76.IAP-Blackbird

Dear Pilots, Today’s DD brings us images of the ME 410 A-1 in the engine finally, showing off some of its paint-schemes and beautiful lines. This beautiful bird has been in development for a long time, but the wait has been worth it. The cockpit was an especially challenging piece of work and we’ll have pics of it in the next Developer Diary, but today feast your eyes on its external beauty. Our 410 an A-1 model, but with various modifications that are included it can also become a B-2 variant. We think you will really enjoy the ME 410 A-1 ‘Hornisse’ as it was known. It’s another triumph for the Sturmovik modeling and engineering teams! The ME 410 will enter Beta in about a week’s time. We also have several images of airfields that will be present on the Normandy map. It’s nearing completion and will enter Beta soon as well. It should be noted that the images below are still WIP and some textures may not final. As we have highlighted in previous diaries, different fields have different surfaces. These images definitely demonstrate a variety of different types. Just like our previous maps there will be numerous airfields to launch missions from and of course attack! There is just a huge variety of different airfield types to choose from. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Update 4.706 Dear Pilots! Battle of Normandy is getting closer and closer to that special moment - its release! Testing of the map and game modes will begin soon. New mission types are being created for the Normandy Career. Work is nearing completion on the last aircraft on the project list – the Me 410. All this is happening right now and the work is in full swing. However, at the same time, we try to release those elements of the project that are already ready without delay. So, today, we are producing two aircraft created as part of BON. The first one is the Arado AR 234 B-2. This jet powered single-seat twin-engine reconnaissance bomber is designed to be controlled by the player and has a number of new interesting systems we developed for it. It has a dive-bombing sight, reusable boosters, a drag chute, an automatic aircraft control system ("built-in" autopilot) and many other smaller features that should give you many hours of fun learning about the features of this aircraft. The second plane is the B-26B-55 Marauder AI twin-engine bomber. Although the B-26 is implemented as an AI piloted plane, the quality of this bird is just as good as all the other flyable ones. We made unique crew animations for it and created a new airborne gunner model (which will later be applied to the B-25, A-20 and C-47). We also, implemented a number of design features of this aircraft. In general, accompanying him, or attacking him, should be quite interesting for you. In addition to the two aircraft, some of the last AI objects planned for the Battle of Normandy are included in this update: a Bedford QL truck and tanker variant and several landing craft - LCA, LCM and LCT. Work on missions where these ships will play their main role has already begun. In addition, several other changes were made to improve the project, the list of which can be found below: 1. The German twin-engine single-seat jet reconnaissance bomber Arado AR 234 B-2 is now available for control by all players who pre-ordered the Battle of Normandy project; 2. AI controlled bomber B-26B-55 Marauder, created as part of the Battle of Normandy project, has been added to the project; 3. The Bedford QLD AI truck and its version of the Bedford QLC tanker, created as part of the Battle of Normandy project, have been added to the project; 4. Landing craft LCA, LCT, LCM, created as part of the Battle of Normandy project, have been added to the project; 5. Improved impact of small arms recoil on aircraft; 6. Improved physics of aircraft collision with static objects; 7. Restored the work of AI priorities set by the Force Complete command; 8. Improved animation of rocket launcher ammo in aircraft cockpits; 9. Mosquito FB Mk.VI series.2 - an artifact has been removed from the windshield next to the wiper; 10. Mosquito FB Mk.VI series.2 - the appearance of the pad on the standard red dot sight has been fixed: the pad from the Mk.III sight displayed on top of it has been removed; 11. Pilot career Battle of the Rhine, for the new aircraft Ar-234B-2, two squadrons available to the player - II./KG 76 and III./KG 76, and one AI squadron Sonderkommando Sperling / 1.(F)/ 123; 12. Pilot career Battle of the Rhine, AI aircraft B-26B-55 added, as well as the following AI squadrons that the player can meet in the career: 453rd BS, 454th BS, 455th BS, 456th BS, 556th BS, 557th BS, 558th BS, 559th BS, 584th BS, 585th BS, 586th BS, 587th BS, 596th BS, 597th BS, 598th BS, 599th BS (BS = Bomber Squadron); 13. Fixed a problem with shooting missiles by AI planes when taking off from the runway; 14. When flying in formation at night, aircraft will use formation lights (RESIN lights on Mosquito FB Mk.VI series.2, formation lights on A-20 and B-26); 15. Achtung Spitfire! Scripted Campaign has been updated to fix an issue with images. Have fun :)

