In 1972 the United States Army sought a new aircraft for the anti armor attack role that was once filled by the AH -56 Cheyenne. This aircraft would need to be under Army command so platforms such as the A-10 were out of the question due to the Key West Agreement which forbids the Army to own fixed winged aircraft. In 1983 the first production model of the new Advanced Attack Helicopter rolled of the line; the AH-64 Apache.   Many of us are the hunt for those very rare and very illusive combat

Roaring into battle with the famous Tiger tank in 'Steel Fury - Kharkov 1942'!   'Tyger, tyger burning bright   In the forest of the night   What immortal hand or eye   Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?'   William Blake, 'The Tyger', 1794   And now, for something completely different. No, not a Monty Python sketch, but a change of pace and scenery: from the clear blue skies and snarling aero-engines of combat flightsims to the solid earth and thundering heavy weapons of perhaps the best

CombatACE Spotlight: Interview with FalconC45 “The support on the forum is just amazing… I feel like they are my true friends…”-FalconC45   Aviation; according to the encyclopedia, it's the word used to describe the design, production, and operation of heavier-than-air aircraft. It’s defined as an art form by some and yet inspires many children to dream of soaring in the clouds. Some are fortunate enough to not have to extend their arms out their side and make buzzing noises as they get the c

Beating up the enemy after dark, in Prangster's Mosquito campaign for IL-2!   To adapt the 'Redneck's' line in the movie 'Outpost', you can say what you like about Hermann Goering, but he had style...and a perhaps characteristically brutal but effective way with words. Of all the pithy statements attributed to 'der Dicke', as the rotund Reichsmarschall was unceremoniously nicknamed, one I like best concerns his opinion of the 'Wooden Wonder' - the justly-famous DeHavilland DH98 Mosquito. Of th

Holding the line against the Japanese onslaught in New Guinea!   There's no point disputing matters of taste - as the Latin saying goes, 'de gustibus non est disputandum'. But if there was a contest for the most attractive US WW2 fighter, the Curtiss P-40 would get my vote. Especially the later models with that long, deep radiator bath under the nose, with or without the famous 'sharkmouth' marking. The P-40 is of course celebrated mainly for its exploits with the American Volunteer Group in

Defending 'Bloody Tarawa' in the Ki-43 'Hayabusa'!   Having enjoyed flying the Nakajima Ki-43 in an island defence mission courtesy of CFS2 and Yoshi's 'Battle of Chishima' campaign, I was keen to see what IL-2 had to offer, in the same department. IL-2 1946 includes the previous 'Pacific Fighters' installment so I opted to use this, combined with Dark Blue World, the premier add-on package for offline IL-2 fans.   If you want to see the real Hayabusa in action, you probably can't do bette

Flying for the Imperial Japanese Army in Yoshi's 'Battle of Chishima' campaign!     Having recently had a lot of fun spending more time with CFS2, one campaign I was keen to revisit was 'The Battle of Chishima' by Yoshitsugu 'Yoshi' Nagata, which I'd last enjoyed maybe 10 years ago. My original interest in this campaign sprang from an interest in Japanese WW2 warplanes. One of my favourite 1/72 kits 'back in the day' was Revell's Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon). I had my model pa