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Unless you're from the island or the area, a geographical whiz-kid, or really up on your WWII history, odds are Helgoland has gone unnoticed. It is, after all, an extremely small chunk of rock in the Southeastern corner of the North Sea. It's not exactly close to any other land either, being approximately 44 miles from the German Coast. Sounds like a perfect spot, doesn't it? Especially when I read that the island is almost completely POLLEN FREE! I mention this as I glance over at the tissues from my latest sneezing attack.
There are actually two islands, Hauptinsel to the west, which has the main population, and an island that is made up of sand, called Duene, meaning dune, as in sand dunes. This island has the small airport, EDXH, which consists of three small runways with concrete surfaces, as well as an area of sand leading to the water for amphibian aircraft. These two islands were once connected but in 1720, storms eroded the natural bridge between the two away. The main island is split into three parts that are referred to as the Unterland or "Lower Land" and is at sea level, the Oberland or "Upper Land" which consists of the plateau, which makes up most of the island, and the Mittelland or "Middle Land". This area was created by the "Big Bang". No, not the one that created the universe as you and I know it, but rather from an episode after World War II, when the British
There are actually two islands, Hauptinsel to the west, which has the main population, and an island that is made up of sand, called Duene, meaning dune, as in sand dunes. This island has the small airport, EDXH, which consists of three small runways with concrete surfaces, as well as an area of sand leading to the water for amphibian aircraft. These two islands were once connected but in 1720, storms eroded the natural bridge between the two away. The main island is split into three parts that are referred to as the Unterland or "Lower Land" and is at sea level, the Oberland or "Upper Land" which consists of the plateau, which makes up most of the island, and the Mittelland or "Middle Land". This area was created by the "Big Bang". No, not the one that created the universe as you and I know it, but rather from an episode after World War II, when the British
Following World War II, 1945 to 1952 to be specific, the islands were used as a bombing range. Earlier in the review, I had mentioned the Mittelland being "created" by the "Big Bang". On the 18th of April, 1947, in an attempt to destroy the island, the Royal Navy lit off 6,800 tons of explosives. Well, needless to say, they failed in destroying Helgoland, but succeeded in changing looks. The reason to destroy the island has eluded me, and I really did not look into it. It was 2 years to the day that the thousand aircraft raid on the island took place, so perhaps that had something to do with it. Long shot, I know, but it's my best guess!
In 1952, the islands were returned to the German Government, whereupon the
In 1952, the islands were returned to the German Government, whereupon the
detonated left over munitions and entered the Guiness Book of World Records for the largest man-made, do-it-on-purpose, rattle the windows on the mainland explosion! Officially, it is ranked as "the largest single conventional explosive detonation."
The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Tools made of flint have been found in the sea around Helgoland. Prehistoric burial mounds were found on the Oberland portion of the island as well. Control of the islands dates back to 697 AD, when the last Frisia King, Radbod retreated to the island after his defeat by the Franks. For the most part, the island was under the control of the Danish, until 1807 when it was seized by the British during the Napoleonic Wars. Helgoland was the hotbed of espionage and smuggling against Napoleon.
The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Tools made of flint have been found in the sea around Helgoland. Prehistoric burial mounds were found on the Oberland portion of the island as well. Control of the islands dates back to 697 AD, when the last Frisia King, Radbod retreated to the island after his defeat by the Franks. For the most part, the island was under the control of the Danish, until 1807 when it was seized by the British during the Napoleonic Wars. Helgoland was the hotbed of espionage and smuggling against Napoleon.
By the time 1826 rolled around, Helgoland was known as a "Sea-bath" resort, and became a popular place for Europe's upper-class. The island was also a refuge for revolutionaries of the 1830 and 1848 German Revolutions. Britain gave up the islands in 1890 to Germany by way of the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty. Under the German Empire, the island became a major naval base. At the outbreak of World War II, the population was relocated to the mainland.
The first naval engagement of World War II took place nearby, in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight, during the first month of the war. After the war, the islanders returned, but faced more problems as World War II approached, as the Nazi's reactivated the naval base there. The populace stayed on however. On the 15th of October, 1944, a large, allied air raid hit the island, leveling just about all buildings on the island. Then, later in the war, on the 18th of April, 1945, over a thousand allied bombers dropped their bombs on the islands, finishing the job, leaving nothing on the island. The population escaped the damage by retreating to rock shelters on the island. Most of those killed were the anti-aircraft crews that were manning the guns on the island. The folks on the island got the heck out of Helgoland the next day, and were evacuated once again to the mainland.
