle. :wink: Thanks a lot for your attention to it.


Cheers,

Vince

[Mission_bug]

Hello again Vincent, thanks for confirming the information. The translation I got was patchy so I thought I may have been wrong in my interpretation of the information contained within the article. I am now in a position to actually start building the missions. I have covered the first day where the French aircraft are actually being deployed to the theatre of operations, but having problems with the airfields. In the part of Fabianfred's map I want to use there are none so I have been trying out the static ship airfields but they look odd as they all stand proud of the terrain, need to find out if they can be lowered some how!

Wishing you the very best, Pete. :wink:

[vtrelut]

Well, please continue! That sounds promising. How about explaining this to Fabianfred, who would probably be willing to modify his great map by adding a couple of airfields? :roll:

[Mission_bug]

I'm afraid I will have to make do with the static ship runways as they are Vincent. An email to Fabianfred confirmed what I already thought, that the hight could not be adjusted. Apparently only objects from the static ini can be made higher or lower. Some one has already asked Fabianfred to add a number of airfields to the Vietnam portion of the map, unfortunately fabianfred is having difficulties with the tools he uses for this process so it looks very unlikely the map will be changed.
My only options are to use the ship runways or move the action closer to some of the existing airfields, Vientiane or Pakse for instance.

Regards, Pete.

[Mission_bug]

The campaign is now making some progress. I have added six missions to cover the Lang son incident, the existing missions against the Thais have been re-numbered now giving a total of eighteen missions. I have changed the Career screen intro to reflect the earlier operations and have completed the brief for mission 1.


Career screen image.





Briefing screen mission 1.




I have had to build a number of airfields on Fabianfred's Thailand map to represent the airfields at Lang and Tong, also one for the Japanese advanced base. The French airfields I have placed on the map are at Thanh Hoa, which will represent Lang and Vinh which is to be the site for Tong. I am not sure on the exact position of these to each other historically, but the map does not include the real places anyway, they are outside the area of the map, so I have had to use these two places to represent them.


Leaving Pakse airfield, the mighty Mekong to your left. I am not sure where the Moranes deployed from during the incident but used Pakse airfield as it is close to the operational theatre.






The headquarters building at Tong.



Living quarters at Tong.




It has been necessary to use both number 3 and 4 static ship runways. The terrain is very bumpy in the area of the map I have used, the U-2VS refuses to land properly on a No 4 so I have had to include a No 3 steel strip. This also aids the player landing as the field is lumpy even with these added. The No 4 invisible runways cover the site making taxiing possible, in fact I have used a hidden objective here, you must park outside the Headquarters building after landing to achieve this. Manouvering on the field must be done very very slowly though or you will break the aircraft!


The hidden objective, park near the |Headquarters building.




A fellow campaign builder, Tom, aka Craken has very kindly sent me a a file of the Vichy anthem Marechal, nous viola!-Marshal, here we are! This adds tremendously to the atmosphere of the campaign I think, thank you very much Tom.

All I need now are skins for the Japanese aircraft. These have to be set for the Red side for this campaign so I need skins depicting the Ki-27, Ki-48 and L-2D in full markings appropriate for the period as it is not possible to have the markings enabled option on. Aircraft were from the 84 and 82 Dokoritsu Hiko Fell, so any information on skins for these would be most welcome.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and prosperous New year, Pete.

[vtrelut]

Man this is fantastic! What a nice Christmas present.

Really looking forward to it.

Regarding the skins, I understand you need some with nationality markings (hinomaru) and squadron insignia if any, with and without code numbers, is that correct?

That may be hard to find for this particular period and location, however if you are OK, generic marked skins for the 1940 period, applicable to Ki-27 and L-2D, will be fine. If you want I can search and send you some.

By the way, there was at the time of the French-Thai war at least one famous pilot in the Morane 406 unit stationed in Indochina: Pierre POUYADE, who later escaped on board a Potez 25, became a Free French and commanded the Normandie Niemen regiment in Russia:

http://www.cieldegloire.com/004_pouyade.php

Best wishes for the New Year and cheers,

Vince

[Mission_bug]

Glad your liking the update Vincent, hopefully now I have established the bases things should progress well, although I can't imagine I'll get very far for the next few days, the silly season is here.

With regard to the japanese skins, anything around the period would be fine as long as they have the hinmaru, no problem to me if they are not coded. The Morane in the cockpit shot is actually in the markings of capt Pouyade, but from 1942 at Tong, according to the skin. I will have a look at the link to this gentleman, always interested in the individuals who were part of the conflicts.

Wishing you the very best, Pete.

[Cracken]

Another famous, or at least well-known pilot was William Laboussiere, a Spanish Civil War Ace with 5 kills. This guy shot down 2 Thai planes and also a Japanese Ki-21 (but he was not credited with this kill, as the truce had been signed before). Are there some more details about this guy anywhere Vincent? All I know about him is from "Bloody Shambles" by Shores, Cull and Izawa. There are some links on the web, but they don't give much information anyway.

http://wio.ru/spain/spain-a.htm

http://users.accesscomm.ca/magnusfamily/ww2fra.htm

[vtrelut]

Hi Cracken,

The story of the Ki-21 kill by the sergent Labussi

[Mission_bug]

Up to mission three now, the breifings are done and I think I'm happy with the mission layout, although you will not actually engage the enemy until mission 4. In mission 4 you will actually escort a Potez over the battlefield and tangle with KI-27's.

I felt the need to make a skin for this campaign so here is a shot of a work in progress, yes I know there is already a good skin available, but I prefer skinning to campaign building, sad I know.

The U-2VS as a Potez 25 from a template I made from the void in il-2 to make a skin for the Thai campaign. The roundels on wings and fuselage are from a template by RAF_Loke available from simmers paint shop if I remember correctly, anything else is my work.












Wishing you all the very best, Pete. :wink: