76.IAP-Blackbird

Update 4.603 Dear friends, IL-2 team reports that the new update 4.603 is released. It's a significant one for Flying Circus Vol.II - three airplanes are added to the Early Access program of this project at once. Also in this update is the long-awaited Collector Vehicle - German AA half-track Sd.Kfz.10/5. It was an interesting experience to develop: this is the first player controllable half-truck chassis in our sim. A lot of work went into ballistics data and other ammo parameters research. Our partners at Digital Forms did a stellar job at references research and creation of the 3D model and myriad of its parts based on them. Oyster_KAI improved all Flying Circus aircraft cockpits (both Vol.I and Vol.II) and Martin =ICDP= Catney created 4K quality external textures for the German Collector Plane Hs 129 B-2. And finally, Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshkov finished his new campaign "Steel Birds" about Fw 190 A-5 missions over the Kuban and it is available in the game now (you can get it on our website if you haven't done so already). Meanwhile, the work on Marshal multiplayer mode, fuel systems and drop tanks, environment graphics, Normandy and Western Front WW1 maps continues and we hope to show you the results sooner than later. This update contains many changes in addition to mentioned above: Main changes 1. Collector Vehicle 20 mm Flak 38 anti-aircraft gun on Sd.Kfz 10/5 half-track is now available; 2. Pfalz D.XII is now available to all customers who pre-ordered Flying Circus Vol.II; 3. The early version of the Spad VII.C1 fighter with a 150-horsepower engine is now available to all customers who pre-ordered Flying Circus Vol. II; 4. The Airco DH4I two-seater single-engine bomber is now available to all customers who pre-ordered Flying Circus Vol. II; 5. New historical scenario campaign “Steel birds” is now available; 6. All Flying Circus Vol.I and Vol.II airplanes cockpits detail improved (Oyster_KAI); 7. Hs-129 B-2 attack aircraft now has 4K quality external texturing (Martin 'ICDP' Catney); Aircraft changes 8. Fixed invisibility of paratroopers on Ju-52 and C-47 in a multiplayer game; 9. Removed the ability to select a pistol and fire it when the cockpit is closed (it is automatically holstered); 10. Fixed overload indicator for ‘guest’ gunners (other players) in multi-crew airplanes in multiplayer; 11. Maximum wing lift of the Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib was reduced. Stall speed increased and turn performance reduced. The flight model of the aircraft was reconfigured in such a way that other significant flight characteristics of the aircraft (speed, rate of climb, control stick balancing positions, roll angular velocities) practically did not change; 12. The indicator in the bombsight showing the impossibility of dropping bombs from the current position has been fixed; 13. AI pilots won’t shake their aircraft along the pitch axis when attacking a ground target with cannons that have a mix of different types of ammo; 14. AI pilots won’t ignore a heavily damaged but not destroyed ground target; 15. The angle of a shallow bombing dive for Pe-2, Il-2, Fw-190, Ju-87, Ju-88, Bf-110, Hs-129 aircraft has been increased to 30°; 16. Bomb release sound has been added to all Flying Circus aircraft; Player controllable tanks changes 17. "Turn off the engine" command works as it should and has voiceover; 18. Fixed an infinite rotation of AI-controlled detailed tanks after giving them a turn and stop order; 19. Fixed "turn shaking" of AI-controlled detailed tanks that sometimes happened after stopping; 20. Fixed "looping" of AI-controlled detailed tanks hat sometimes happened after "Turn by 180°" order; 21. Movement to a point and movement according to the mission scenario commands correctly function after issuing commands "Stop and hold position" and "Turn and stop"; 22. The camera won’t be randomly stuck in external view after the death of one of the crew members and it won’t be possible to switch to a killed crew member; 23. The gunner now uses a manual turret traverse drive and its different gears if available depending on the aiming correction required (small adjustments are made using the manual drive); 24. Killed gunners won’t visibly "turn" after death; 25. Detailed tanks won’t "bounce" when collided with static versions of vehicles (static_ ...); Graphic effects 26. Ship wake trails and splashes effects are improved significantly; 27. New ship explosion and sinking effects added; 28. Improved ship fire effects added; 29. New aircraft fuel tank explosion effect created; 30. Bomb ground detonations, railroad and road fuel transport explosions are improved and optimized; Pilot's Career 31. New bombing mission types added for all fighter/bombers in all careers (8 types in total): artillery position, fortified area, troop concentration, airfield, river crossing, railway junction, warehouse, bridge; 32. The mission logic in all ground attack and bomber missions has been improved: the player's flight planes returning home with unused bombs and missiles should happen much less often; 33. The player’s fighter/bomber flight in all ground attack and bomber missions should have an escort depending on the type of the player's aircraft and the time period; Other changes 34. The deletion of train cars by the MCU: Delete mission command fixed (previously it only deleted the locomotive, leaving the cars); 35. Fixed a problem with the part of the game interface missing in the screenshots; 36. A default tactical code can be set in the spawn point settings in the mission editor; 37. The discrepancy between the ship movement effects for different players in multiplayer has been fixed; 38. Corrected ballistics and penetration ability of German 20mm rounds used in anti-aircraft guns; 39. Thorny 13 pdr AA anti-aircraft gun firing sound restored; 40. Fixed the “Engageable” flag for GAZ-MM 72K anti-aircraft gun in mission editor (previously AI pilots attacked the vehicle even with it set to 0).