The first naval engagement of World War II took place nearby, in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight, during the first month of the war. After the war, the islanders returned, but faced more problems as World War II approached, as the Nazi's reactivated the naval base there. The populace stayed on however. On the 15th of October, 1944, a large, allied air raid hit the island, leveling just about all buildings on the island. Then, later in the war, on the 18th of April, 1945, over a thousand allied bombers dropped their bombs on the islands, finishing the job, leaving nothing on the island. The population escaped the damage by retreating to rock shelters on the island. Most of those killed were the anti-aircraft crews that were manning the guns on the island. The folks on the island got the heck out of Helgoland the next day, and were evacuated once again to the mainland.
Now for the challenge! The second mission included in the product is that of a Search and Rescue (SAR) Mission. Actually, it's more of a Rescue Mission. You'll be flying a Bell 206 Rescue Helicopter off of the main island of Helgoland, from the SAR Base, EM14. In real world time, the German Navy stations a SeaLynx Helicopter at this base for search and rescue emergencies. It seems to me that this location is a very logical choice for these types of operations.
There is an injured worker on Germany's one and only oil platform, the Mittelpate Oil Rig, EM08, which is located around 40 miles or so east of Helgoland. This is a challenging little adventure that pits your skills as a helicopter pilot against not only landing on a small helipad in the middle of the ocean, but also against mother nature. The weather is gray, rainy, and windy, with low visibility. You'll need to ride the waves and stay below 500 feet in order to see the surface of the
There is an injured worker on Germany's one and only oil platform, the Mittelpate Oil Rig, EM08, which is located around 40 miles or so east of Helgoland. This is a challenging little adventure that pits your skills as a helicopter pilot against not only landing on a small helipad in the middle of the ocean, but also against mother nature. The weather is gray, rainy, and windy, with low visibility. You'll need to ride the waves and stay below 500 feet in order to see the surface of the
monumental task of unexploded munitions and other ordnance had to be cleared, and general landscaping of the island had to take place, before any inhabitation could be allowed to return safely. Return they did, and today, Helgoland is a holiday resort, and to top it off, they are tax exempt to boot! Very little pollen and no taxes! Do they have an immigration department? The tourism trade is the islands mainstay for their economy. The basic necessities of every tourist’s life, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages (Booze!), and the ever essential perfumes are the main trade of the island.
Some quick tidbits of trivia about the island of Helgoland, courtesy of Wikipedia...
- The description of the Wizard Prison Azkaban, in the book and movie series Harry Potter, matches the island of Helgoland.
- For all you Quantum physics "hobbyists" out there, Werner Heisenberg first formulated the equation of his view of Quantum Mechanics on a visit in the 1920's.
- The words to the German National Anthem were written here during British rule.
- During World War II, the first bomb to hit German soil was dropped here on the 3rd of December, 1939 from a British Bomber...by mistake.
- No automobiles or bicycles are allowed on the island, per German law.
- In 2006, Helgoland received its first Police Car. Up until then, it was afoot on a bike.
We'll wrap up the "history and geography lesson" of Helgoland on an aviation note. The German Navy has a Search and Rescue (SAR) Base on Helgoland, with the designation of German SAR #10. I can certainly see why! They are in an extremely advantageous location to respond to emergencies in their area of operations.
Some quick tidbits of trivia about the island of Helgoland, courtesy of Wikipedia...
- The description of the Wizard Prison Azkaban, in the book and movie series Harry Potter, matches the island of Helgoland.
- For all you Quantum physics "hobbyists" out there, Werner Heisenberg first formulated the equation of his view of Quantum Mechanics on a visit in the 1920's.
- The words to the German National Anthem were written here during British rule.
- During World War II, the first bomb to hit German soil was dropped here on the 3rd of December, 1939 from a British Bomber...by mistake.
- No automobiles or bicycles are allowed on the island, per German law.
- In 2006, Helgoland received its first Police Car. Up until then, it was afoot on a bike.
We'll wrap up the "history and geography lesson" of Helgoland on an aviation note. The German Navy has a Search and Rescue (SAR) Base on Helgoland, with the designation of German SAR #10. I can certainly see why! They are in an extremely advantageous location to respond to emergencies in their area of operations.