The AR 234 is pretty dang cool. Added some AI B-26 which is also in this update. Enjoy

Dear Pilots, Today’s DD takes a look at our cliff models for the Normandy Map. Making realistic looking cliff faces in a flight-simulator is always tough. Whenever you make a map with the English Channel this becomes necessary. Many other development teams have had to craft them over the years and we are no exception. We had our first crack at them when we made our Channel Map for Rise of Flight about 10 years ago. We’ve gotten better at making them and below you can see some work-in-progress images of how they currently look in IL-2 Great Battles. Work on the Normandy map continues and it is really starting to take shape. The map will be released later this summer. However, the next update is already in Beta and it will include the Arado AR-234 jet bomber. What an interesting and challenging aircraft to model. She’s pretty complex. And the AI B-26 will also be I the next update. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Pilots! In today’s DD we have three new things to show you. First, we have some screenshots of our Normandy Map which is coming together nicely. It’s looking very scenic! Second, we have developed the technology to launch a V-1 “Buzz Bomb” from fixed installations. They will make great targets for mission designers. And finally, we have been working on the technology necessary to portray amphibious landings which is necessary for Normandy. Normandy Landscape Below are screens from the new map. As you can see there are some rather large cities and towns as well as a variety of different airfield types. The landscape is also very beautiful. Together it will make a very interesting and fun map to fly over. V-1 Installations The dreaded V-1 is operational in our project for the first time. V-1 sites were prized targets by Allied pilots and needed to be silenced. The V-1s raining down on the UK in the summer of 1944 were a real problem and caused so much destruction and casualties. Attacking these sites will make for some excellent missions. Amphibious Landings And finally, we can’t have an invasion without landing craft bringing troops and vehicles to the beaches. In the images below we see some testing on one of our non-Normandy maps. We have found a clever way to make infantry objects that appear pretty convincing. These soldiers can advance and shoot at the enemy and of course they can perish. Just don’t ask these little pixel soldiers to make you a sandwich or tea, they aren’t that smart. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, In today’s DD we see images of the AR-234 in some new skins and geometry of the IAR-80/81 cockpit. We also see the implementation of WWII style barrage balloons which can be used to protect ships and ground targets. These balloons can be towed by ships, winched up and down and if the wire is hit hard enough and severed the balloon will fly away. If the Luftwaffe ever does reach the invasion fleet watch out for these new obstacles! Our AR 234 B-2 jet bomber is nearing its final stages of development and we have some cool skins to show you today. What a great looking aircraft. The IAR-80/81 Collector Plane is also making progress. The cockpit geometry is about done and ready for texturing. Looks like a very busy cockpit! Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Attention Pilots! We are proud to announce that we are now accepting Pre-Orders for three new Collector Planes! We continue to build and offer interesting and legendary aircraft for the Great Battles series that enhances gameplay and offers new experiences to our customers. The following are now available for Pre-Order in the IL-2 Official Webstore! All feature a 20% Pre-Order Discount! - Sopwith Snipe - Siemens-Schuckert D.IV - Spitfire Mk. XIV w/ Teardrop Canopy All three of these planes are in development and we plan to release them later this year and each represents the pinnacle of aircraft design for their respective eras. Sopwith Snipe 7.F1 The Sopwith Snipe was a late-war entry into combat and represented the pinnacle of British Great War fighter aircraft. It began replacing Sopwith Camels in the autumn of 1918 and went on to server post-war after the Armistice was signed in November 1918. The Snipe was the last British fighter to come equipped with a rotary engine – the Bentley BR2. The BR.2 made 230 hp which allowed the Snipe to be a little faster than the Camel. Although not blistering fast by 1918 standards, it was a very maneuverable fighter. The Snipe had a faster rate of climb than the Camel and it could fight superior German machines more effectively at higher altitudes. The Snipe came armed with two .303 machine guns and had improved visibility over its predecessor. It could also carry a small bomb load like the Camel. It’s combat life was short, but both British and Australian squadrons had success with it before the war ended. Siemens-Schuckert D.IV The Siemens-Schuckert D.IV came very late to the Great War that was too late to change Germany’s fortunes, but what machines did make it to front-line squadrons acquitted themselves well. The SS.DIV was the end result of a robust line of Siemens-Schuckert aircraft that saw service in the war and it came with a unique feature. The 200-hp Siemens Haiske SH.IIIa rotary engine had a crankshaft that rotated opposite of the engine and the propeller ’s rotation in an attempt to reduce the torque. The four-bladed propeller gave it a fast rate of climb and a high speed. The SS.DIV was even faster than Germany’s mainstay front-line fighter, the very successful Fokker D.VII. It was also very maneuverable, but reportedly had nasty stall behavior when pushed too far. The SS.DIV was armed with two 2 × 7.92mm machine guns. Spitfire Mk. XIV w/ Teardrop Canopy The Spitfire Mk. XIV, which entered service at the end of 1943, was originally built with a “high back” rear fuselage which restricted visibility to the rear of the plane. To rectify this problem, development of the Mk. XIV with a cut-down rear fuselage and tear-drop canopy began to be developed and built at the end of 1944. These improved Spitfire Mk. XIVs featured full-span wings and were equipped with 2x .50 cal. machine guns and 2x 20 mm Hispano cannons; they could also be fitted with bomb racks to carry 250 lb. and 500 lb. bombs. An additional 64-gallon fuel tank was also fitted in the rear fuselage, which increased the range of the Mk. XIV to over 610 miles on internal fuel. The same Griffon engine that powered the original Mk. XIVs also powered this new model. For reconnaissance work, a camera could be fitted behind the canopy; such planes were known as Fighter Reconnaissance Mk. XIVs and were fitted with clipped wingtips as standard. Spitfire Mk. XIVs with the cut-down rear fuselage and tear-drop canopy started entering service with the Royal Air Force’s 2nd Tactical Air Force in March 1945 and continued in operational service after the end of the war in Europe in May 1945. These improved Mk. XIVs also began to be sent to the South-East Asian Theater in June 1945 but arrived too late to see any combat against the Japanese. The Sturmovik Team appreciates your continued support as we complete our current development schedule and plan for a busy future! See you in the skies! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Pilots! Today’s DD is all about the mighty Mosquito FB Mk.VI, which is nearing completion for Battle of Normandy! We are finishing her systems and flight model and preparing her for release. As you can see from the images, she is a really good-looking aircraft and there are tons of armament options. She packs one hell of an offensive punch with awesome flight performance. We think she will be an incredibly popular ride in Great Battles. Below you see the almost completed cockpit along with several armament options and skins that will be included. Unfortunately, some systems were not functioning yet, so I was unable to launch any weapons or engage in combat, but she will be entering Beta very soon where the testers will put her through her paces. Stay tuned for more as we get the “Wooden Wonder” ready for release! Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

You will love it when they release FC.2 and FC.3 combined into one huge map

Dear Great War Pilots! We have some awesome news to share with you in today’s DD. The images below are the first to show the Sopwith Snipe and Siemens-Schuckert D.IV Collector Planes we have in development. They are being built by our friends at Ugra Media with our supervision and they are coming along quickly. The Snipe’s external is looking good and the cockpit is well under way, but not ready for a public reveal yet. The SS.D.IV is in a less developed state, but it’s coming along nicely. Both of these are challenging little birds to build, as great reference material is sparse, but when complete they will represent the pinnacle of WWI fighter design at the time of the Armistice. These are also the first truly new aircraft for Flying Circus that were not made for Rise of Flight in the past and we think you will really enjoy them! Both of these will be made available for Pre-Order soon, now that they have made significant process in their development. More about these two interesting warbirds as development progresses. Sopwith Snipe Siemens-Schuckert D.IV Enjoy!