Dear friends, Despite the wonderful weather behind the window that would direct anyone's thoughts towards a vacation, the IL-2 team continues to work at the fastest rate possible in all planned directions. For the most massive one of them, the Battle of Normandy, a number of significant results were achieved during the last few weeks. For instance, the work on the Normandy map objects, including the ones needed for temporary ports in the beachhead area, German fortifications, unique city buildings, and stationary radars are nearly complete. We can already show you some of them in the sim: In addition, we started the final production stage of P-51B we're creating for the Battle of Normandy. We want to deliver this famous and long-awaited plane to all BoN customers as soon as possible. There are good news about Flying Circus Vol. II as well -the Western Front map is progressing well and we plan to show it in our Dev Blog soon, while today we can show you two coming airplanes at once: early SPAD 7.C1 with 150 HP engine and two-seater bomber Airco D.H.4: And finally, Sd.Kfz.10/5 with 20mm Flak 38, the second player controllable mobile AA gun, is nearly complete as well. Here are its screenshots in the sim: You can discuss the news in this thread

Dear Pilots, Tankers and Gunners, Today we have a short Developer Diary for you that shows progress on the Normandy airfields and the cockpit our P-51B/C. As with our Rhineland map, the Normandy map will include historically accurate airfields. Here you can see how we match up period photos with our in-game map as we build them. And work continues on the P-51B/C cockpit and below are some WIP shots. Of course, there are some missing details as the work is ongoing and still quite early. We are confident the P-51B/C will be really awesome when completed. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, Today we have a very straightforward Dev. Diary for you. We’d like to show you 4 aircraft that we have under development. Two from the Great War and two from WW2. First, we have the Spad VII.C1 which is under development by our partners at Ugra Media for Flying Circus Vol. II. She’s coming along nicely. Second, we have the powerful Airco DH.4 that gives Flying Circus some more two-seat bomber options. Such a great looking airplane. Next, we have the B-26 Marauder that will be flown by the AI in Battle of Normandy. This is one of Jason’s favorite aircraft because his Grandfather John served in a B-26 unit in England and France during the war. Finally, we have some pics of the Ar-234. Looks amazing! We continue to build other planes including the Mosquito, Me-410 and the P-51B/C and we continue to test Air Marshal. Also, our new more complex Fuel System modeling is finally entering the Beta stage. It will first be installed and tested on our Bf-109s. So, work continues on all fronts even as team members take hard earned summer vacations. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Pilots, Today’s Developer Diary has two cool items to announce. First, you can’t stage a Normandy invasion without some dashing British gents jumping out of airplanes. So, we built some. Next, we are excited to announce that our next payware historical Scripted Campaign is coming soon and it’s called – Steel Birds! Pre-orders will begin next week! Created by our master mission-specialist Alex “Blacksix” Timoshkov, Steel Birds focuses on Fw-190 A-5 operations in the Kuban theater in late spring 1943. You'll take on the role of the newly appointed flight commander in 5. Staffel of the II./Sch.G 1. Under the command of Hauptmann Frank Neubert this Gruppe has just completed a retraining program and has relocated to Anapa airfield to support the operations of the German 17th Army. The campaign is set from April 14th to May 16th, 1943 and is centered around the struggle for a bridgehead at Novorossiysk (Operation Neptune), and two major Soviet offensives in the area of Krymskaya, which ended with the withdrawal of German troops to a new line of defense in early May. The sharp increase of the Soviet air strength in the Kuban led to one of the largest and fiercest air battles ever on the Eastern Front. In this difficult situation, you have to strike artillery batteries, transport and armored columns, airfields and battle formations of enemy advancing troops. We’ll have more about Steel Birds next week when we formally launch pre-orders for this historically bases campaign. Release is scheduled for August. Some images from Steel Birds are below. And finally, we have some images from the new Advanced Quick Mission interface that is coming later this summer. We saved our old “campaign” system technology and have laid it over the existing QMB to give you added depth for missions that can be created quickly. We think this will be an entertaining new feature that will allow you to fly missions with more structure, but not be as big a commitment as the Pilot Career or as simplistic as the QMB battles. This new AQM, alongside our other mission-making tools such as the existing QMB, Pilot Career and Mission Builder, plus all the great third-party apps like PWCG by Pat Wilson and EMG by SYN_Vander gives the Great Battle series an amazing number of options for creating entertaining mission content. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Pilots, Summer is here and it’s very hot in both Moscow and Las Vegas, but we soldier on still working mostly from our flats and homes. This week’s DD features just a couple items, but one is quite a surprise as you will see. But first, let’s admire the upcoming 4K skins made by our steadfast ally and partner Martin “ICDP” Catney. The ugly duckling has become a swan with these new textures wouldn’t you say? With the new skins for the Hs-129, we are rapidly closing in on ALL planes in Great Battles being upgraded to the 4K standard. The Yak-1b should be next and eventually the Ju-52 will also get a refresh. The entire 4K upgrade has been a huge effort on Martin’s part as well as the previous contributions made by Francisco “BlackHellHound” Bindraban. Please join me in thanking them for their awesome contributions! A shining example of talented community members helping the developers and an effective international partnership. And now a surprise that came about very recently, but one that has a its roots in Rise of Flight history and one that should end in a positive result for Sturmovik. Today, we share extremely early WIP shots of an important fighter design that saw action against both Soviet and American air forces and late in the war, alongside them. Can you guess what plane it is? There are very few types that have this distinction. Hide contents That’s right, the Romanian designed and built IAR-80/81 is under development by a third party that we feel has the skills to make it a reality. This will take some time, but we are confident it will come to fruition. Please enjoy this little tease and when we the mesh is further along, we will offer it for pre-order as we always do. Why the IAR-80/81 exactly? Well, believe it or not, there is a lot of good reference information on this plane, so it is one that is possible to build by a single qualified modeler. A lot of what we do as a sim developer, can be described as the “art of the possible”. The IAR is indeed possible to make, so let's do it. And it’s a nice departure from our usual plane-set and is often overlooked in the history books. It will be sold as a Collector Plane, but it will certainly add some more historical flavor to the Battle of Stalingrad theater. There are some other planes we are working looking into finding a way to make. Your continued financial support is most important when we try to make new aircraft. And we continue to work on the new AQM feature, fuel systems with drop tanks, Air Marshal and even improved cloud technology. All of which I hope to show you pictures of in upcoming Developer Diaries. And Jason continues to work with talented mission makers on new mission content and Campaigns which we hope to have localized and released soon. On a serious note, the pandemic really slowed us down as we are prevented from being on our office and seeing each other face to face. Working from home is not always ideal for a collaborative effort like developing Sturmovik, but we continue to do our best and fill irritating personnel needs as soon as we can. We had hoped 2021 would bring a quick return to normalcy for us, but sadly it has brought a whole new set of challenges for us as a team beyond the usual technical ones as the pandemic sticks around. So please have patience with us and know that the team is doing their very best under less-than-ideal circumstances. See you in the skies and on the battlefield! The Sturmovik Team

