My 1949 version of Washington National

[Radio Ranger]

I'm attempting my first MAJOR airport renovation. This is an attempt to backdate the Washington National (Reagan) Airport back to 1949. To do so, I'm using photos from www.historicaerials.com. I hope someday to learn gmax so that I can do justice to the terminal building but that is waaay on the back burner.

First an overhead view of KDCA in 1949:


Next, a version of the terminal as pilfered from the California Classic Core Scenery:


Looking from the South:


And from the North:


The South Hangars:


And the North Hangar Line:


And finally, for Steve, my PCA (Capital) DC-4 on final for (closed for at least 30 years) Runway 27(If I'm not mistaken this was the airplane that made up PCA412 which crashed into the Blue Ridge Mountains outside of Leesburg Virginia in the late 40s)...


Any input, actual photos from this era, or advice (especially on gmax or developing the terminal) would be greatly appreciated. I will not be publishing this until I get Tom's permission to use his proprietary sceneries.

Thanks,

Al

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi Al,

You have my permission, of course. Just be sure to credit CalClassic in the text file.

I see why you chose 1949 - it's the year available at Historic Aerials. But it looks like the runway lengths are identical in 1979 (except for the closing of runway 09/27), so this airport will be able to be used throughout the classic era - nice!

That's the KBUR terminal - works pretty well in that situation. I can send you the GMAX file if you want to try your hand at it. But later is fine too.

Be sure to add lots of overflow parking too, since there are a lot of AI aircraft that park there. I notice in the 1949 aerial shot there is even more overflow parking (one or more airline's hangar) north of the terminal. You already have the hangars in your scenery (in the North Hangars and Capital DC-4 shots).

Thanks,

[jesse]

I would also suggest that a few MATS planes be on the tarmac since we were using DCA as our terminal before the move to Andrews.

Jesse

[Radio Ranger]

Tom, thanks - I'll be sure to credit Cal Classics. I think maybe later (after Christmas) would be better to have a look at the gmax files.

Jesse - I wasn't planning on changing any of the AI - basically because I don't know how to do it and am focusing mostly on the airport. This is just Tom's AI files. Perhaps what you meant was putting in some military gates. Do you recall where they were?

Al

[Randy_Cain]

Hi,

Al, that looks great! You'll let us know when beta testing starts here, ok? Please sign me up!

Yours,


P.S. ...and thanks for that link! I didn't know about that site.

[Radio Ranger]

Randy,

I sure will keep you in mind.

And, yeah, that historic aerials is a cool site. I have been able to 'find' actual locations of several radio range locations and have pasted pictures over Google Earth. Gosh I'm such a geek.

Al

[Wolfgang]

Hi Al,

very nice indeed

Are you sure about the taxiway center lines
and the runway edge lines in the 50ies ?

And always a good idea is to send the files
to Tom, Mike and me before releasing.
In my own sceneries I often forget some small
things

Best Regards
Wolfgang

[Tom/CalClassic]

Wolfgang,

The 1949 shot clearly shows taxiway centerlines - they weren't uncommon at major airports. As for runway edge lines - DCA used a runway striping scheme that used two solid stripes down the runway, about as far apart as the main gear wheels. I guess he can use edge striping to simulate this?

However, I don't see any threshold stripes in the images.

Hope this helps,

[Tom/CalClassic]

PS. And the one thing most people forget is GA parking - back then even major airports allowed GA aircraft (with a few exceptions).

Hope this helps,

[jesse]

Dec 11, 2009 22:02:14 GMT -5 Radio Ranger said:

Tom, thanks - I'll be sure to credit Cal Classics. I think maybe later (after Christmas) would be better to have a look at the gmax files.

Jesse - I wasn't planning on changing any of the AI - basically because I don't know how to do it and am focusing mostly on the airport. This is just Tom's AI files. Perhaps what you meant was putting in some military gates. Do you recall where they were?

Al

Al, our MATS operations was in the main building which is now known as terinal A. We did not have gates per se. When the aircraft arrived we would park in front of the terminal building along with the commerical planes. Our maintenance hangar was located at the south end of the airport for minor jobs and if required for extensive maintenance, we would hop across the river to Bolling.

Jesse

[Wolfgang]

Hi

The 1949 shot clearly shows taxiway centerlines

The historicaerials link doesn't work for me, that's
why I ask

Best Regards
Wolfgang

[capflyer]

Take the period off after the ".com" and it'll work Wolfgang -

www.historicaerials.com