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The WIP is still rough but it looks like it will work. George Peppard will fly the Pfalz when it is released.

LSK MiG-21UM reworked...

Here is how close New Zealand came to deploying a Squadron of its A-4K Skyhaws to the Gulf War in the 90's, remember they had just been through an upgrade program equipping them with the APG-66 radar, glass cockpit with HUD, MIL-STD 1553B databus, laser INS and ALR-66 RWR. They were cleared to use the AIM-9L, AGM-65B/G, GBU-16C/B, Mk-81/82/83/84 low and high drag bombs. The following is a post by an A-4K avionics tech in the RNZAF 1984-2001 and author of the book SKYHAWKS: The History of the RNZAF Skyhawk. https://books.google.co.nz/books/about/Skyhawks.html?id=N7NCngEACAAJ&redir_esc=y "It was also an interesting time at Ohakea. 75 Sqn was in training to go to war, 2 Sqn were about to be deployed to Nowra and there was talk that the Nowra deployment would go on hold as all our A-4s and personnel would be needed to support 75 Sqn. The paint shop were all geared up to repaint the aircraft in desert camo, the deployment route to the Gulf had been worked out and everyone was being lined up at Medical for their jabs. The 75 Squadron Gulf War happy hour was very memorable - Sadam Husain even put in an appearance! Sadly nothing happened and 75 Sqn went to Williamtown as planned for a WILLOH Exercise at the end of January and 2 Sqn deployed to Nowra as planned at the beginning of February. Oh what might have been eh, had our politicians had some balls! Had we deployed the A-4s they would have been one of the most sophisticated ground attack aircraft in theatre with their then brand new Kahu avionics. We would most likey have been based alongside the Kuwaiti A-4s as they had had to leave all of their ground equipment, ground crew and spares in Kuwait when they evacuated to Saudi. A great opportunity was lost to demonstrate the value in having an Air Combat Force, something we would pay dearly for 10 years later under HC and Co." and: Question: "Was that a genuine plan to operate with the Kuwaiti Air Force? Would the A-K's not have come under RAF command as part of Operation Granby, and operated alongside the Tornadoes and Buccaneers?" Answer: "The US were looking for a fast and easy way to get the Kuwaiti A-4s back in the fight. All they had were their 20 odd aircraft, the pilots who flew them and the clothes they were wearing! They had to leave everything else behind when they left Kuwait. Deploying us along side of them would have solved their logistics and ground crew problem (and the Saudi's/Kuwaiti's would have paid NZ handsomely!). But instead they employed civilian contractors (mercenaries), all former USN/USMC guys. The USMC were still actively flying A-4Ms at that time and had just started disbanding squadrons, so sending over all of the weapons, spares and support equipment they needed wasn't really a problem (they just raided the boneyard). We probably would have come under the RAF command Dave but would have been used in a close air support role (what the A-4 was best at) rather than the longer range tactical strike the Tornados were doing. If we had gone I'm picking we would have fired a LOT of Mavericks... All pie in the sky stuff now but at the time these were the things various people in the RNZAF were seriously thinking about. Had we deployed the A-4s there were a few "fast track" mods we would have had to do to the aircraft (the first four we subsequently did to the aircraft anyway): 1. Fit and test the KY-58 secure radio kit to all aircraft - Kahu had installed the wiring etc. but it was not yet tested in 1991 (secret squirrel stuff). 2. Fit and test the Mode 4 IFF kit (same deal as above). 3. Programme the radar warning system with the threat and friendly radars 4. Update the weapon inventory software for any additional weapons were would be carrying 5. Uprate the engines (basically run the engine hotter to produce more thrust at full power - can be done but reduces engine life) 6. Repaint the aircraft " And so I give you No.75 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Airforce, A-4K Skyhawk, Joint New Zealand/ Kuwait Skyhawk Wing, Operation Desert Storm 1992, King Abdul Aziz Air Base, Dhahran. Expanding on the "fast track' mods Dom mentions above the CBU-87/B has been added to the Kiwi Skyhawk's inventory to enable medium altitude area attacks (as done for the RAF Jaguar's). ALQ-119(V)17 ECM pods are borrowed from the USAF and always carried operationally like most allied aircraft. Finally a handful of AN/ASQ-153 Pave Spike pods are also borrowed from the USAF enabling precision daylight strikes to be carried out without a 'buddy' aircraft to designate the target. The MIL-STD 1553B databus intalled during the project 'Kahu' upgrade is key to enabling the quick addition of additional ordnance and EW pods. Once the air threat had subsided the Kiwi Skyhaws stopped carrying a single AIM-9L and replaced it on most missions with an AGM-65B that the pilots used more as a substitute targeting pod to enable magnified target identification before attacking with bombs etc

Landing animations ...

Gator.......

Wolf257's A-36A, P-51A, P-51B, P-51C and P-51D Mustangs

BTW, night aproach ...

Quick try on that. Upper pic is with the standard view, lower with the TGA sphere moved into position by animation key. If someone wants to recreate this, i recommend to make the sphere move in the first two animation frames of the slot. Slower movement might looks weird. This was just a quick test, we might get even better results with other TGA values.

Yes, only these will have the option to use it with the animation key. Generally all cockpits can have this added, but stock TW cockpits, or other ones with no access to the MAX file, are limited to the fake pilot method.

And this one...

