Adrian Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 The Pacific Islands Airfields is a scenery package that includes three airports located in the Solomon Islands. Munda Airfield Gizo Airport Barakoma Airfield All three airports are designed with a distinct 'World War II look'. This is the way these airports appeared at the end of the war, after the fields were captured by the US forces. Where are they located? The three airfields are in the Solomon Islands. The Solomon Islands are in the Pacific Ocean. They are North East of Australia and approximately 3500 miles southwest of Hawaii. Specific location of the three airfields within the Solomon Islands. General map and X-Plane map. Barakoma to Gizo: ~15 miles Munda to Gizo: ~35 miles Munda to Barakoma: ~50 miles A little bit of History During WWII, the Solomon Islands were deemed as a strategic location by both the Japanese and American forces. By controlling the Solomon Islands, Japanese forces had a barrier between the US and Australia and South Pacific. In 1942 Japanese forces invaded several of the islands and established air bases. In 1943 the American forces regained control of many islands, including the ones hosting Munda Airfield, Gizo and Barakoma Airfields. Once seized these bases were expanded and hosted many air units. The most famous unit to fight on these islands is the Marine Attack Squadron 214, made famous by the TV series "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and then Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington. The VMA 214 were flying Corsair F4Us. First Impression Pacific Islands is a complete custom scenery package. It includes custom objects, textures, runways and trees. To fully judge the impact of Pacific Islands the first time you open it, let's compare two screenshots. Once taken at Munda with the default scenery, the other one with Pacific Islands installed X-Plane Default Scenery Pacific Islands Airfield Scenery The difference is stunning. But what is more important when you load Pacific Island is that you instantly get the feel for that vintage WWII look. None of us really know what a WWII airfield looks like but Khamsin's scene looks like the real deal. It certainly looks a lot like what we have seen from movies about that era. World War II look: Munda Airfield Munda Airfield was built by the Japanese forces in late 1942 and was used by their navy and Air force as a forward operating base. Munda was captured by the Americans in August 1943. Today the airfield is used by Solomon Airlines for regional flights The runway at Munda uses custom textures. It is a packed sand (or dirt) runway. The runway is only 4000 feet long with trees at the end. So there is not a lot of room for error at takeoff. The airport includes many custom objects including tentes, barracks, jeeps and static aircraft. All of them are from the WWII era: Aerial view of Munda from a Corsair F4U. The runway is parallel to a beautiful beach: Munda includes a place to launch a floating aircraft: Gizo Airfield Gizo is a smaller airfield. The runway is a small island, outside of the main island of Gizo. As you can see the runway occupies most of the Island: Gizo has been given the same treatment as Munda with a nice tower: As well as barracks and static aircraft: Barakoma Airfield Barakoma is one of the three airports with the biggest historical significance as it was the theater of several battles between Japanese and American forces. Located on Vella Lavella Island, the runway is about 3600 feet long. Barakoma was the home base of the famous 'Black Sheep' squadron in 1943. The Black Sheep Squadron (VMA-214) was headed by Greg 'Pappy Boyington' and was the inspiration for the TV series 'Baa Baa Black sheep' showcasing many air fights between Corsair F4U and Mitsubishi Zeros. Aerial view of Barakoma Airfield Barakoma has more room than Gizo: Even ground vehicles are consistent WWI look. Here you can see a Jeep truck from the war. Barakoma has many places where you can 'hide' your aircraft under camouflage nets: Corsair taking off. Notice the dirt behind the aircraft. This is an x-plane effect you will see at all three airports: Some zero at Barakoma Just for fun a Corsair vs Zero battle: Impact on FPS The impact of frame rate is minimal since it is not a complex airport. With my system the VRAM needs was only 860Mb at an 'Extreme' Resolution - Plenty of room to spare ( I have a 2GB Video card) Conclusion 'Pacific Islands Airfields' is more than a custom scenery package. It's an experience where you will be sent 65 years back in the Pacific. For anyone who has become familiar with Khamsin's work with the recent release of the B-25, it's no surprise that the textures are superb. Everything in the package is extremely well designed. Overall, this package is a winner who anyone who loves anything and everything related to aviation during the WWII era. With 3 airports to fly to, you can design your own mini missions from one airport to the another. Where to get it X-Plane.org Store: Pacific Islands Airfield WWII Price: $19.95 Download size: 175Mb zipped Requirement: X-Plane 10. There is no X-Plane 9 version available Aircraft used for this review Mitsubishi Zero by Mr3D Corsair F4U by JCS Aircraft Computer specs: Windows 7 64bit i7-3770 3.4GHz 8GB RAM AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB X-Plane 10.22 64bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Walter Posted November 12, 2013 Report Share Posted November 12, 2013 Just a dream. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nick P. Posted November 12, 2013 Report Share Posted November 12, 2013 For those that don't know about it, some of these airfields led to the rise of a religion named "Cargo" amongst the local population of these islands. Here's a description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult#Post-war Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest duke Posted March 18, 2014 Report Share Posted March 18, 2014 i bought it last year is this an update and do we have to pay for the full package again or is there an update price? any idea? duke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Henderson = Carney Field? Posted June 18, 2016 Report Share Posted June 18, 2016 Lovely scenery, a joy to fly around, even in XP9. Though I think the later added Henderson Field is actually Carney Field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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