Airlift (Ju52)

[Sandmarken]

Timeframe: December 1942-Jannuary 1943 

Unit: Kampfgruppe z.b.V.1, KG55

Aircraft: Ju52, Heinkel 111

Missions:  10

Author: Sandmarken 

Requirements: Battle of Stalingrad, Ju52 

 

In December of 1942 the 6th Army is trapped inside a pocket around the city of Stalingrad. The only way to keep them alive is by supplying them from the air. Follow a Ju52 pilot from the Kampfgruppe z.b.V.1 as the Luftwaffe desperately tries to get supplies to the trapped 6th Army.

 

Notes:  HUD shoud be on for messages about the missions to appear. 

 

A very big thank you to my gaming pal who wants to be unnamed, who has helped me with testing, feedback and historical research. I would not be able to make this without his help. 

 

 

Install: Put download in the campaign folder

 

File: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ms5oZKGWHbm5KKUmGztLINfMVOdIhnHS/view?usp=sharing

 

Update 08.01.2024 Smal corrections done. Overwrite old files and progress should be saved. 

 

Please let me know if there are any bugs and I will fix them! 

 

Update 20.10.2024

 

Thanks to @JG4_Deciman the campaign is now also available in the German language!

 

Update 1.5 now with the corrections to error about wind directions. 

 

 

Edited March 19 by Sandmarken

[Ulricus]

@Sandmarken Thanks for this new campaign!  I am very excited about it. 

Edited March 19 by Ulricus

[taffy2jeffmorgan]

Thanks Sandmarken,  I think it's going to be a fingers crossed campaign to see if any of us get out alive after 10 missions. but we will give it a go !!

 

Cheers

[Sandmarken]

On 1/8/2024 at 7:12 AM, taffy2jeffmorgan said:

Thanks Sandmarken,  I think it's going to be a fingers crossed campaign to see if any of us get out alive after 10 missions. but we will give it a go !!

 

Cheers

One is pretty defenceless in a ju52 against almost everything. JG3 or platzschutzstaffel Pitomnik might be able to help sometimes. 

Edited January 9, 2024 by Sandmarken

[Sandmarken]

Smal update with some corrections has been uploaded!

Edited March 19 by Sandmarken

[Billsponge1972]

My download was empty. Will you check that, I don't think it's on my end. 

 

And thanks for the campaign Sandmarken!

[Sandmarken]

1 hour ago, Billsponge1972 said:

My download was empty. Will you check that, I don't think it's on my end. 

 

And thanks for the campaign Sandmarken!

It was? Il have a look! Sorry! Its there for me. Anyone else? 

Edited January 9, 2024 by Sandmarken

[jollyjack]

nope, download was fine, and thanks again ..

[Sandmarken]

It shoud work now! updated the file!

Edited January 9, 2024 by Sandmarken

[Billsponge1972]

That worked! Thank you! 

[Sandmarken]

18 minutes ago, Billsponge1972 said:

That worked! Thank you! 

Great! Hope you enjoy the campaigen ?

Edited January 9, 2024 by Sandmarken

[Billsponge1972]

I always enjoy your work!

I love the campaigns. They give me added impetus to not take chances and fulfill the mission goals so as to proceed to the next mission.

[Sandmarken]

1 hour ago, Billsponge1972 said:

I always enjoy your work!

I love the campaigns. They give me added impetus to not take chances and fulfill the mission goals so as to proceed to the next mission.

Thx im very happy you do. ?

[taffy2jeffmorgan]

Hi, I'm experiencing something odd, I cannot get all three engines to increase power on take off, I select full power on my joystick control and all three throttle levers move to full power, but within seconds of moving off both my wing mounted engine throttle lever move back to stop, I have gone to quick missions and selected the JU 52 and selected the same cargo and the same Stalingrad winter conditions and the JU 52 takes off no problem. All the throttle levers stay in the full power position and stay there.

 

As I said its rather odd ?