Hello Everyone! This week we are showing a Dev. Diary a little early because we have some vacation and Covid-related holiday time that interferes with our normal routine. So, before we take a little time off, here are some quick shots of the German Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38 in the actual game engine. As you can see the textures are not anywhere near ready, but it is starting to become functional including some of the damage model and the gunsights. Once again, our partners at DigitalForms have done a terrific job on the model. In the images below you can see how a machine gun from a Soviet armored car shot up my engine and ended my mission. The sights on this German gun are quite different from the Soviet 72-K and maybe it’s a bit more user friendly? You’ll have to be the judge when you try it, but it sure is fun trying to knock down planes with either gun! Again, the textures are not done and this is just an early Beta example and we wanted to show you that progress is being made. The Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38 will be ready for action later this summer. In WWII aircraft news – the P-51B/C is scheduled be the next aircraft released as we work on other things like the V-1 ‘Buzz Bomb’. The P-51B/C will be released late summer; the exact date is unknown at this point, but we’ll have updated pics for you just as soon as we can. In WWI aircraft news, Ugra Media is hard at work on several FC2 planes and the map, but the closest to release is the Pfalz D.XII. She will be ready for our next update. Recently, when I collected the USAAF squadron emblems for BON, created once again by our friend Isaac ‘Solidkreate’ Chavira, I was inspired to make another poster. This time for the P-47D-22 with all the USAAF Ninth Air Force squadrons that will be a part of the Battle of Normandy Career. There are quite a few that flew the Razorback during that period. ….. and finally, a shot that you have been waiting a long time to see. A Bf-109 with something new under slung its belly. Functional drop tanks are being worked on for several planes, but it will take time to retrofit the aircraft that need them. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Hope you guys have fun with the typhoon and the new ground units

