FW190A-8.zip


Historical Background:
**********************

Fw 190A-8 "Double Chevron Bar" as flown by Obstlt. Kurt Buhligen, Kommodore of the infamous JG 2 "Richthofen", based at Nidda, Germany, November 1944.

Kurt Buhligen was one of the relatively few Luftwaffe Aces to score over 100 kills against Allied fighters on the western front. All of his kills were amassed while serving with JG 2 from 1940 to 1945. His final kill tally reached between 108 and 112, depending on the source. Buhligen was revered by the men of JG 2. As the last wartime commander of JG 2 (from just before D-Day to VE-Day), Buhligen had the unenviable task of keeping the unit together as an effective fighting force while in full retreat from the Allies on the western front.

From November 1944 until the end of the war, JG 2 took on the dual responsibilities of "Defense of the Reich" duties and supporting ground operations on the western front. These proved to be tremendously difficult tasks as the Allies had complete air superiority over the western front by this stage of the war. On any given day JG 2 would have to muster enough fighters to take on Allied medium and heavy bombers and their escorts intent on striking the industrial heart of Germany. The next day JG 2 would be asked to support ground operations.

On January 1st, 1945, JG 2 participated in Operation Bodenplatte. Their target was the USAAF airfield at St. Trond, Belgium. St. Trond was home to the P-47 Thunderbolts of the 48th and 404th Fighter Groups of the Ninth Air Force. Of the eleven Jagdgeschwader that took to the skies on that fateful New Year's morning, none took greater losses than JG 2. The unit encountered heavy AA fire over Aachen enroute to their target and at the target itself. After this operation JG 2 was never again an effective, cohesive fighting force.

Obstlt. Kurt Buhligen survived the war. And so did JG 2. Today JG 2 now lives on as JG 71 "Richthofen" flying F-4F Phantoms in defense of Germany, western Europe and democracy.



3D Model Features:
******************

This is the first release of an all new 3D model for the standard Fw 190A-8 found in Jane's WWII Fighters. This new 3D model includes many changes, improvements and new features over the standard Jane's 3D model. As of the writing of this readme it has the most vertices of any 3D model for Jane's WWII Fighters. The changes and improvements over the standard 3D model are too lengthy to list. However, here is a short list of some of the new features found in this 3D model:

* Overall proportions and contours adjusted

* Entire plane remapped to multiple 512x512 BMPs

* Over-wing views re-mapped to multiple 512 BMPs

* 3D objects for gun covers and aileron actuator

* Cockpit BMPs modified to tone down red knobs, remove some unsightly      screws and fix warning placard on head armor (thanks Jaxon)

* New cowling with engine and cooling fan that turns with the prop

* New prop (thanks Bury) and spinner

* New gun cowl cover with bulges

* Engine cooling vents

* Exauhst stacks

* Wing root fairings

* New gun barrels

* Canopy reworked and optional blown canopy included

* New main gear legs with links

* New tires, main and tailwheel (thanks Jaxon)

* New center weapons mount with attachment hardware and stabilizers

* Bombs and fuel tank reworked and remapped

* Inboard, outboard, and lower wing gun covers

* Trim tabs added to all control surfaces

* 3D cockpit for external view, with head armor and support for both
  canopy versions

* New pilot (thanks Jaxon)

* Antennas, pitot tube, and cockpit step

* Removal of standard model's wing racks 



Thanks To:
**********

Thanks to Bryan Bury for his help on this and previous Fw 190 projects. Bryan created 3D parts which I used in this A-8 project. 3D parts were also taken from work done by Jaxon. A thanks to Warren "Fluke" Brookman also, for helping with the skin selection by providing images and historical information. Warren also assisted with beta testing and has provided two new missions for you to get your feet wet in the new Anton. Warren also volunteered to write up this readme file. All were a big help.
 
Please feel free to post questions or comments about this new 3D model and skin to the "Custom Modifications" section of the WWII Fighters Online message board at http://www.wwiifighters.com/ .

Please do not post these files anywhere without permission. Also please do not remove or alter the "Hammerd" logo from the bmp's.



Installation:
*************

Before installing this, or any other custom modification, you are advised to make a backup of 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 in will be extracted to a new directory:

\WWII Fighters\Data\Fw190A-8

Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the newly created directory.

Note: This distribution includes multiple high-resolution (512x512) textures for users whose video cards support this texture size.

WARNING: Attempting to install high-resolution textures on a system
with a video card which does not support them may cause the game to crash.

To install, double-click on the "InstallAnton.bat" icon.

NOTE: If you already have a copy of the Fw D-9 or D-11, or some of the common 3D  files installed on your machine, SQZIP will generate a warning message when installing the BMPs. This does not mean that anything has gone wrong with the installation. It is only warning you that it is overwriting files that had been previously installed.

After double-clicking the installer batch icon a DOS session will open up 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 DOS window. Close the DOS session by clicking on the X (close) button in the top right corner of the window.

This release contains all of the 3d files needed for the new A-8 conversion  and the BMPs for the "Double Chevron Bar" skin of JG 2.

There is an option for the user to install a blown canopy if desired. To install it, double-click on  the "InstallAntonBlownCanopy.bat" icon. Obviously one must first install the complete A-8 package prior to installing the blown canopy option.

Also included is an installation package to install a BMP on the lower part of the instrument panel. You can use this BMP to paint anything you want, like a picture of your favorite girl. Included in this package is a BMP of a classic "German" looking girl for your pleasure. To install, double-click on the "InstallAntonCheesecake.bat" icon. To remove it, reinstall the complete Anton package or reinstall a BMP painted magenta.


