WICK EGPC 2.1

THIS AIRPORT IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF X-PLANE USER "IANG"

Lover of Scotland, Ian G produced many fun airports of the Scottish Highlands and Islands, where his wife assures me he is flying now

Happy flying Ian

Wick

Alternative Name(s)

RAF WICK; WICK AIRFIELD; HILLHEAD FARM; HIGHLAND WICK AIRPORT

County

CAITHNESS

Parish

WICK

Council

HIGHLAND

Latitude, Longitude

58.456456N, 3.097271W

Notes

RAF Wick was built on land adjoining the pre-war airstrip at Hillhead Farm. Tarmac runways were added at the beginning of the war along with wooden control tower and four 'C1' hangars. The tower survives as do two of the hangars, which in the 1980s were being used for storage. Many of the buildings in the technical area still survive in a derelict condition.

This World War II airfield is situated N of Wick and E of the A9 trunk road. Many buildings are still extant, but most of those now outside the present airport perimeter fence have been demolished. The two remaining 'C1' type hangars are still in use, but for entirely different purposes. The furthest W is in use by Highland Council to provide hangarage for light aircraft repair and storage. This hangar has been modified, as the main doors at the NE end are no longer extant and have been replaced by corrugated iron sheeting. The doors at the SW end no longer open fully and the steel entension gantry that formerly supprted the tracking for the doors has also been removed. Most of the former window openings have recently been covered with metal sheeting. Apart from the above, the hangar is regularly maintained and apprently the intention is continue this for many years into the future.The other hangar (to the NE) is in use for agricultural purposes and though not well maintained is in nearly original condition.

The original control tower is still used for light aircraft movements and is one of the few remaining in Scotland of wooden construction. Several of the perimeter pillboxes also survive along with the bomb store which includes huts for storing torpedos. Few of the buildings in the former technical area survive, those that do are in use for purposes other than for the airfield. Many of the taxiways can still be discerned in the perimeter areas and more recently a Pickett Hamilton turret has been extracted from the runway area after being found by the large grass mowers. The airfield is now the civilian Highland Wick Airport.

Opening Hours

Monday - Wednesday

07.00 - 18.30 & 19.00 - 20.30

Thursday

07.00 - 18.45 & 19.15 - 21.00

Friday

10.15 - 18.45 & 19.15 - 21.00

Saturday

Closed (Special Opening by arrangement)

Sunday

15.15 - 17.15 & by arrangement

The Airport Cafe

Our new cafe serves a variety of breakfast rolls and hot food during the day including toasties, baked potatoes and soup - all freshly prepared on the premises. Home baking, tray bakes and other hearty meals will all be available each day.

Credits

I give huge thanks to the following people, without their permissions this airport would be less interesting.

The type C hangers by kind permission of John Young of the Airfield Construction Group

The superb wooden airport tower by Iain Murray, who designed them for the Visual Flight Highlands and Islands FSX package

The static helicopter by PlaneBuilder - nb see his readme file enclosed

DKM - My mentor and quality advisor, who is infinitely patient and a SUPERB person

Marginal - for use of a beta version of his superb Overlay Editor

The Laminar guys - for X-Plane and WED 1.2 beta1 (Ben Supnik, Christiano Maggi)

The GREAT Skyflyer001 for his food outlets

1900 for the ice-cream truck!!!

Jacques Brault for his great hangers and houses, that MUST have been made with Wick in mind!

Frede - Yes I changed screen-name but haven't forgotten the person who nudged me back in scenery design by example.

AND the org community, for your help and support.

And a massive thanks to REDPIPER1 - see attached http://youtu.be/RlXmb0kweDU

NEEDED

Opensceneryx latest version http://www.opensceneryx.com/

RU Scenery http://ruscenery.x-air.ru/

Useful

R2 Scenery http://xplane.cz/en/r2-library/

FF_Library http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=12836

FINAL THOUGHTS

The airport I have created for your pleasure is 95% accurate. The remaining 5% is an attempt to make the scenery fun to fly around. You will not find in real life Hungry Jacks, Pizza Express or McDonalds - although TESCO is there along with large car park faithfully reproduced. The type C hangers are there but nowhere near as well looked after as those in my scenery. The houses and hangers in this scenery were chosen for their uncanny similarity to those actually in-situ, and having lived just 20 miles from Wick, I can confirm the containers ships and ferry are regular visitors to this area. This scenery is loaded with details, and subsequently takes a hit on your frame rates. I RECOMMEND you reduce your resolution HIGH and work your way up depending on your machine, but you must select EXTREME for airport objects otherwise you will miss out on masses of details and animations as well.

Then again - it is up to you, after all this is just an airport (or is it?).

Have fun.

Happy flying

YOU CANNOT USE THE TYPE C HANGERS WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE NAMED ABOVE