Update 4.602 Dear friends, Today we’re releasing another update, 4.602, that brings to you two new aircraft at once. British Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib is the first and it is available in Battle of Normandy Early Access now - this powerful, fast and heavily armed machine could handle a variety of combat missions. New tactical numbers and dynamic impact marks technologies already work for it and it has a wide array of modifications - another engine, propeller, gunsight, additional armor and dust filter. The second star of the day is the late Great War German monoplane Fokker D.VIII, which also supports the new tactical numbers and hit marks technologies. Having the same engine as Fokker Dr.I triplane, but a much better aerodynamical profile, resulted in a significant boost in combat characteristics. The only wing of this airplane had an unusual design for its time - it had load-carrying skin made of plywood instead of fabric. Being a late war plane, Fokker D.VIII could be equipped with Oigee collimator gunsight and was armed with two 7.92 mm LMG 08/15 Spandau. It is now available to all owners of Flying Circus Vol.II. Moreover, there are 20 new AI-controlled objects added in this update - they were developed for the Battle of Normandy. They are British in origin mostly, but there are additions for the US and Germany as well. Some of them are new types in our project - radars and reinforced concrete bunkers. In addition to all that, 4.602 addresses a lot of things - many graphical and audio effects are improved, there are several fixes for aircraft and ground vehicles AI, a significant improvement in ballistics, etc. The detailed change list follows: Main features 1. Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib fighter-bomber is now available to all owners of the Battle for Normandy; 2. Fokker D.VIII monoplane is now available to all owners of the Flying Circus Vol.II; 3. American paratroopers have been added to the project and can be dropped from C-47. The corresponding missions will be added to the Career mode later; 4. New graphical effects for various armor-piercing shell and bullet impacts added; 5. Improved graphical effects of burning ground vehicles and balloons added; Aircraft changes 6. Fixed “jaggedness” of some shadow edges in cockpits; 7. Restored canopy glass sun effects; 8. Single AI plane takeoff fixed (in some cases the takeoff run was delayed for too much); 9. Aircraft AI bug fixed which could cause it to ignore points of the airfield taxiway; 10. Fixed visibility of P-51D-15, P-38J-15, Ju-52, He-111H-6, B-25D, Il-2-42 and Il-2-43 at distances over 1 km (they appeared smaller relative to other aircraft); 11. P-51D-15 weapons and chassis can be damaged by collisions; 12. Missing luminescent illumination on the watch bezel in Bf 109 K-4 cockpit added; 13. Pe-2 series 35 propellers won’t visibly disappear at medium distances; 14. Hurricane landing lights won’t visibly disappear at medium distances, creating holes in their niches; 15. Bristol Fighter's Lewis machine gun casings ejection location has been corrected; Player controllable vehicles changes 16. Pz.VI commander cupola wall armor thickness has been corrected (it was doubled before); 17. 72-K AAA: an incorrect operation of the automatic gunsight kinematics at intermediate elevation angles has been corrected (with zero corrections the sight axis appeared much higher than the barrel axis); 18. 72-K AAA: technochat messages will correctly appear in multiplayer for other players that joined its crew; Career mode changes 19. The player can join new squadrons: 587 BAP in Stalingrad and Kuban careers and 46 GNBAP in Kuban career; 20. New targets for "Railway junction air strike" and "Railway junction bombing strike" mission types added in Rhineland career (Bodenplatte): Antwerp, Liege, Mainz, Frankfurt, Bonn, Cologne, Duisburg, Bruxelles, Charleroi, Dusseldorf, Munster, Koblenz, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Nijmegen, Essen, Enschede, Hengelo and Osnabruck railyards; 21. Typhoon Mk.Ib added to Rhineland Career mode: No. 175 Squadron RAF, No. 197 Squadron RAF, No. 247 (China British) Squadron RAF, No. 440 Squadron RCAF, No. 609 (West Riding) Squadron RAF and 16 more AI squadrons; 22. Formerly AI-only 587th BAP in Stalingrad Career can be joined by the player; 23. Formerly AI-only 587th BAP and 46th GNBAP in Kuban Career can be joined by the player; AI-controlled objects changes 24. Simple AI ground vehicles correctly leave trails on unpaved airfields; 25. Simple AI wheeled vehicles correctly collide with static objects; 26. Simple AI tracked vehicles won’t make too sharp turns; 27. Sd.Kfz 251 1C half-track correctly leaves a trail; 28. The antenna of the airfield locator beacon now always stands vertically, regardless of the surface slope; 29. 10.5 cm Flak 38/39 anti-aircraft gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 30. QF 3.7-inch AA anti-aircraft gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 31. 40 mm Bofors L60 rapid-fire anti-aircraft gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 32. 3,7 cm FlaK 43 rapid-fire anti-aircraft gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 33. Ordnance QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 34. BL 5.5-inch gun has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 35. Bren Mk.I machine gun in two variations (for firing at ground and air targets) has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 36. AMES Type 7 mobile radar station has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 37. SCR-584 mobile radar station has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 38. FuSE-65 Würzburg-Riese stationary radar station has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 39. British 150 cm anti-aircraft searchlight has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 40. M1-VLA low-altitude balloon has been added for the Battle of Normandy (for now it can’t be bind to a ship); 41. M3A1 half-track has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 42. Sd.Kfz. 222 armored car has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 43. Dodge WC-54 ambulance has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 44. Austin K2 / Y ambulance has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 45. H 634 machine-gun pillbox has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 46. H 630 concrete machine-gun pillbox has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 47. H 272 concrete gun pillbox has been added for the Battle of Normandy; 48. Batterie Todt concrete heavy artillery bunker has been added for the Battle of Normandy; Other changes 49. Enemy aircraft that appear in AAA QMB during winter should have a corresponding winter skin; 50. Missing preview images added for various objects in the mission editor; 51. Ballistics of bullets, shells, bombs and rockets now take into account the decrease of the air density with altitude; 52. Heavy anti-aircraft artillery ballistics were corrected; 53. Heavy artillery ballistics were corrected (at large distances the flight time and the height of the projectile trajectory correspond to the barrel elevation angle quite accurately); 54. In multiplayer, the jittery turning animation of gunners was corrected.