Dear Pilots and Tankers, Today’s DD is a collection of images of new content in development by our partners such as Ugra Media, DigitalForms and others. First, we have a few very much WIP images from the C-47 cockpit being built by Ugra Media. As you can she its coming along nicely and it will add a new dimension to Allied air operations! Next, we have some amazing cutaway shots of the Churchill Mk.IV tank being built by our partners at DigitalForms. The engineering and work they do for Tank Crew models is simply the best in the business. Looking great! They are also working on the Stug III which as you can see is not as complete as the Churchill, but the modeling is just as detailed. Here are a few shots of some sub-assemblies. Finally, we have the Sd. Kfz. 234 which is built by a collection of professional modelers we call Luchin Team. This armored vehicle will be on the Normandy battleground later this summer. Please cheer on our partners as they work to bring some very interesting new toys to your favorite combat simulator – IL-2 Sturmovik! Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Can't wait to have it flyable

Dear friends, The Sturmovik Team and Ugra-Media have completed the Sopwith Triplane which is the final aircraft planned for Flying Circus Vol.II. The new Western Front map is still in development. The "Tripe" as it was famously called, has three beautiful wings! Each wing has its own ailerons making it quite maneuverable in battle with enough armament to allow its pilots to be confident in a dogfight with any adversary of the era. We think you will enjoy her! In addition to the new aircraft there are many changes and additions in this update that will improve your gameplay experience: 1. Sopwith Triplane is available to all owners of Flying Circus Vol.II; 2. Distant buildings visualization system has been improved, single medium sized buildings that are viable targets are displayed from farther away; 3. Shadows rendering in the hangar is more detailed; 4. Tank gun firing visual effects are further improved; 5. Fire effects are improved for various vehicle types; 6. Additional optimization of the landscape rendering system reduced the potential stutters while moving on the map; 7. Loading times of larger maps were improved a bit; 8. Sensitivity settings for the pitch axis, the vertical guidance axis of the tank turret and other similar axes, now have correct namings for hte axis limits; 9. Adjusting the axes control settings was made clearer thanks to better dead zone visualization; 10. Second and third engine axes response settings have correct labels; 11. GUI instrument panel turns off after bailing out; 12. A rare GUI issue that sometimes could lead to generating a Quick Mission Builder scenario without a player flight if the player flight count has been set to random has been fixed; 13. Balloons now have markers like aircraft do; 14. Bombs dropped from a bomb bay backwards (tails first) won't visibly jerk along their axis; 15. Simple ground vehicles and ships will correctly engage the targets assigned by MCU_CMD_AttackTarget command with High priority; 16. Square visual artifacts on the water surface that were visible from high altitude at certain sun position won't appear on Rheinland map anymore; 17. AI pilots will switch off their navigation lights when engaged by the enemy during the landing; 18. All German gauges have been redrawn to be as historically accurate as possible. Different gauges are assigned to each model variant (Oyster_KAI); 19. Colors of all German interior equipment/placard have been checked and repainted to their correct color or design (Oyster_KAI); 20. New different throttle quadrant markings & pitch control switch for Bf-109 F/G/K. 21. New drop tank placard & oil cooler placard for Bf-109 E-7 (Oyster_KAI); 22. New headrest for Bf-109G6 (Oyster_KAI); 23. New details for He-111s (Oyster_KAI); 24. New rudder pedal belt texture for all German planes (Oyster_KAI); 25. In the Me-262 exterior view, the 2 pixelated circular holes behind the seats have been redrawn (Oyster_KAI); 26. Added circuit breaker markings on the instrument panel for Bf-109s, Fw-190s, and the Me-262 (Oyster_KAI); 27. Added screws for the Fw-190A's left & right canopy frame (Oyster_KAI); 28. Bf-110s, M.C202, and P-51D external views now have visible instrument reflections (Oyster_KAI); 29. P-51D placards won't glow at night (Oyster_KAI); 30. Scrollbar in the aircraft selection menu in Dogfight won't overlap with the aircraft images 31. A minor issue in the tactical number selection menu has been fixed; 32. Mission Editor won't crash during loading of the Prokhorovka map; 33. Aircraft lists in the Mission Editor are sorted correctly (alphabetically).

Hello Everyone, Happy Easter Sunday to those of you who celebrate it in the West. I hope the Easter Bunny brought you an Easter basket full of goodies and that you had a nice day with friends and family. In the spirit of Easter I have have an Easter gift for you! I know many of you are anxiously awaiting the flyable C-47A we have been working on. Actually, it's being built by Ugra Media with our supervision. Working with third-parties on aircraft is not easy and it's usually a pretty slow process, but progress is being made. Below is a very much Work in Progress screen of the C-47 cockpit. It's been grafted onto another model so we can test it in the engine, that's why it may look a little funny. It will be mated to the C-47 external model soon. This image looks quite nice, but be aware more work on textures, animation and connecting it's systems tot he engine needs to be done before it is ready. In other words, don't assume it will be released next week and what you see here may change a bit before release. I just wanted to show you that it indeed is coming along slowly, but surely. Hope you enjoyed your little Easter surprise.

