Sandbagged Aircraft Pens.
by Alan Hutchins
Graphics resolution 256x256

Sandbags have been employed by military forces around the world since the Crimean War as a very
simple and effective means of creating defensive or protective shelters for men and equipment.

I have created a small family of sandbagged ground defences which include the Aircraft Pens
featured in this modification. Contrary to popular misconception, aircraft hangars were not generally
favoured in times of war for housing military aircraft. They presented too easily recognisable, almost 
indefendable targets which, when hit, resulted in the inevitable destruction of any aircraft contained 
within. Hangars were only used as workshop facilities for servicing or major repair of unserviceable 
or damaged aircraft. Serviceable or combat-worthy aircraft were almost always dispersed around the 
perimeter of a military airfield and usually in sandbagged, or similarly-protected, pens. These pens 
gave some protection against the external blast effects of bombs and rockets and protect against 
machine-gun fire and shrapnel.

I have sized the pens so as to accommodate the vast majority of aircraft employed in WW2Fighters. A pen
will house either a single B-26 or P-38, or a pair of P-47s, ME109, FW190 or Spitfire aircraft or similar
fighter types.

The sandbagged Aircraft Pens replace the standard Large Tent objects in Jane's Dynamic Mission 
Editor (DME). When in the DME mode select the following option:


Sandbagged Aircraft Pen = TENT 2 (Allied or Axis, they are identical)


You will find that the aircraft pen objects are fully manoeuvrable on the ground and will respond 
to the usual mouse and numeric keypad controls. Once placed in the desired position it is possible to 
create aircraft which can then be placed accurately within the pens. Once this has been accomplished, 
don't forget to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE! However, it should be noted that, with the exception of bombers, you 
will have to resort to some creative mission building techniques (triggers - checks and actions) to allow
a mission to open with the aircraft placed within their pens. This is because the game program wants to
automatically start all grounded aircraft actually on or beside a runway, with the exception of bombers.

In order to permit an aircraft to taxi into or out of these pens, the pens themselves are offset from the 
host object's collision bubble (great minds think alike MEGA, or at least along the same lines!). As a 
consequence of this, in their standard form these pens are 'invisible' to the aircraft. If you want to add
a degree of realism or difficulty to the sim, I have included as a separate mod a general-purpose Collision 
Object. These are simply invisible collision bubbles which can be accurately placed at either side of the 
entrance to the pens (or any where else for that matter), in the same manner as other ground objects by means 
of your mouse or the numeric keypad, and which will activate the damage mode of any aircraft that comes into 
contact with them. Rookie pilots beware! It's worth mentioning that these Collision Objects can be utilised 
anywhere else in the sim and in any manner (minefields immediately spring to mind as one possible potential 
use). They can certainly be used in conjunction with MEGA's superb Hangar mods to enhance their collidibility.

The optional Collison Objects replace one of the standard Radio Tower objects in Jane's DME. When in the 
DME mode select the following option:


Collision Object = RADIO TOWER 1


The damage model of these Aircraft Pens is not very spectacular because, put plainly, it's very difficult in 
reality to destroy a sandbagged defence. So my damage model simply looks very scorched and burnt. 

Before installing this or any other custom modification, you are advised to take a backup
your original ww2.sqs archive. 
 
Extract the contents of this archive to the WWII Fighters\Data directory.  Assuming the
default installation, this is: C:\Program Files\Jane's Combat Simulations\WWII Fighters\Data
The files will be extracted to a new directory WWII Fighters\Data\Aircraft Pens. Using Windows 
Explorer, navigate to the WWII Fighters\Data\Aircraft Pens directory.

This modification employs only standard resolution (256x256) textures so no video problems are 
envisaged. 

To install, double-click on the Gun Emplacement Installation.bat icon. This will open up a DOS session 
and the installation will proceed in this window. When the installation is complete, a message saying 
"DONE...CLOSE DOS SESSION" will be displayed in the window. Close the DOS session by clicking on the 'X' 
close button in the top right corner of the window. Installation is now complete.


Alan Hutchins
Perth, Western Australia
simplyhf@space.net.au
December 2004