[Sandmarken]

11 hours ago, taffy2jeffmorgan said:

Hi, I'm experiencing something odd, I cannot get all three engines to increase power on take off, I select full power on my joystick control and all three throttle levers move to full power, but within seconds of moving off both my wing mounted engine throttle lever move back to stop, I have gone to quick missions and selected the JU 52 and selected the same cargo and the same Stalingrad winter conditions and the JU 52 takes off no problem. All the throttle levers stay in the full power position and stay there.

 

As I said its rather odd ?

Never experienced this issue. I dont think there is even possible that something in the mission change the engine settings.

Maybe the brakes are engaging? 

Edited January 10, 2024 by Sandmarken

[taffy2jeffmorgan]

I shall just have to rely on auto pilot for take off, but I shall try some of the other missions to see if the same fault occurs 

[Sandmarken]

1 hour ago, taffy2jeffmorgan said:

I shall just have to rely on auto pilot for take off, but I shall try some of the other missions to see if the same fault occurs 

Please do tell if this continues or if other experience the same issue! 

[taffy2jeffmorgan]

The fault still persists, I can taxi from stand point to runway and all throttle levers move correctly from my joystick, but as soon as I line up for take off the levers move as if controlled by AI . I deleted the original download and then installed a fresh download but the problem is still there ?  I use the auto pilot now for take off and ounce airborne I disengage auto pilot and the throttles all then behave correctly from my joystick and will stay like that to the end of the mission, All four of the missions that I have flown all have the same problem at take off.

I shall complete the campaign using the auto pilot I have no problem with that.

 

Cheers 

[Sandmarken]

3 hours ago, taffy2jeffmorgan said:

The fault still persists, I can taxi from stand point to runway and all throttle levers move correctly from my joystick, but as soon as I line up for take off the levers move as if controlled by AI . I deleted the original download and then installed a fresh download but the problem is still there ?  I use the auto pilot now for take off and ounce airborne I disengage auto pilot and the throttles all then behave correctly from my joystick and will stay like that to the end of the mission, All four of the missions that I have flown all have the same problem at take off.

I shall complete the campaign using the auto pilot I have no problem with that.

 

Cheers 

Did you disengage parking brakes before take-off? 

Edited January 11, 2024 by Sandmarken

[taffy2jeffmorgan]

I don't think I did, I shall try again and let you know

[taffy2jeffmorgan]

Tried what was suggested and the problem is still there, the strange thing about all this is that all aspects of taxing out to the runway the three throttles all respond correctly to the commands from the joystick, what I might try is too restart the three engines and see what happens then, as I said I shall finish all the missions using auto pilot.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Sandmarken]

8 minutes ago, taffy2jeffmorgan said:

Tried what was suggested and the problem is still there, the strange thing about all this is that all aspects of taxing out to the runway the three throttles all respond correctly to the commands from the joystick, what I might try is too restart the three engines and see what happens then, as I said I shall finish all the missions using auto pilot.

 

Thanks for your help.

Im sorry and very confused why this woud happen. It did not happen with me or my friend when we tested the missions. I have played them all many times especially the beginings because the ai having a hard time take off in ju52 i needed to do them serveral times to make sure they woud be able to take off. During those test this did not ocure. It is a very simple command take-off command and no other input during that time. I wil check when im able if i can reproduse it. If anyone else is experience it woud be great to know since that woud indication a problem with the mission or a game bug. 

Edited January 11, 2024 by Sandmarken

[taffy2jeffmorgan]

Thanks Sandmarken, If I find my end what may be causing the problem I shall let you know.

[bycomet]

Tried the first mission. I had HUD on but received no message when I flew to the target airfiled. Confirmed it was the target with both radio and outside view then I landed. It was a runway with some craters. I stopped my plane near those craters and there was still no message to indicate where I should taxi to. I unloaded cargo on runway and finished the mission. It showed mission accomplished and successful landing. Don't know what's wrong with mission message or it's just what it is. Anyway it's so lack of communication.

 

Clicked on the second mission. Return to departure airfiled? No, no way. 180km straight flight is boring. With auto level function, I'm afriad that I can finish reading a book during this campaign.