Thats why i allways study walkarounds

Nice model, but you should check your intakes 91683_1351005718.jpg (1024×712) (jetphotos.com)

Can confirm it, it flys pretty good, very agile but hard to land for my taste.. im used to land WW2 planes rather than WW1. Something breakes always down.. wings, more wings, some struts or the rest of the plane

Dear Great War Pilots! We are hard at work trying to finalize update 4.602 and the Fokker D.VIII is in final testing and implementation. So, this DD is dedicated to that deadly monoplane the Germans sent to the Western Front late in the war. The 'Flying Switchblade' makes it's debut in Flying Circus next week if testing goes well. Enjoy these beautiful images of it in action! Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend to our American community members! The Sturmovik Team

Attention Pilots! It is our pleasure to announce some new Collector Planes for the IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles series! We are still waist deep in Battle of Normandy and Flying Circus Vol. II development, but we have decided to push on with our partner Ugra Media and bring you a few more iconic and important aircraft! The following planes have long been discussed as possible projects or desired by community members and now we are able to make the commitment to build them. So, without further delay here they are. - C-47A Skytrain - Lisouov Li-2 (Soviet version of the DC-3/C-47) - Sopwith Snipe 7.F1 - Siemens-Schuckert D.IV First, let’s cover the C-47A. We already have the C-47A as an AI piloted aircraft in Great Battles. Many of you have requested that we make a cockpit for it and make it flyable, so we are. This will give the Americans and British a cargo plane, much like the Ju-52 on the German side. The Ju52 has been a good seller for us and a unique experience for fans of IL-2. We want to do the same with the C-47. The C-47 is the military version of the venerable Douglas DC-3 which first took flight in the 1930’s and served all over the world during WWII and very far beyond. Most notably it was the main troop transport for American and British paratroopers during the invasion of Normandy. As you have seen in an earlier Developer Diary, we have already built some awesome looking U.S. Army paratroopers that will jump from C-47s in BON. We are also making British paratrooper models as well., but they are not ready to be shown yet. The C-47 will provide a great new way to fly for the Allies. Work on the C-47 cockpit has already begun so we have decided to open Pre-Orders today as is our tradition for new Collector Planes in development. Please show the ‘Gooney Bird” your love! Pre-Order is available in the IL-2 Official Webstore for just $19.99- a 20% discount off MSRP. Second, let’s talk briefly about the Lisunov Li-2. The Li-2 was a license-built Soviet version of the DC-3/C-47. It served bravely over the Eastern Front with the VVS and was even used as a bomber by the Soviets. Although it is seemingly identical to the C-47 it does have several differences, so extra work is needed to convert our C-47 into an Li-2. Our partners Ugra Media will begin this work once the C-47 cockpit is well in-hand. The Li-2 had different engines and cowlings, different instruments, a different cargo door and other small changes. Some also had a dorsal mounted gun turret for self-defense. The Li-2 will be a welcome addition to our Eastern Front themed titles. We will offer the Li-2 for Pre-Order as soon as work has officially begun in earnest. The C-47/Li-2 holds a special place for us because it represents cooperation between the old Soviet Union and the USA, which for a team of Russian developers and an American producer is a historical metaphor for our own team. Next, we will also partner with Ugra Media to create the British-built Sopwith Snipe 7.F1 fighter. The Snipe was a late entrant into the Great War, only coming to front-line service in the Summer of 1918. However, it was a successful aircraft and helped the Entente fight off the of the terrific late-war German designs in the final months and weeks of the war. The Snipe will be the first truly new WWI aircraft we committed to in a long time and this will bring a new combat experience to Flying Circus Volumes II and III. Pre-orders will be available once the Snipe has entered production. Finally, Ugra Media will build a late-war German fighter as well – that being the Siemens-Schuckert D.IV. Like the Snipe it entered the war late, but was a terrific design and will be a deadly opponent for the Snipe and other Entente fighters. This plane will be a challenge to make as references are tough to come by and we don’t believe any original examples survive today. However, we love a good challenge and plan to make this bird take flight just like all the rest. It’s interesting to see the similarities of the Snipe and SS.DIV designs with their compact bodies which we would image makes them quite maneuverable. When work begins, we will give you a change to pre-order the SS.DIV. All of these new planes do not have an impact on current development timelines for BON or FC2 and FC3 as we have been planning to make these aircraft for a while. We will work once again with our long-time partner Ugra Media to bring them to life in another team effort, much like we did for the famous U-2VS. We hope you enjoyed hearing this news and we look forward to bringing these fantastic aircraft to the Great Battles series! See you in the skies! The Sturmovik Team and Ugra Media

They plan to announce something next week, we have already alot of "tropical" stuff intergrated into the game... so ...

