Homestead Air Reserve Base, tucked into the southern tip of Florida just southwest of Miami, carries more than eight decades of military aviation history within its perimeter fencing. Established in 1942 as part of a sprawling network of US Army Air Corps and US Navy training facilities in South Florida, the base has served under some of the most storied commands in American military history — from Strategic Air Command to Air Combat Command — before settling under Air Force Reserve Command. Today it remains an operationally active installation, home to the 482nd Fighter Wing's F-16Cs, a Florida Air National Guard F-15C detachment, and a US Customs and Border Protection air unit, among others.
Developer Capt_Tasker has released a freeware scenery enhancement for ➡️ Homestead ARB (ICAO: KHST) that takes a comprehensive look at the base and brings it considerably closer to its real-world counterpart. This isn't a ground-up rebuild in the traditional payware sense, but rather a focused, detail-oriented enhancement that addresses the inaccuracies and omissions that the default simulator leaves behind.
The scope of changes is notably broad. All four primary ramps have been reconfigured to accurately represent their real-world tenants — the Florida ANG 125th Fighter Wing Detachment 1 alert ramp, the 93rd Fighter Squadron "Mako's" ramp complete with aircraft sunshades and lighting, the Customs and Border Protection Air Branch ramp, and the main visiting ramp where a US Navy squadron presence has been added. Runway 06/24 has been corrected to its proper width, equipped with accurate lighting, and now features a simulated BAK-14 arresting system — a detail that matters to anyone operating fast jets in and out of the field.
Taxiway naming has been corrected throughout, and dozens of the generic "tin shed" placeholder buildings that populate the default scenery have been replaced with proper in-simulator models. A TACAN station model has been added, and alignment markings now appear at each runway hold-short position.
Operationally significant structures that were previously absent are now represented, including hush houses, the engine run area, an aircraft wash station, and a hot pad on taxiway Bravo. You can download the Homestead Air Reverse Base ➡️ now for free on Flightsim.to.