Edited January 24, 2024 by bycomet

[Sandmarken]

2 hours ago, bycomet said:

Tried the first mission. I had HUD on but received no message when I flew to the target airfiled. Confirmed it was the target with both radio and outside view then I landed. It was a runway with some craters. I stopped my plane near those craters and there was still no message to indicate where I should taxi to. I unloaded cargo on runway and finished the mission. It showed mission accomplished and successful landing. Don't know what's wrong with mission message or it's just what it is. Anyway it's so lack of communication.

 

Clicked on the second mission. Return to departure airfiled? No, no way. 180km straight flight is boring. With auto level function, I'm afriad that I can finish reading a book during this campaign.

Hello. When reaching the airfield you shoud be cleard to land by the tower. I figured that woud be enough? I do not like campaigns where you need to taxi to a spesific spot to get mission complete thats why i did not make it this way. 

All missions wil have something different, but it is after all a Ju52 campaign that tries to mostly be based on history. So there wil be more straight flying than a fighter or bomber campaign. 

 

[Ulricus]

18 hours ago, bycomet said:

No, no way. 180km straight flight is boring.

But that's how it is with all collector cargo planes. The challenge for flight simmers lies here in making safe take-offs and landings. While flying straight your eyes are on the NDB (if exist) and the instruments, cope with cross winds, rain, fog, snowfall, darkness and so on. And sometimes you can enjoy the scenery, if no loitering fighters show up. Boring? I think after being shelled by artillery and chased by Soviet tanks during take-off, you'll welcome these straight flying relaxing moments before you have to land again on an icy runway.

 

No offense, just a comment of an enthusiastic cargo plane simmer. 

[JG4_Moltke1871]

Just flew the first mission, it’s a great immersive atmosphere 😊

 

But there is no mission manual and also I got no informations displayed on the screen. I circled after take of until the second plane started and from somewhere came a third without winter camo, I find the target airfield and unload the plane. No idea what was the task of the machine with running engines on the runway 🤷

 

HUD was surely activated, is there something changed while an updates I get no messages or mission manual?

Or the problem is like usual in front of the computer, did I miss something 😅?

 

Any help is appreciated, because I don’t want to miss the order when the mission tasks getting more complicated 😜

[Sandmarken]

5 hours ago, JG4_Moltke1871 said:

Just flew the first mission, it’s a great immersive atmosphere 😊

 

But there is no mission manual and also I got no informations displayed on the screen. I circled after take of until the second plane started and from somewhere came a third without winter camo, I find the target airfield and unload the plane. No idea what was the task of the machine with running engines on the runway 🤷

 

HUD was surely activated, is there something changed while an updates I get no messages or mission manual?

Or the problem is like usual in front of the computer, did I miss something 😅?

 

Any help is appreciated, because I don’t want to miss the order when the mission tasks getting more complicated 😜

Hello! Thank you for playing the campaign.

 

The task should always be in the mission description. In mission 1, it is to fly to Pitomnik Airfield and land there. If you want, you can taxi and unload the cargo. The mission complete trigger is not very strict; it's up to you. 😁

 

Sometimes there are changes during the missions, and you will be notified by HUD messages.

 

Regarding the winter camouflage of Ju 52s, due to the chaotic situation of the airlift, only approximately 25-50% of the Ju 52s were painted in winter colors.

Sometimes the wingmen AI will join the formation from a flying start because the AI is really bad at taking off in the Ju 52. If you see them crash on takeoff, that's why. (Also historically correct, many Ju 52s were lost to accidents during takeoff and landing.)

[JG4_Moltke1871]

On 10/13/2024 at 5:25 AM, Sandmarken said:

Hello! Thank you for playing the campaign.

 

The task should always be in the mission description. In mission 1, it is to fly to Pitomnik Airfield and land there. If you want, you can taxi and unload the cargo. The mission complete trigger is not very strict; it's up to you. 😁

 

Sometimes there are changes during the missions, and you will be notified by HUD messages.