Dear Pilots! Behold the mighty Typhoon Mk.Ib in action! Coming soon to Battle of Normandy! It is now in Beta and is scheduled for release in June. It's another beauty by our talented team. This beast is armed with 4 x 20 mm Hispano cannons and can carry multiple rockets like the RP-3 in HE and AP flavors or a pair of 250 lb. or 500 lb. bombs. The cockpit is another tubular framework popular with British designers of the period. It just looks angry with those rockets slung under the wings! The Typhoon Mk.Ib helped pave the way for the Allied invasion of Normandy and soldiered on throughout the war pounding German ground units at every opportunity. We will feature no less than 21 Typhoon squadrons in our Normandy career with 4 of them flyable initially. Jason has created another special poster. This time inspired by the beautiful emblems of Typhoon equipped squadrons. These emblems were created by our artwork partner (and newly minted rocket engine engineer) Isaac "SolidKreate" Chavira. Full Size Poster HERE. We hope you enjoy these screenshots. They were a blast to make. Also in the works for Normandy is the solid nose Junkers Ju 88 C-6 which will make for an interesting maritime patrol and ground attack aircraft. Is it as effective and versatile as the American A-20B has proven to be? We shall find out! And finally, we have built a big 380 mm gun that was known as the Todt Battery. In BON it will try, and in real life it really did try to pound the Allied invasion forces into oblivion. During the real invasion it stayed operational until late September 1944 when it was finally captured by Canadian troops. Check out this short video as we test its animations. In other important news - next week, we plan to make an announcement about some additional content we plan to add to the Great Battles series, we hope you will be happy. Stay tuned! See you in the sky and on the battlefield! The Sturmovik Team You can discuss this post HERE.

Would be good to have a QC, all i can say, lets see what they bring up. I was absent to DCS since last year, and im still flying more Il2 than DCS. I like both but the study sim character of DCS is timeconsuminng

I don't think so they have to start from the scratch. Let it come and develop, this team is not the Star Citizen Team with millions of Dollars from backers. Let it grow and enjoy

They are creating one big game, with many theaters, many good quality planes, great feeling while flying. The Story isn't ending here, we will have many new content for the upcoming years!

So far i know, Ugra is responsible for the Syria Map for DCS and it looks great. The WW1 stuff compared to the WW2 stuff from 777 Studius is a different story

Dear Friends! Today’s DD is pretty straightforward, we’d simply like to show you some shots of content that we have in the works for both Battle of Normandy and Flying Circus: Volume II. First, we have multiple renders of new objects, vehicles and ships that are being created by a development partner of ours. They are coming along nicely as you can see. They will be fully integrated into the engine very soon. Next, we have the first shots of the Fokker D.VIII which is development by our friends at Ugra Media. This awesome high-winged monoplane will grace your installs next month assuming everything goes to plan. We plan to release it along with the Typhoon Mk.Ib (which we showed in a DD269) in our next update, which should happen by mid-June. Again, assuming final preparations go well. Also, our great friend Luke 'Requiem' Campbell has created a very helpful video on how to operate the GAZ-MM 72-K and improve your accuracy when shooting at planes and vehicles. Check it out! Thank you to Requiem for making another great training video! GAZ-MM 72-K Steam Release! Additionally, we have added the GAZ-MM 72-K to our Steam store today where it along with the official webstore will have it on discount for another week. You can pick it up HERE. All other work continues and our efforts to expand the team a bit so we can finish Normandy as planned continues. Stay tuned to our DDs all spring and summer long as we continue to build out BON and FC2! See you in the skies! The Sturmovik Team