Dear Pilots! Today’s Developer Diary brings us pics of the classic Sopwith Triplane in action along with some pics of B-26 liveries. The Tripe is the tenth plane for Flying Circus - Vol. II and it will be in the next update which is due at the end of the month. We continue to work on the map for FC2. The AI B-26 will be in a later update. The Tripe will have the option of mounting one or two Vickers machine guns. Work and testing for the 4.704 update is well underway and will include some new optimizations that should speed up loading times for many of you. Sopwith Triplane B-26B-55 Enjoy and Happy Easter to everyone! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, Today’s DD features two great, new additions that we think you will be excited about! First, we have in-game pics of the awesome and often overlooked workhorse of the USAAF – the B-26! The B-26 was considered a fast medium bomber and it saw action on all fronts in WWII for the USAAF. It was somewhat tricky to fly and had a not so good reputation in the eyes of early aircrews. Accidents were known to happen quite often. But once in theater the B-26 rose to the occasion and usually bombed tactical targets from lower altitudes than the heavy bombers like the B-17 and B-24. Targets like bridges, airfields, command posts, beaches and railyards are all prime targets for the B-26. The B-26 in Great Battles is the Block 55 model which were numerous in the European theater during the Normandy timeframe and this model also came in both olive drab and natural metal finishes which will add variety to our skins. Our B-26 is an AI controlled plane, like our B-25. However, with the inclusion of the B-26 we can have much more interesting missions and gameplay with some proper Allied level-bombers playing their role. Plus, it is just a beautifully streamlined aircraft that really makes for some great photos! Also, we cannot wait to see what skin artists will do with her. On a personal note, my grandfather served in B-26s during WWII in England and France with the 9th Air Force and seeing the B-26 take flight in Great Battles makes it extra special for me. It's this kind of personal connection to history that makes this job and hobby worth the effort. I addition to the B-26 we have finally begun work on improvements to our controller assignment system. In Rise of Flight, we had a great system for assigning key maps, joystick curves to custom input profiles which could be assigned to individual planes or set as default. The system worked well and was popular. We are now taking the time to add a similar system to Sturmovik and we think you’re going to be very happy with it. I hesitate to show you such early, early draft images, but they demonstrate where we are headed. Also, we are adding the ability to virtually adjust the pitch like we had in ROF, which for WWI crates makes them much more comfortable to fly and increases the fun factor. Enjoy! Jason and The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, Today’s Developer Diary showcases our upcoming and awesome Mosquito FB Mk.VI. Isn’t she a beauty? Our “Wooden Wonder” as it was called, is in the later stages of development and we have already completed some of her skins that will be included. Work on her flight model has begun and work on finishing her cockpit continues. We are doing all we can to get her into your hangars just as soon as possible. We know she is a hotly anticipated plane and the wait is difficult, but please have patience, we think she will be worth it! As you know, we frequently re-visit some of our older technology and try to improve it. A recent example is our sky, clouds and lighting, which we still hope to improve further in time. Recently, we finally had some time to re-visit our technology that affects the appearance of our Propeller Disk. Our current prop disk has some issues that we wanted to rectify including how it seems to disappear at certain angles. We also wanted to make its appearance more realistic and dynamic. We think we achieved this and here are a couple screens to help demonstrate. It’s hard to get the whole effect in still images or even a video, but we wanted to make you aware of this development. We think you’ll enjoy it once it’s in-game. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Hello Everyone, A quick update on all that we are working on at the moment. We are preparing version 4.703 for release for middle of next week. Assuming, of course, no last-minute show stoppers arise. Update 4.703 will include three large planes – the JU 88 C-6, Gotha G.V. and Handley Page O/400. This brings some heavier metal to BON and some err… heavier lumber to FC2 I guess you could say. The Gotha, as it was in ROF is a handful to fly. See if you can master it! The Sopwith Tripe is also entering its later stage of development and will be in our next update. 