 

Regarding the winter camouflage of Ju 52s, due to the chaotic situation of the airlift, only approximately 25-50% of the Ju 52s were painted in winter colors.

Sometimes the wingmen AI will join the formation from a flying start because the AI is really bad at taking off in the Ju 52. If you see them crash on takeoff, that's why. (Also historically correct, many Ju 52s were lost to accidents during takeoff and landing.)

No complains about skins etc….

Meanwhile I managed the second mission, the atmosphere is amazing 😊😊

 

My problem was I had no mission description…. For usual my game runs in German language, since I set it to English the description appears. 
I don’t know why it not shows it when the game is set to German, but who cares, the mission’s immersion is fantastic 👍🏻👍🏻

 

In the mission description the wind is announced from the east but it clearly comes from the west…

 

Anyway, great stuff 👍🏻😊👍🏻😊👍🏻😊

[Sandmarken]

1 hour ago, JG4_Moltke1871 said:

No complains about skins etc….

Meanwhile I managed the second mission, the atmosphere is amazing 😊😊

 

My problem was I had no mission description…. For usual my game runs in German language, since I set it to English the description appears. 
I don’t know why it not shows it when the game is set to German, but who cares, the mission’s immersion is fantastic 👍🏻👍🏻

 

In the mission description the wind is announced from the east but it clearly comes from the west…

 

Anyway, great stuff 👍🏻😊👍🏻😊👍🏻😊

Ah, this might be a bug in the language files of the missions.

 

The wind description is probably an error of mine! I tried to match the weather with real sources, but sometimes I mess up!

 

I'm happy you liked it so far. I haven't had that much feedback on the campaign after its release, so I never learned properly if people liked it. 😁

[JG4_Moltke1871]

2 hours ago, Sandmarken said:

Ah, this might be a bug in the language files of the missions.

 

The wind description is probably an error of mine! I tried to match the weather with real sources, but sometimes I mess up!

 

I'm happy you liked it so far. I haven't had that much feedback on the campaign after its release, so I never learned properly if people liked it. 😁

Mission 2: Katjushas at dusk 😍😍😍😍 what an Effekt 

 

In Mission 3 I had some little slow motions while cross the battlefield corridor, maybe a bit too much ai is in the scene..

 

But nice task with the stopover, clear instructions by HUD, well done 👍🏻 

 

Next Mission in Nr 4, blind flight while bad conditions… this will be a challenge, I should make some calculations before I take off 😅😅

 

So far my opinion is this should be an official campaign!!! Great historical background, well made, immersive and challenging. It’s different to all these fighter and fighterbomber campaigns but hey: it’s an flight simulator!!! It would be poor if a flight simulator couldn't offer something like this...😜
 

Thanks a lot for that, I will report what I experience in mission 4…..Unless I get lost in the frozen steppe ☃️

Edited October 14, 2024 by JG4_Moltke1871

[Sandmarken]

12 hours ago, JG4_Moltke1871 said:

Mission 2: Katjushas at dusk 😍😍😍😍 what an Effekt 

 

In Mission 3 I had some little slow motions while cross the battlefield corridor, maybe a bit too much ai is in the scene..

 

But nice task with the stopover, clear instructions by HUD, well done 👍🏻 

 

Next Mission in Nr 4, blind flight while bad conditions… this will be a challenge, I should make some calculations before I take off 😅😅

 

So far my opinion is this should be an official campaign!!! Great historical background, well made, immersive and challenging. It’s different to all these fighter and fighterbomber campaigns but hey: it’s an flight simulator!!! It would be poor if a flight simulator couldn't offer something like this...😜
 

Thanks a lot for that, I will report what I experience in mission 4…..Unless I get lost in the frozen steppe ☃️

Thanks for this feedback! I understand that flying transport isn't for everyone, that's the good thing about doing this for fun. I can choose to make it anyway, so I'm happy others find it fun as well!

 

To make things more interesting, I've had a lot of AI fighting, especially around the front lines and edge of the pocket. It also strains my PC, but I figured we could manage since it's the Ju 52. 😁

[JG4_Deciman]

19 hours ago, Sandmarken said:

Ah, this might be a bug in the language files of the missions.

