Sitting atop a large hill overlooking the small town of Shaftsbury in Dorset, UK, Compton Abbas Airfield boasts some of the best and most dramatic views of any airfield in the country. The airfield resides in an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ which guarantees exceptional and often challenging VFR flying with stunning flying through the rolling hills and valleys of the English South-West.
In October 2022, the news broke that the renowned film director Guy Ritchie had acquired Compton Abbas Airfield. Guy Ritchie’s ownership extends even beyond the airfield, as he also possesses an estate and a brewery that conveniently adjoins the airfield.
Compton Abbas is always exceptionally busy, especially in the Summer months, and hosts numerous flying schools, Aero Legends with their Spitfires and Harvard, frequent fly-ins and numerous exotic and vintage aircraft. Finally, Compton Abbas attracts both flyers and non-flyers alike to what has been frequently reviewed as the nation’s finest airfield restaurant.
Compton Abbas has been faithfully recreated by Burning Blue Design, undertaking on-site visits to ensure the highest levels of accuracy. It features:
- Over 80 custom 3D objects each with full Physical Based Rendering (PBR) textures.
- Based on May 2023 layout directly after the grand re-opening after significant building works with accurate buildings, runway, taxiways and custom taxi signs.
- Full custom night lighting.
- Dynamic working runway designator sign.
- Animated hangar doors which close at night.
- Completely custom windsock.
- Animated spectators.
- High resolution colour corrected ground textures taken from Bing maps and manipulated for consistency and realism.
- Enhanced local surroundings including lakes and farms for more accurate circuits.
Real-life static aircraft seen at Compton Abbas:
- Boeing Stearman PT-17 Model 75 N2S-4 Kaydet (14) (G-ISDN)
- De Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth (G-ANKZ)
- De Havilland Chipmunk (G-BWNK)
- De Havilland Chipmunk (G-ULAS)
- Supermarine Spitfire Mk. T IX, 2 seat, NH341, ‘Elizabeth’ (G-CICK)
- North America T-6G Harvard, ‘Carly’ (G-BGHU)