Update 4.601 Dear Friends, Our team is proud to tell you that the work on update 4.601 is finished and it is up already. This update brings you three new toys at once. The first one of them is Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIV Collectors Plane (included in Battle of Normandy Early Access). This late model of the legendary fighter has great fighting capabilities while retaining its captivating charisma. It has several historical modifications that make the Spitfire family in our project even more variable. The second one is a new Collector Vehicle - Soviet self-propelled AAA - 25-mm 72-K gun installed on GAZ-MM chassis. Recreated with attention to detail, this vehicle is a new object class in our project. The experience you'll get operating it is unique - the life of the low-caliber AAA crews in World War II wasn't an easy one. It comes with a special mission type in QMB mode and new single missions. The third one is the first airplane of the Flying Circus Vol. 2 - French-made single-seat fighter Nieuport 28.C1 that was exclusively used in US squadrons. This speedy plane with good weaponry for its time was used by the most famous US fighter ace of the Great War - Eddie Rickenbacker. This aircraft had a unique way of regulating the rotative engine power by ignition breaker. All in all, an interesting machine - and it officially starts Flying Circus Vol. 2 Early Access program. Also in this update are two very important new technologies, one of which is tactical numbers that can be customized before the mission. At the moment, it fully works on all Tank Crew tanks thanks to our partners at Digital Forms. P-51D-15 also got this capability for USAAF and RAF (it depends on the aircraft country specified in a mission) and it works on Nieuport 28.C1 too. Later this year we plan to enable it for all other aircraft (it takes a lot of work). The second new technology is Dynamic Visual Damage (DVD) that visualizes the hit marks from various projectiles on aircraft and tanks. Please note that is a visual tech that is intended to make the battle damage more vivid. In the absolute majority of cases, the DVD hit marks will properly show the impacts, but there are limitations caused by multiplayer and performance that in some cases can make them inaccurate - the good level of performance is always our priority. Nevertheless, this new feature should greatly increase the damage diversity. Just like tactical numbers, this new tech already works on all Tank Crew tanks and P-51D-15 and Nieuport 28.C1 planes. Again, we plan to enable it for all other 60+ aircraft this year. Also in this version is a huge update of the graphical effects. This isn't an easy task to do since we not only have to make them look awesome but retain the level of performance. This time we have all-new explosion effects for all HE munitions in the sim with increased variety - now there are clearly visible differences between, say, 50 and 100, 250 and 500, 1000 and 2500 kg bombs. The water explosions became much better and the explosions better light the surroundings. Martin =ICDP= Catney updated a lot of the external textures he made for us and this time two of the previously released aircraft were updated to 4K - Macchi MC 202 Folgore Collector Plane and Ju 88 A-4 bomber (Battle of Moscow). Please note that soon all the aircraft in our project will have 4K quality external textures. Oyster_KAI continued his work on improving the tremendous amount of aircraft cockpits, namely all Spitfires, Bf 109s, Bf 110s, Ju 87, Ju 88 and U-2VS. All the text above is just the highlights of the new update, you can read the changelist below: Main features 1. Spitfire Mk.XIV Collector Plane is available to all owners of Battle of Normandy Premium Edition; 2. Nieuport 28.C1 is available to all owners of Flying Circus Vol. 2 and the Early Access program for Vol. 2 officially starts; 3. 25 mm 72-К AA gun on GAZ-MM truck is available to customers who prepurchased it; 4. New special mission type for QMB mode and 5 single missions added for AAA guns; 5. Dynamic Visual Damage (DVD) technology is added to the sim, that shows (with some limitations) the hit marks of projectiles on various objects. At the moment it works for all detailed tanks of Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka, 72-K GAZ-MM AAA, P-51D-15 fighter, and Nieuport 28.C1 airplane; 6. Dynamic tactical markings technology is added to the sim, allowing to customize the tactical numbers on aircraft and vehicles. At the moment it works for all detailed tanks of Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka, 72-K GAZ-MM AAA, P-51D-15 fighter, and Nieuport 28.C1 airplane; 7. More detailed railyards added to 19 cities on the Rhineland map (Bodenplatte): Antwerp, Liege, Mainz, Frankfurt, Bonn, Cologne, Duisburg, Brussels, Charleroi, Düsseldorf, Munster, Koblenz, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Nijmegen, Essen, Enschede, Hengelo, Osnabrück; 8. Completely new graphical effects are added for all munitions in the game for ground, water and object impacts and for midair explosions; 9. All F, G and K series Bf 109 fighters got the corrected tail models. Now the sturdiness of their elements are on par with the rest of the fighters and these elements can be shot off individually; 10. 4K quality external texturing added for MC.202 fighter and Ju 88 bomber while all Spitfires, Bf 109s, Bf 110s, Ju 87, Ju 88 and U-2VS cockpits were updated; Aircraft improvements 11. Spitfire Mk.XIV added to Rhineland Career mode (Bodenplatte) to the following squadrons the player can join: No. 41 Squadron RAF, No. 130 Squadron RAF, No. 350 (Belgian) Squadron RAF, No. 402 Squadron RCAF and No. 610 Squadron RAF. 12. The player flight takes off correctly in the 15th mission of the “Achtung Spitfire!” campaign; 13. An issue that could cause a AI fighter to approach to an air target too close and potentially to collide with it has been corrected; 14. AI fighter correctly attack balloons; 15. AI pilots aiming the MGs and guns at ground targets has been corrected; 16. Less experienced AI pilots engage the ground targets at closer distances; 17. Flying Circus aircraft visibility at large distances has been corrected to correspond to other aircraft in the game (it was 3 times lower); 18. Fuel tank and ammo explosion effects can be observed on other players in multiplayer; 19. An issue with potential fuel tank catastrophic detonation in case of engine(s) fire has been corrected; 20. The power of a fuel tank explosion now depends on the actual amount of ignited fuel or fuel vapors in a partially spent fuel tank; 21. Modeling of the putting out the fuel tank fire by sideslipping the aircraft at high speed has been improved; 22. Multiple ammo storage explosions are now possible (previously it could happen only once); 23. Maximum ATA near the ground level with C3 injection system on Fw-190 A5/A6 has been corrected (increased); 24. Roll shaking at high speed corrected for AI or mouse controlled Sopwith Dolphin; 25. A visual bar on the rotating Fw 190 A-6 spinner removed; 26. Rear formation light corrected on Fw 190 A-6; 27. Fw 190 A-8 small clock hand restored; 28. Added missing luminous paint on some Tempest, Spitfire Mk.IX, Bf 110 G-2 and Ju 52 instruments; 29. P-38 formation lights corrected; 30. Spitfire IX mirror position corrected; 31. Oil from the damaged engine on canopy effect corrected on P-51D-15; 32. A small visual issue corrected on MC.202 (attitude indicator tube); Player controlled tanks improvements 33. All detailed tanks now have tactical numbers in Last Chance and Breaking Point tank campaigns; 34. Radio antennas on all Tank Crew detailed tanks can be damaged by enemy fire (in addition to damageable radio equipment that was modeled before); 35. Detailed tanks won't 'freeze in the air' after colliding with another object that was later moved; 36. AI gunners will properly burst fire the coaxial MGs of the detailed tanks; 37. An issue with the inability to hit the gun barrel on some tanks has been fixed; 38. Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M lower turret armor has been corrected; 39. The missing part of the Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M ammo reserve can be damaged by enemy fire; 40. T-34-76 UTZ (1943) coaxial MG can be damaged by enemy fire; 41. Additional external parts of Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.H1 like various covers and splashers can be shot off; 42. KV-1 and SU-152 splashers and rear deflector can be shot off; Additional improvements 43. A graphics issue that caused z-fighting of the shadows on certain buildings in MSAA x4 mode has been corrected; 44. External objects like trees, buildings and aircraft drop visible shadows on the player aircraft or vehicle and its cockpit in non-VR mode; 45. Gamma can be lowered down to 0.5 for more comfort in VR mode; 46. A visible city blocks shadow 'border' at large distances has been minimized; 47. A visible city blocks fog 'border' at large distances has been minimized; 48. An issue with certain European buildings glowing in the night has been fixed; 49. A GUI issue that could cause the regiment symbols to disappear from the Career creation screen has been fixed; 50. A GUI issue that could cause the mission start coordinates to reset to 0 on the Career HQ screen; 51. Water explosions of large bombs have dedicated graphical effects; 52. 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000(1800) and 2500 kg bombs now have more diverse graphical explosion effects; 53. Soviet Tank Crew tanks headlamp lens, visor, and mirror textures have been improved; 54. The issues with pilots and tankers animations have been fixed in multiplayer; 55. The bomber group leader will correctly proceed to the next waypoint after dropping the bombs.