 

The wind description is probably an error of mine! I tried to match the weather with real sources, but sometimes I mess up!

 

I'm happy you liked it so far. I haven't had that much feedback on the campaign after its release, so I never learned properly if people liked it. 😁

Just downloaded, unpacked and installed.

 

With language setting 'German' I also get no mission description.

And on the map I can see several 'Translator Icons'.

 

The Bug is inside the language files...

Every file (except the english one) contains only the basics. (and I guess for every mission)

And that will include messages on the screen while flying, too.

 

Only the english language file contains everything.

 

A quick workarround would be, to replace all language files with the english one.

Simply copy, paste and rename the language files.

 

Another workarround would be to set the game language to english.

 

The more demanding part would be, to translate everything and createtranslated  language files for each language...

And the most demanding part would be, to update these files (from within the mission editor) whenever changes are made to the mission...

 

Deci

[JG4_Deciman]

I also offer help to translate the language files into german...

 

Contact me if interested..

 

Deci

[JG4_Deciman]

BTW...

 

The latest version I just downloades also contained the '.mission' files.

Great for editing them (saves loading tme)

But fatal for playing.

In case both filetypes are present (.msnbin and .mission) the game will load the (uncompressed) .mission file instead of the (compressed) .msnbin file

[Sandmarken]

4 hours ago, JG4_Deciman said:

BTW...

 

The latest version I just downloades also contained the '.mission' files.

Great for editing them (saves loading tme)

But fatal for playing.

In case both filetypes are present (.msnbin and .mission) the game will load the (uncompressed) .mission file instead of the (compressed) .msnbin file

Ah, I did not know about these things with two different files. About translations, I have had a plan to add to all the descriptions (history, narrative) and also add HUD messages about mission completeness and other things after feedback from here. So I would, of course, be happy if you wanted to translate, but I would fix these things before that. Your first suggestions to just copy the english files probably is better for now. Il see when i have the time to do that. 

[JG4_Moltke1871]

Meanwhile I managed mission four and five. Especially the landing in the snowstorm was very challenging, one go around was necessary😜

 

It requires full attention before the radio signal travels in to find the way.

 

Novomaksimovski and Marinovka are my waypoints to have a corridor between the defended sovjet airfields.

 

Actually I hate cold and winter but this campaign is fun 😀

 

[JG4_Deciman]

And also meanwhle I managed to create the 'basic' Campaign description in german.
Caused some trouble with the ÄÖÜäöü which forced me to take the windows editor to finally solve that

 

Maybe the rest of the files (missons itselve) will be easier...

 

Deci

[Sandmarken]

5 hours ago, JG4_Moltke1871 said:

It requires full attention before the radio signal travels in to find the way.

 

From research, it seems that the pilots would often fly over or inside the clouds, guided only by pre-flight plans and radio beacons to hide from the enemies. This became a problem because the cold temperatures, especially at higher altitudes, would cause engine trouble. They did try many different tactics to lower casualties, like flying in larger formations or one after another with minutes in between. None seemed to have worked out. In the later stages, they mostly flew at night or in low-visibility weather.

 

Of course, Platzschutzstaffel Pitomnik with their bf109s was supposed to help, but they were not a strong enough force to really help the situation. Still, I think I saw a number as high as 30% of all supplies flown in was fuel for the Platzschutzstaffeln!

2 hours ago, JG4_Deciman said:

And also meanwhle I managed to create the 'basic' Campaign description in german.
Caused some trouble with the ÄÖÜäöü which forced me to take the windows editor to finally solve that

 

Maybe the rest of the files (missons itselve) will be easier...

 

Deci

Thx! Il implement it if you finish it. And tell me how 😁

[JG4_Deciman]

1 hour ago, Sandmarken said:

Thx! Il implement it if you finish it. And tell me how 😁

Missing file for german base mission description

 

The rest of the german files will take a while, but will follow

 

Deci

 

 

info.locale=ger.zip