Normandy 1944

This is an alpha module. This module is still being developed and is missing central features and equipment options. While it is playable, it may have major bugs, and procedures may have inconsistent or unexpected results. The intrepid and very interested may want to buy it; others should probably wait for a more stable or complete release.

[[1]]

For all the DCS World propellerheads, this is a terrain module to provide an appropriate backdrop for all those old-timey fights. The Normandy 1944 map is exactly what one would expect: a recreation of the stretch of coast covered by the D-Day invasion — from Cherbourg to Le Havre — and enough inland, channel, and bits of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire to provide targets and starting locations on the British side as well. In total, the modeled part of the map covers some 170×190 nautical miles.

Currently, the time frame is almost as fixed as the geographic location: the map very specifically depicts the summer of 1944, with area-appropriate vehicles and season-appropriate greenery. There have been mumblings about making it possible to also play at winter and to, if not change the towns and buildings, then at least make trains and cars look a bit more modern if a later date is specified. So far, though, nothing has come of it.

Normandy 1944

The map obviously offers a lot of English Channel to cross, as well as the steep cliffs at either side, but beyond those obstacles, it is almost entirely rolling hills filled with bocages — fields surrounded by tree rows, with the occasional forest thrown in for good measure. Small towns and hamlets are plentiful, many with name you will obviously recognise from history. The airport distribution is almost absurd by modern standards, but actually leaves a fair number out — perhaps unsurprisingly as almost any open area could quickly be turned into a temporary airfield. At the same time, should one try to use the map for any modern aircraft, the realisation quickly sinks in that most of these airports cannot be used by most modern planes. The runways are simply too short; their approaches too cluttered with trees and church towers and chimneys; and they lack any and all navigation aid one would normally expect… including runway lights.

Features

• 120,000km² of modelled terrain (a fair amount of which, admittedly, is open water).
• 31 hardened-surface airfields.
• Era-specific civilian traffic.

Missing features

The Normandy 1944 terrain is labelled as “early access” in the DCS shop in large part because of its current singular focus on the summer of 1944, and because of its lack of supplementary material, all of which is supposed to be added at a later time:

• No winter skin.
• No airport illumination or other allowances for night/IFR flight.
• Still stuck in era-specific traffic when the date is wound forward 75 years.

Links and files

• Compact airfield information (see also kneeboard mods).
• DCS: Normandy 1944 Map in the DCS shop.

Related DCS modules

• Charnwood for P-51D
• Operation Epsom for Spitfire LF Mk. IX
• WWII Assets Pack

More information

• Invasion of Normandy on wikipedia.