Thanks for the pic, the ingame graphics are updated constantly, even the very first map, Stalingrad, recieved a new texture overhaul in the past, and it was 6 years old at that moment :)

Dear Friends! Work on our next update, which is version 4.6 continues as planned and should be released before the end of this month. This update will be a pretty big one with new content, some new features and lots of small tweaks as usual. We also continue to make new airplanes and other models that will be incorporated into the sim this year and beyond. Work never slows down for us as you know. Today I’d like to share some screens of ongoing work that you’ll enjoy as we finalize the next update. Here are some images that help demonstrate our DVD system for our tanks and AAA vehicles along with our Tactical Codes technology. DVD definitely adds another interesting layer to our damage modeling. Work on the Normandy map is going strong and here you can see some towns that are taking shape. The terrain textures are not final and borrowed from the Rhineland map at the moment. And here’s the terrible vengeance weapon that terrorized Great Britain for many months during the war - the Fieseler Fi 103 or simply the V-1 “Buzz Bomb”. The British sarcastically nicknamed it the “Doodlebug”, but there was nothing cute about them in reality. It was the world’s first jet powered cruise missile, and it was a deadly, dangerous weapon that fell from the sky at seemingly random locations with little or no warning. About 8,000 V-1s were launched against Britain with about 2,400 of them getting through the defenses. Over 6,000 people were killed and many thousands more wounded by them. Over 44,000 Allied sorties were flown to try and intercept them along with the flak batteries that tried desperately to knock them down. Truly a flying terror. You’ll be able to simulate intercepting them before they are able to strike their targets along the southern coast of England when the BON map is ready. They were also used against targets in France and Belgium in smaller numbers as the Allies advanced. We also have added more railyards to BOBP cities and here is the current list that has increased to a total of 19. We apologize for not having pictures of them, but COVID has decided to interfere with this operation. Just a reminder that we are not totally out of the woods yet with the pandemic. Antwerp Liege Mainz Frankfurt Bonn Cologne Disburg Brussels Charleroi Dusseldorf Munster Koblenz Eindhoven Tillburg Nijmegen Essen Enschede Hengelo Osnabruck And before we end this DD, here are three new posters Jason has created featuring all three Spitfire variants found in Great Battles including the new Spitfire Mk. XIV. We hope you enjoy this artwork. Spitfire Mk.VB Poster Spitfire Mk. IXe Poster Spitfire Mk.XIV Poster And of course, here are a few pics of the upcoming Spitfire Mk.XIV and Nieuport 28. Enjoy your weekend everyone and stay safe! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends! Today’s DD is not long, but wanted to say that in addition to working on many aircraft, features and improvements, we’re also making some moves internally with the addition of, and search for, new personnel while adding responsibilities to others. This adds overhead costs to our operation which we hope will pay for itself in time, but we ask that you continue your financial support of Sturmovik throughout this spring and summer and al of 2021 by purchasing new content and buying gifts for your friends, family and squadron-mates. And please remember, purchases made directly in the IL-2 Official Webstore benefit the team the most! Without further delay, here are the first pics of the work-in-progress Nieuport 28.C1 for Flying Circus: Volume II. The N28 drafts the U.S. Air Service in the war and her slender lines make her a real beauty. Also notice our new Tactical Codes technology is present. The damage model is next up for her as well as DVD adaptation. …. Geronimo!!! No invasion of Normandy can be complete without paratroopers! These guys will be jumping from our C-47s later this year after they are properly animated. Enjoy your Easter weekend if you celebrate it and see you in the skies and the battlefields! The Sturmovik Team