This is my first review of a product for FSX, and what a product to kick it all off with! First things first...getting it loaded up. Installation these days is becoming a very simple, basic procedure, and this product is no exception. An email address and the products activation code or serial number are entered, the path to FSX is located, files are backed up and there's no need to go into the Scenery Settings of FSX to "activate" the scenery. Already done and ready to go. There are settings that are recommended to enjoy the product to its fullest extent, but as I have learned, not only with FS9, but with FSX as well, performance of any product is dependant upon what you have under the hood! I have just recently, upgraded my graphics card to an nVidia 7600GS with 512 Mb and the differences that I am seeing in the sim are phenomenal! I was running an older ATI Radeon 128 for some time, and decided I needed to try to keep up with the Jones', or at least keep them in site!
Once loaded onto your system, the next stop you need to make is a few scenery settings and adjustments, and the manual, which is in .pdf format, with clear and concise instructions and pictures, shows you exactly what to do with those sliders. For example, they show the Scenery Complexity and the Autogen Density settings at Very Dense, with Special Effects set to
Once loaded onto your system, the next stop you need to make is a few scenery settings and adjustments, and the manual, which is in .pdf format, with clear and concise instructions and pictures, shows you exactly what to do with those sliders. For example, they show the Scenery Complexity and the Autogen Density settings at Very Dense, with Special Effects set to
High. As you well know, there are some systems out there that are running FS9 and choking on these types of settings, so I think it's pretty important to have an "upper-middle to upper end" system to really enjoy these types of products. However...when I first received this product for review from the folks at Aerosoft, I still had that old card I mentioned earlier, so I had tried these settings that were suggested in the manual, and frame rates were down to about 9 - 10 fps. Dropping the sliders down a bit here and there improved the fps a bit, and the scenery was still nice to look at, but there was a noticeable drop in details and objects.
There are some objects that are only seen when you have the settings where they suggest, such as the ships that operate in the area, like the "Funny Girl" that operates out of Helgoland, the Witte Kliff, and some frigates. Depending on your traffic settings within FSX, there can be more ship traffic as well, depending once again on your systems performance. This is, after all, a "Scenery Enhancement" product, so if you don't have the juice to run the program at the suggested settings, or at least close, you're going to miss out on what this package is all about...the eye candy of this area, and it sure is sweet too!
Take a peek at my system and you'll see that I'm not running a "super computer", by any means! I have not, for the record, "tweaked" any of my configuration files or anything else within FSX, so what you see in the images is what you get. I have run the SP1 for FSX that was provided by Microsoft, which fixed some issues with the initial release. Bottom line on install and setup...painless and does not take too long at all.
Take a peek at my system and you'll see that I'm not running a "super computer", by any means! I have not, for the record, "tweaked" any of my configuration files or anything else within FSX, so what you see in the images is what you get. I have run the SP1 for FSX that was provided by Microsoft, which fixed some issues with the initial release. Bottom line on install and setup...painless and does not take too long at all.
Two missions are included to get you up and enjoying what this scenery has to offer. The first is a basic tour of the island with a tour guide briefing you along the way. For a small island, there's quite a bit to see! Especially the size of that crater left from the explosion, which is replicated very accurately in the product. You can see it in the image to the left, right between the radio tower and the hospital. You'll be able to get a great view of the work that went into both restoring the island to a place that folks could live, with a few critters, as well as seeing what the new wave of scenery technology is going to have in store for us simmers as well. The detail on the buildings, boats, objects, and terrain mesh is absolutely stunning! The package also includes birds flying in the area (very cool I think!) as well as the sounds that go hand-in-hand with being at the seashore. I must say that the sounds are also pretty cool and add quite a bit of atmosphere to the sim experience. The main island of Helgoland offers some very interesting geologic formations to see. With 160 foot sheer cliffs, the unique landscape and beaches, and its famous landmark, the Lange Anna or "Tall Anna", this is a column of rock that stands at the northwest end of the island. The distinctive red sandstone is replicated as well in the scenery package. Piers, a hotel with a swimming pool, the detail afforded to all of the buildings, and the colors used all contribute to making this a wonderful scenery product. Even though the sandbar of an island called Duene is just that, a sandbar of an island, the attention to detail is quite apparent here
as well. Static aircraft and buildings are very detailed, but there is no AI air traffic for the island. Perhaps someone will think up something in the future, but it's a small airfield, so with no AI traffic, you may just find a parking place! Once the tour is completed, you'll be instructed by the tour guide to land at Duene, EDXH (Dune), and the island that is a stones throw from the main island. Again, this is a very tricky airfield, which is one of the main objectives of this product. It will certainly test your skills landing on short runways. Choose your aircraft well! Overall time for the tour is about ten minutes. Hey, it's a small island! They state that more missions will be on the way in the form of updates. I for one, eagerly anticipate more challenges in this region!
