Richard Ira Bong
 
Just over the Wisconsin border from Illinois is the most stolen sign in America. It reads Bong Recreation Area. 99% of the people you ask will have no idea who or what the area is named after. It's a shame that the greatest fighter pilot America has ever produced is all but forgotten and his name has become a joke.
 
This is just my attempt to educate a small number of you as to the life and times of Richard Ira Bong, America's Ace of Aces. His record 40 kills in the Pacific Theater will never be surpassed. This unlikely farm boy from Poplar Wisconsin became a super star and then faded into the history books. He deserves more than 15 min of fame.
 
I have recreated all of Bong's successful missions. If you equal or surpass Bong's record with all the realism options turned on without do overs and without using the auto pilot you have accomplished a major feat and should be proud of your simulated flying skill.
 
The folder BongCampaign goes in the US folder that is in the Campaign folder that is in the mission folder.
The folder BongSingle goes in the US folder that is in the Single folder that is in the mission folder.
The P38J, P38L and P38L_Late folders go in the skins folder that is in the PaintSchemes folder.
 
This campaign is complex and requires a powerfull computer and video card. It was done with IL2FB+PF Combined Install version 4.02.
 
I have tried to recreate as accurately as possible the circumstances faced by Dick Bong in his 2 year onslaught of the Japanese armed forces. I have had to use different maps because many of the areas that Bong fought in are not represented in the game yet. Areas such as Northern New Guinea, Rabal, Borneo, the Philippine Islands of Negros, Mindoro and Leyte have not been modeled yet. I have found very similar areas on other maps that fit the bill however. By using the southern part of New Guinea I was able to recreate the Lae area farther to the north; by using the Singapore map I could recreate similar conditions to the Philippine islands etc. I think you will get the feel of the historical area and conditions.
 
Three books were instrumental in providing the historical facts for this endeavor...
 
Ace of Aces, The Dick Bong Story - Written by Carl Bong and Mike O'connor
Dear Mom So We Have A War by Carl Bong
Dick Bong Ace of Aces by Gen. George Kenney
 
Carl Bong is Dick Bong's brother and Gen. Kenney was Dick's commanding officer. I have copied major parts of the "descriptions" from these books. I am not a writer but I do know how to copy well. The first mission is from the Kokoda Campaign for Pacific Fighters by VBF_80 and the skins are all modifications of other people's painstaking work the most notable being "Marge" by Richard Mutt or RMutt. I couldn't have done this project without the jump start these artists provided.
 
I wish to apologize for the racial epithets used to describe the Japanese race. This was the language of the times and the quotes are verbatim. I'm sorry if they cause any discomfort. I do not mean to offend, just to be historically accurate with my quotes.
 
There are a few fun missions. One where you take off at night and try and get Washing Machine Charlie as Bong tried to do a few times... Another where you get into a dogfight in a SBD against a float plane... One where you have a mock dog fight with a P47 as Bong did while on leave... and the last one where you try and complete the only mission that Dick Bong could not.
 
Add all you want but please dont change the basic facts of the missions. The research is pretty good. If you do put the plane on autopilot, you will encounter all the bogies that Dick Bong shot down.
 
Oh yeah, by the way, did you know who Bong was before you read this?

Very small Zip file containing command files and sub folders to allow you to change out music files "once in the sim".
 
Simple commands redirecting IL2 music as to what folder to run the files from at any time.

These are American pilot speech files taken from the sim "Jane's WWII Fighters" by Electronic Arts (1998) and then reformatted and renamed to be audible in "IL-2 Forgotten Battles," "Ace Expansion Pack" or
"Pacific Fighters" by 1C:Maddox Games.
 
Most of the commands/phrases used in FB and PF have equivalent samples in Jane's WWII Fighters. With some creative adaptaptations I was able
to replace nearly all of the speech files used by the US 'flight leader' character and some of the files used by the bomber pilots.
 
Being that Jane's WWII Fighters was an European Theater of Operations themed simulation (it was set in the Ardennes 1944/45), these speech files may be thoroughly inaccurate for other theaters, namely the Pacific. I tried to avoid speech files that directly reference the Luftwaffe as the enemy.

G15Manager.exe is a small C++/MFC 7.1 utility for those happy enough to have the exellent Logitech G15 keyboard with a built in display. The application will show information from the "eventlog.lst" file in the IL2 directory. The CPU and memory resources used are very moderate (at least on my system!). Download one of the zip-files below, extract to a directory of choice and start the application, pick your settings and click the "Start LCD Output". Then minimize it and start IL2... Don't forget to read the README.txt file for more information...

G15Manager.exe is a small C++/MFC 7.1 utility for those happy enough to have the exellent Logitech G15 keyboard with a built in display. The application will show information from the "eventlog.lst" file in the IL2 directory. The CPU and memory resources used are very moderate (at least on my system!). Download one of the zip-files below, extract to a directory of choice and start the application, pick your settings and click the "Start LCD Output". Then minimize it and start IL2... Don't forget to read the README.txt file for more information...

This program will allow you to compare data from aircraft in the IL-2 series of flight simulators side-by-side. You are not currently able to do this with the in-game object viewer.

HyperLobby (or just HL) is an online gaming lobby primarily designed to support online flight simulation and other online games.

6M5 "ZERO"52
flown by Ensign Sadaaki Akamatsu of the 203rd Naval Flying Group at Yokosuka in 1944.
Mitsubishi A6M2/N "RUFE"
954 Flight Regiment.Pilot:Eitoku Matsunaga.
Bandan Sea/Ambon Island,Sept.. 1943.