Altimeter full real.

[Bonkin]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

Radar isn't what actually reports bogies, it's aircraft in the air. If you have an aircraft on your side (player or AI) that gets withing "spotting" range (I haven't quite worked this one out yet), you'll get the contact radio call. For example, you can have German flights cruising around all day over France, but until you get a British aircraft there to "see" them, you won't get any radio calls. Ever notice online that sometimes you get calls of Hurri's or Spits at Hawkinge at 200m (200m from sea level, consistent with ground altitude), and sometimes you won't? You get them when a player is over that area, and "spots" the new aircraft spawning in. Even your own plane makes radar calls, so your pilot is doing this without your input, but I think you don't actually get the call (at least, I've heard people report calls on the same side, and I don't receive them at all and the contacts are in my grid area, but maybe there's a radio range too?).

Are you sure about this Cheesehawk? Does it apply to AI also? Historically of course we had radar and the Royal Observer Corps. The latter dotted around the coast would attempt to confirm e/a type, numbers and height as raids came in. Seems a bit odd (in the game) that in order to get a radio report of enemy location they have to be spotted (or in the same area) as one of your own aircraft (or AI?) in the air?

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

But back to the topic, did smaller fields update the barometric pressures back then? I think air traffic control was a bit more primitive, and especially during war time, wonder if they really did keep someone on the mic announcing pressures as planes came in

I don't know the answer to this - but again, for safe vertical navigation for aircraft in the circuit I suspect they did. The control towers were there for that very reason - control. In the real world when joining an airfield control area you are given the QFE, runway in use and wind. I don't imagine it was any different back then.