ocean. I very rarely fly in such weather, especially in a chopper over the ocean. With crosswinds blowing and the rain coming down so hard you can hardly see 200 feet, you'll breathe a sigh of relief when you complete this mission. The weather breaks for you and you are required to land at the oil rig and transport the injured worker to medical facilities. Throughout the flight, your copilot is reminding you to stay below 500 feet for visibility reasons, and he also programs the flight into the GPS for you, so you're not entirely left in the proverbial dark. I look forward to more of these types of missions utilizing great scenery and a challenging flight.
Flying to the island of Helgoland from the mainland is also a bit of a challenge, as the island "rides low in the water". In other words, you need to be inside of 12 to 15 miles before you pick it up with the old Mark I Radar (Your eyeballs!). Flying around the area is truly an exploratory experience for such a small land mass. It's not a killer on frame rates, but again, this depends on your system. Follow the guidelines in the manual to start off and go from there. I didn't notice any significant amount of those dreaded "flickers" or freezing frames, and to be honest, I was a little surprised at this, pleasantly surprised, I might add! The 1 meter mesh really makes the detail stand out.
You won't find any winterization effects for there is usually no snow on Helgoland. No pollen, no taxes, no snow, oh man, oh man, here I go!!! I really don't think this place exists! Aerosoft is just trying to fool us! ;-)
The manual for the product has all the information you'll need to enjoy this scenery add on, and even includes something I've not seen before, and that's documentation of the scenery files that make up the Helgoland Scenery. It's a lot of .BGL to me (yuk - yuk!), but they stated that folks often ask what makes up the scenery products.
You won't find any winterization effects for there is usually no snow on Helgoland. No pollen, no taxes, no snow, oh man, oh man, here I go!!! I really don't think this place exists! Aerosoft is just trying to fool us! ;-)
The manual for the product has all the information you'll need to enjoy this scenery add on, and even includes something I've not seen before, and that's documentation of the scenery files that make up the Helgoland Scenery. It's a lot of .BGL to me (yuk - yuk!), but they stated that folks often ask what makes up the scenery products.
Extremly detailed scenery (all buildings)
1 meter resolution mesh (so you see the smallest dunes near the airport)
Very good performance in FSX (most testers reported solid 20+ fps on Intel Duo2core CPU's)
Missions included (one to get to know the island, one to test your flying skills...and more to come!)
Animated sea gulls (better not hit those!)
Sounds linked to scenery objects (waves, bird, ships and even the sounds of the church bells at noon)
Extensive shipping traffic (on nearby shipping lane and most regular scheduled ship traffic to and from the islands and oil rig)
Helgoland-Düne airfield (with extremly short runways)
SAR helicopter base of the German Navy (start of your rescue mission)
Mittleplatte oilrig (highly detailed)
German Navy frigate (moving and landable)
July 2006 aerial images (so fully up to date)
Extensive manual (German and English available)
Night and seasonal textures and effects
Underwater structures
Technical limitations for the FS2004 version:
Ships are not animated because otherwise the frigate could not be landed on.
No landings on terrain as FS2004 doesn't support this
A high quality mesh terrain (Helgoland isn't made of usual mesh terrain, we created a much higher resolution 3D terrain - you can see the difference to the default scenery)
No wet runways when raining
No scenery object sounds (gulls, church bells etc.)
No underwater structures visible
No animated ships shouth of Helgoland
Fewer details at some locations (e.g. no 3D persons at the airport)
No night textures
No flight missions
System Requirements: (FBZ Note - Double the RAM and a decent graphics card helps)
Pentium 2 GHz
512 Mb RAM
200 MB free space on your hard disk
Sound card
Microsoft Flight Simulator X or 2004
Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Windows 2003, Windows Vista
Adobe Acrobat® Reader 6 minimal to read and print the manual
1 meter resolution mesh (so you see the smallest dunes near the airport)
Very good performance in FSX (most testers reported solid 20+ fps on Intel Duo2core CPU's)
Missions included (one to get to know the island, one to test your flying skills...and more to come!)