I found this one, but don't want to cause any copyright issues

VonS and I have been discussing lead time. It will take me several months to finish the Pfalz and Junkers textures, and it will take VonS a similar amount of time to develop the very demanding new files for the Caudron R.11. So, the logical thing to do is get the R.11 flying ingame with the skins just roughed in and then pass it on to VonS to work on. Then, I circle back and finish the Pfalz and Junkers. Click shots for hi-res images.

Is Tonka legendary plane ? Yes she is ..... Brits loves their Tonkas as Spitfire ... or maybe more if it is possible ;-) Nah, it isn't possible ;-) Spit is in every british hearth, Tonka only in 80% ;-)

A very nice scenario, dtmd! I never cared for the "desert pink"-sheme, but it doesn't look too bad on the Skyhawk at all. FWIW: The book is highly recommeded - it also features a rather interesting cockpit-picture of a TA-4K going straight down and supersonic...

BTW, I like the assymetrical loadouts.

First, thanks for the flowers... This solution only works for aircraft with self made cockpit! Add the sphere in the cockpit model and animate it with an animation slot. Now choose an empty slot of the external model and add these lines to the aircraft's data.ini: [NVG] SystemType=ANIMATION InputName=ANIMATION_1 DeploymentMethod=MANUAL AnimationTime=0.01 AnimationID=1 <-Must be the empty animation slot! Add this to the cockpit.ini file: [NVG] Type=EXTERNAL_ANIMATION_LINK NodeName=NVGSphere <-Name of the mesh MovementType=ANIMATION AnimationID=10 <-Must be the animation slot number of the cockpit! ItemNumber=3 <-Must be the animation slot of the external model (AnimationID=) This way you can turn the sphere (only visible in cockpit view) on and off with an animation key.

I'll try every option ;-) Night vision is what I always wanted to have. Your way looks promising too ;-))

Great work on the story of those Kahu's. Very nice repaint too.

How about using the Nightlight On part of the cockpit ini ? Change the colour to an intense green , change the cone angle etc, don't know if it would work but it might be worth a try.

This looks nice! Thanks for sharing.

This is an dev Blog Update from the il2 Development Team from August, i will post frequently the new il2 Dev updates here to keep you guys informed. (Im not a part of the Dev Team, but im a supporter and a great fan of this series) They will expand to the pacific next year, until this, they will finish the new great Battle for Kuban! To find some Dev update pics, follow the Link bellow Here you have a preview of the Kuban map, already available for the BOK "Battle of Kuban" Preorder. https://il2sturmovik.com/ Hello Everyone! We approach the next milestone. Tomorrow we plan to begin testing if the release candidate version 2.012, which, as we said earlier, will include very significant innovations like: - German twin-engined attack aircraft Hs 129 B-2, - Kuban map; - New technology of shadows with extended range, clarity and detail in the cabin and flexible settings; - The updated flight model of all the aircraft of the IL-2 project, the planes will be more stable in the airflow, more properly respond to glide and a huge number of other changes in the flight physics; - Improved morning / evening mist visualization; - Improved visualization of armored glass on all aircraft of the project; - Updated set of official aircraft colors Bf 109 F-4 and Ju 87 D-3. Speaking of the plane Hs 129 B-2, it should be noted that this is an extremely interesting aircraft with many features. Firstly, this is the first twin-engine single-seat aircraft in our project. Secondly, it is equipped with French production air-cooled engines Gnome-Rhone 14M, with automatically adjustable oil coolers and a constant speed screw (2750 rpm) with the possibility of manual direct control of the pitch of the screw and the mode of feathering. The airplane is equipped with flaps with a hydraulic smooth extending system, which includes a special metering cylinder for extending flaps right to intermediate take-off position. In the cockpit there is a folding armored seat for easy getting in the aircraft. The instruments for monitoring engine parameters are installed directly on engine cowls, outside the cabin. Front firing weapons of the aircraft are installed in the central part of the fuselage, behind the cockpit, and fire through special channels along the sides of the cabin. Despite the tightness, the configuration of the cockpit canopy provides the pilot with an excellent front-to-bottom visibility, which is extremely important for the attack aircraft. Collimator sight is installed very unusually - outside the canopy, in front of the armored windscreen, which is also unusual in itself because it has a curved shape with a multilayer structure. The "Revi C/12D mit Zieleinrichtung" gun sight is equipped with a special mechanical sighting device for level bombing at fixed altitudes and speeds; How to use it in detail is shown in the images below. Well, finally, this is the first aircraft in our project that carries 30 mm cannonin the form of an optional under-fuselage mounted gun MK 101 or MK 103. Also a under-fuselage gunpod with 4 MG-17 machine guns can be mounted, bringing the total amount of front firing weapons to 8 with a common rate of fire up to 9200 rounds per minute, and ammunition up to 6,500 rounds. In total, version 2.012 will be one of the most important milestones in the history of the Il-2 project. Of course, with so many changes, there may be some shortcomings that we weren't able to find during testing, but we hope that their amount will be minimal and will not hamper the pleasure that you will undoubtedly get in the process of getting acquainted with this update. Here you can find the Dev Blog below: https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/30723-developer-diary-part-169-discussion/

Florian is genius ;-) Inverted skin, only on inside part of this sphere will hide it from outside view ;-) Or should ;-) It's worth of try. It should work like night vision gogles . Ofc we'will stil have problem with day mission, but maybe sphere colour and self ilumination colour can prevent it ... don't know.

Some dogfighting...

finished canopy ... and air brakes (no skin yet)

and final engines version ...