4.703 also includes 40+ smaller tweaks and improvements including items such as: - New sky technology and improvements to lighting. Should see a reduction in overall blue tint. - Improvements to the appearance and lighting of snowy landscapes. - The position of heavenly bodies now depends not only on time and date, but also on geographic coordinates (including when moving around the map). - Quick Mission GUI now includes the ability to set any time of day with clues as to Sunrise, Daylight, Sunset and Night-time scenes. - AI with mixed cannon and machine gun armaments shoot more accurately. - Fix to the landing lights that are visible from far away issue. - Added the Ju-88 C-6 to Stalingrad Career mode with III./KG76 and for the Battle of Kuban 7.(Eis)/KG 51 and 9./KG 55. - Squadron II./JG 3 for Pilot Career Battle of Stalingrad moved from AI to player controllable - Squadron II./KG 76 for pilot career Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad moved from AI to player controllable. After much research and bug chasing, our engineers discovered clear issues with our modeling of some aspects of the Bf-109 airframe, which in some situations made their performance quite unrealistic. So, we have made some changes to most Bf-109 variants relating to the over-modeling of propeller performance and aerodynamics. Version 4.703 will include the following changes. - On all Bf-109 aircraft (except for the E-7) the aerodynamic characteristics of the propeller have been changed to eliminate the unrealistic behavior of the aircraft in the wake of the propeller and the possibility of "hovering on the propeller". The airframe aerodynamics of these aircraft has also been corrected so that the maximum speed, rate of climb, turn time, and acceleration time better corresponded to the reference values. - On all Bf-109 aircraft (except for the E-7) the effectiveness of the ailerons at high speeds has been changed (increased) (the "clamping" of the ailerons has been reduced at speeds over 400 km/h) The goal was to be more accurate overall, so in some cases speeds may be bit lower at sea level, but higher at rated altitudes and climb-rate may be a bit slower. But in some cases, turns may be quicker, but acceleration a little slower. As usual, we have used a mix of German and Soviet sources to try to get a more accurate picture. Also, Fuel System work has progressed to a late stage and has been in Beta testing, but the Beta testers continue to find issues that need addressing, so work continues. Its very frustrating, but we continue to work on it. And before we sign off for the week, here are a few pics of the Churchill Mk.IV tank being tested and tweaked in our virtual proving grounds. We hope you will like version 4.703. The Sturmovik Team

Hello Everyone, Today’s DD brings us some very cool renders of the Me 410 A-1 cockpit. It’s a very unique cockpit and has been a challenge to build, but it’s looking great now and heading into the final stretch. We continue to work on our next update which we hope will be next week. It will be a good one with the new sky and new airplanes like the Ju 88 C-6, Gotha G.V. and we think possibly the Handley Page O/400. Me 410 A-1 Cockpit in Development And our colleague =DED= Rapidus just handed me a link to a short video of our new sky and Ju 88 C-6 in action that he filmed while testing the Beta. You may want to check out. Has some funky beats. *Any artifacts are caused by YouTube compression. Enjoy. The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, Once again, we are reminded that real-life is much more important than a video game or flight simulation. We pray for the safety and well-being of all our friends, family and associates no matter where they are during this difficult time. We are an international team and an apolitical organization and we wish to remain so. We ask that you help us keep our forum and other properties civil as world events unfold. We are operating as usual; development continues and we expect to continue to do so. For today’s DD we have new, never before seen pics of the Arado AR 234 cockpit under development. We also have some shots of the Bedford truck and fuel tanker. And finally, we have an image of our USAAF bomber pilots with different helmets. Please enjoy. The Sturmovik Team

Hello Everyone! Today’s Developer Diary has just one task. To show you the mighty Ju 88 C-6 in the engine and decimating targets with her awesome firepower. Don’t get caught in her gunsight because she can unleash a hellish barrage or bullets, cannon fire or bombs! A couple of these heavy hitters can wreck a convoy or an airfield in no time. These images also include our New Sky which is nearing readiness for release soon. You’ll notice it looks not only more beautiful, but more realistic with no banding in low light conditions. The new sky when coupled with the new clouds and some new adjustments to the lighting, combines to make a beautiful scene! We’ve also added the ability to set the time to the exact hour and minute you want in the Quick Missions GUI so it will be much easier to fly during your favorite time of day. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Hello Everyone! Today we bring you some news from the Great War! We are nearing completion of the final trio of Flying Circus- Vol. II aircraft. The Gotha G.V., Handley-Page O/400 and Sopwith Triplane are coming along nicely. The Gotha G.V. will be released in our next update, which we hope will be by the end of this month. The HP O/400 and Tripe will be in a March update. The Western Front map for FC2/3 is also being worked on by Ugra Media, but it is not ready to be shown yet and will likely take more time to complete that we originally planned unfortunately. A clear estimate on its arrival is not possible at the moment, but will update you as soon as we get a better handle on it. Map making is a slow process in general. In some WWII news we have created new USAAF bomber crewmembers for our B-26 to man the gun stations. The work by Alexey is top notch as usual. We have also made more progress on our new sky technology and are currently working to put it into Beta soon. Next week we plan to update our Astro-dome (stars and planets) to be more accurate depending on the latitude of the map. This is a small, but interesting improvement to make our physical world a little more accurate. Work on our remaining Battle of Normandy aircraft continues. As I have mentioned previously, moderate delays have befallen these birds during the pandemic, but work continues and we hope to start showing you more of them in upcoming DDs. However, the Ju-88 C-6 should be ready for Beta testing soon and be included in our next update (provided testing goes well). We are finalizing our skins for it and getting ready to roll her out. We hope to have updated pics for you next week of the beastly Ju-88 C-6. It appears the world is finally ready to move on from the pandemic and we hope this means life will get back to normal. Of course, humanity will find a way to struggle to even get back to normal, such is our nature it seems. However, the long-term disruption to daily life, families, education, travel, medicine, governments and business norms that this pandemic has caused will be felt for years to come. In the face of all this disruption, we want to say THANK YOU to all who have supported us during the last couple years as we have struggled to maintain a steady flow of content and improvements for the Great Battles series. We can never thank you enough and we will continue to work hard for you. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

I dont have track ir, maybe you can ask the Community in the official il2 Forums, there has to be a solution for it Best regards Martin

Hi I have checked it ingame to verify your observation. The Answer is easy, you are sitting to low. When you center the view und just "move" backwards ( I have no Track IR, so I use keys for the head position) Than move backwards and you will notice the rear cockpit bar in the mirror. I need to move the head downward, to have a clear view in the mirror as you do. So just move upwards

Dear Friends, I wanted to post this before the end of the year, but our schedule was too intense and time was short. I also wanted to post it during our New Year’s holiday break, but as was trying to finish this up, I was forced to do battle with a moderate form of COVID. Luckily, after a few really annoying days I am able to function again and get back to our yearly round up. So, without any further delay here it is, finally. This was a very hard year for us, even more so than 2020 thanks to the prolonged pandemic and lingering half-open, half-closed nature of major cities and office environment coupled with our busy development schedule. In addition, we had several team members get sick and require time off, plus family members who got sick needed the attention of team members to aid in recovery. Also, doing remote work, which can have advantages, is not always ideal for our development work. Our office environment has always been one of our strengths where problems and discoveries can be easily shared and discussed much quicker and focus can be better maintained. Regardless we have continued our work and even with some aircraft delayed, our overall timeline for Battle of Normandy is on track. With each new product, we set more ambitious goals for ourselves and keep pushing what we are capable of as a team. Sometimes, these goals are easily reached and sometimes not. We promise to keep pushing in 2022 and beyond. Let’s take a look at what we accomplished in 2021 shall we. Q1 2021 started off promising with worldwide vaccination drives and we all thought it would allow us to get back to a normal work environment and I could once again travel to Moscow to meet with the team in person. That didn’t really happen as planned, but work on IL-2 continued and we were able to do the following in Q1. In February we released update 4.506. Highlights include: Hide contents In February we released update 4.506. Highlights include: - German fighter/bomber Fw 190 A-6 is now available to all Battle of Normandy owners - Fw 190 