Animated sea gulls (better not hit those!)
Sounds linked to scenery objects (waves, bird, ships and even the sounds of the church bells at noon)
Extensive shipping traffic (on nearby shipping lane and most regular scheduled ship traffic to and from the islands and oil rig)
Helgoland-Düne airfield (with extremly short runways)
SAR helicopter base of the German Navy (start of your rescue mission)
Mittleplatte oilrig (highly detailed)
German Navy frigate (moving and landable)
July 2006 aerial images (so fully up to date)
Extensive manual (German and English available)
Night and seasonal textures and effects
Underwater structures
Technical limitations for the FS2004 version:
Ships are not animated because otherwise the frigate could not be landed on.
No landings on terrain as FS2004 doesn't support this
A high quality mesh terrain (Helgoland isn't made of usual mesh terrain, we created a much higher resolution 3D terrain - you can see the difference to the default scenery)
No wet runways when raining
No scenery object sounds (gulls, church bells etc.)
No underwater structures visible
No animated ships shouth of Helgoland
Fewer details at some locations (e.g. no 3D persons at the airport)
No night textures
No flight missions
System Requirements: (FBZ Note - Double the RAM and a decent graphics card helps)
Pentium 2 GHz
512 Mb RAM
200 MB free space on your hard disk
Sound card
Microsoft Flight Simulator X or 2004
Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP
Windows 2003, Windows Vista
Adobe Acrobat® Reader 6 minimal to read and print the manual
Here's some information straight from the Aerosoft site...
For a little over 20 US dollars, this little chunk of rock and a very detailed replica of the oil rig Mittelpate can be yours in either a downloadable version, or a boxed version. I do believe this to be an outstanding display of what we can expect from Aerosoft in the arena of small, challenging, interesting places, much like the Lukla Scenery package. I am providing a couple of links for you, one to their forums, and one about the product. While visiting the forums, I didn’t really see too much in the way of serious problems from current users, aside from the existing issues. There are some items that are discussed in the manual, such as aircraft appearing below ground level, which is caused by the way the terrain was developed for the product. Hopefully, MS will come out with some patches for these types of issues. Another small matter, due to the reason mentioned above, you won't see the islands as land on your GPS; however you will see the VOR radial for the island. One other thing that I am currently asking about in their support forum is that I do not see the Shortcut to where I need to turn on the animated features, such as the lighthouse effects, beacons, and other items. These are off by default, as they will hit the performance of the sim. I'm sure it's probably some sort of "Operator Headspace" problem on my part, and I look forward to solving this. Support from the folks at Aerosoft and others who are members of the forum are top-notch when it comes to lending a hand to resolve any problems. These issues were small compared with the overall enjoyment I got out of flying in the area, light beacons or not!
This isn't exactly "Bush Flying", but the skills that a bush pilot is required to have, i.e. landing and taking off from small, challenging airstrips, really comes in handy when flying into and out of Helgoland! Newcomers to the world of Flight Simming may grunt and groan a lot when it comes to smooth landings that don't end up in the water at the other end, but my suggestion is to start out with a small, General Aviation aircraft and get the feel for the airfield. Work your way up from there; just don't expect to land any "heavies" there! The challenges for the advanced simmer and the virtual SAR pilots are certainly there, and the package has great potential for others to contribute various missions to be flown by fellow "wannabe" SAR pilots!
The price is right, and when you buy the FSX product, you also will get the FS9 product as well at no additional charge, or vice versa.
Here's the links to Aerosoft, for more information and even more screenshots...
Click here to visit their Helgoland product page.
Click here to visit the Aerosoft Support Forums.
As with all scenery products, the screenshots can show you just what kind of an add on we're looking at, so here ya go!
The price is right, and when you buy the FSX product, you also will get the FS9 product as well at no additional charge, or vice versa.
Here's the links to Aerosoft, for more information and even more screenshots...
Click here to visit their Helgoland product page.
Click here to visit the Aerosoft Support Forums.
As with all scenery products, the screenshots can show you just what kind of an add on we're looking at, so here ya go!
Helgoland Scenery
From Aerosoft
Reviewed By Farmboyzim
From Aerosoft
Reviewed By Farmboyzim