A-6 added to Rhineland Career mode (to the 1st and 2nd chapters to joinable squadrons III./JG 11, I./JG 26 and II./JG 26 and to all chapters to AI squadrons III./KG 51 and NSGr. 20) - Bf 109 E-7 got 4K quality external textures by Martin =ICDP= Catney - New truck variations (which look exactly like the regular ones) that are loaded with ammo and explode when attacked in a spectacular way - Many cockpit texture improvements by Chiawei =Oyster_KAI= Liang - AI improvements - Improved explosion effects Q2 The second quarter was a busy one for Sturmovik as we released two major updates - 4.601 in April and 4.602 in June. These updates brought several new planes and vehicles to BON and Flying Circus and even brought our first Collector Vehicle to market! Some highlights from 4.601 and 4.602 include: Reveal hidden contents Q3 Autumn 2021 saw two more updates that really boosted Flying Circus II content with 3 new planes and we released our mobile German Flak half-track. If you look through the highlights below, you’ll notice a lot of rather small, but important changes. Such details are important for our sim, but they take time and require research. Also notice our unique pilot fatigue modeling that makes dogfights and combat feel more real and less superhuman. Imagine being a young kid flying one of these machines and the physicality it took to be successful as a fighter pilot. It wasn’t always just about the performance of the aircraft like we seem to focus on in the sim. The human factor played a larger role in real life. 4.603 and 4.604 Reveal hidden contents Q4 The push was on to finish the year strong even though our fabulous twin-engine aircraft for Normandy had developed slower than planned. So, we focused on adding the AQMG and New Clouds to IL-2 as fast as we could. Update 4.605 came in October and updates 4.701 and 4.702 hit in December wrapping up the year. Updates 4.605, 4.701 and 4.702 includes these great additions and much more. Reveal hidden contents Special Thanks As is always the case, we cannot do what we do without the support of talent individuals that help us improve the simulation. Sometimes they help in small ways and sometimes in big ways, but it all adds up to make users enjoy Sturmovik that much more. This is in incomplete list and I’m likely to forget someone, but we want to say special thanks to ICDP, Raptorattacker, LukeFF, SYN_Vander, Jaegermeister, Oyster_Kai, Requiem, SYN_Haashashin, Pat_Wilson, MisterSmith, ShamrockFive, Gambit21, Haluter, BlackHellHound1, Rowdyb00t, SolidKreate, ROEN911, Juri_JS, PatCartier, Obelix, E69_Cananas, J2_Trupobaw, namhee2, SCG_Fenris_Wolf, LF_Gallahad, Mr. Black Dog and all our Beta Testers and anyone else who pitched in to help us this past year in any capacity! Also, we want to say thanks to our professional development partners Ugra Media, DigitalForms, Michael Luchin & Team and Ivan Shirshov who are doing a great job expanding the Great Battles series! Plans for 2022 So, what’s in store for 2022? Lots of things! Our main goals are to release BON and FCII by the summertime and work to release the Collector Planes and Tanks we have previously announced. As we do that, we will begin planning for future titles and continue to try and beef up our personnel so we can have better options then we’ve had previously for parallel development and new technology. You can check out the list of the content we previously announced and what their status currently is. There is much new content coming in 2022 along with some new features and usability improvements that we will share in our Developer Diaries. Fokker D.VIII - Released in 2021 Spad 7 150hp - Released in 2021 Spitfire Mk.XIV - Released in 2021 Fw-190 A-6 - Released in 2021 Nieuport 28.C1 - Released in 2021 Spad 7 180hp - Released in 2021 GAZ-MM 72-K - Released in 2021 Sd. Kfz. 10/5 + Flak38 - Released in 2021 Typhoon Mk.Ib - Released in 2021 P-51B/C - - Released in 2021 Pfalz D.XII - Released in 2021 Breguet 14.B2 - Released in 2021 DFW C.V. - Released in 2021 Airco DH.4 - Released in 2021 Western Front WWI Map – Scheduled for Q1 2022, might slip to Q2 if quality issues. (Made by Ugra Media) Normandy Map - Scheduled for Q2 2022 Sopwith Triplane – Scheduled for Q1 2022 Ju 88 C-6 – Scheduled for Q1 2022 Handley Page 0-400 – Scheduled for late Q1 2022 Gotha G.V – Coming in Q1 2022 C-47A – Scheduled for Q2 2022 (Made by Ugra Media) B-26 (AI) – Scheduled for late Q1 2022 V-1 Cruise Missile – Scheduled for Q2 2022 (new engineering needed to make this to launch and fly right) Ar-234 – Scheduled for Q2 2022 Mosquito FB Mk.VI – Scheduled for Q2 2022 Me-410 – Scheduled for Q2 2022 IAR – 80/81 – Second half of 2022 (Made by Ivan Shirshov) Churchill Mk.IV Tank – Summer 2022 Stug III Mobile Assault Gun – Summer 2022 Siemens & Schuckert D.IV – Scheduled for 2022 (Made by Ugra Media) Sopwith Snipe – Scheduled for 2022 (Made by Ugra Media) Li-2 – After C-47 (Made by Ugra Media) Thanks again to all of your support in 2021 and for your continued support in 2022!!