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Update 4.702 Dear Friends, We're glad to report that the work on 4.702 update is finished and it is released. It doesn't contain as many changes as the previous one, but it does bring the long-awaited P-51B-5 fighter for the Battle of Normandy! It took a very long time, but there were some reasons for this - namely the long list of its modifications. It has three different gunsights(!), two canopies - standard and Malcolm Hood where the moving part of the canopy is a single spherical shaped piece of plexiglass. This aircraft is also the first to have flexible bomb loadouts depending on the country (please note that for this feature to work you should select the aircraft skin of a country you want before generating a quick mission and not after that on the hangar screen). Of course, it also uses the new DVD damage visualization system and dynamic tactical codes. Along with P-51B, we have a late Christmas gift for the owners of Flying Circus Vol.I - two new free campaigns Gallant Green featuring the British S.E.5a and Red Knights featuring the German Albatros D.V. There are also 10 new single-player missions showcasing all the birds of Vol.I. They were created by our friend Jaegermeister. A big THANK YOU to him for creating them. Enjoy! Jaegermeister has created 28 custom skins that can be used with the Campaigns. You can download them HERE. As usual, there are many other improvements and additions aimed at increasing the sim quality you can see in the list below. IL-2 Sturmovik team wishes you a Happy New Year, all the best and for your dreams to be fulfilled! 1. The P-51B-5 fighter is now available for all Early Access customers of Battle of Normandy; 2. The new free campaign "Gallant Green" (S.E.5a) was added for all Flying Circus Vol.I owners; 3. The new free campaign "Red Knights" (Albatros DVa) was added for all Flying Circus Vol.I. owners; 4. 10 single missions showcasing Flying Circus Vol.I aircraft were added; 5. Visual pixelization and shimmering of medium and low-density clouds at medium and far distances was minimized. Note: Radeon users may experience some minor artifacts or visual anomalies due to this change. We are working to fix this, but the solution may take until next update as we need to discuss with AMD. 6. Radio compasses of all German planes except Ju 52 were retouched (Oyster_KAI); 7. Seats and throttle controls of all Messerschmitts were redrawn (Oyster_KAI); 8. P-51D panel lettering improved (Oyster_KAI); 9. Detail of the sight cap on all Spitfires improved (Oyster_KAI); 10. All Fw 190 A8 paint schemes, including the default, were redrawn (Martin =ICDP= Catney) 11. All Bf 109 G6 Late paint-schemes, including the default, were redrawn (Martin =ICDP= Catney); 12. All Bf 109 G14 paint-schemes, including the default, were redrawn (Martin =ICDP= Catney); 13. All Bf 109 K4 paint schemes, including the default, were redrawn (Martin =ICDP= Catney); 14. All Me 262 paint schemes, including the default, were redrawn (Martin =ICDP= Catney); 15. All P-47D-22 paint schemes, including the default, were redrawn (Martin =ICDP= Catney); 16. All P-47D-28 paint -schemes, including the default, were redrawn (Martin =ICDP= Catney); 17. Fixed number of rounds for KV-1 tank when there are two ammo types with one prevailing type; 18. Tracers and navigation lights are not visible through clouds; 19. New effects of fires of aircraft engines and fuel tanks created; 20. Fixed misalignment of machine gun and automatic gun bursts on detailed ground vehicles; 21. Fixed an issue that caused large planes at a distance of more than 10km to be invisible in binoculars; 22. Morning/evening fog is now visible at different haze settings, not only the maximum one; 23. Low visibility z-fighting of the morning fog has been eliminated; 24. Reduced "blockiness" of cloud shadows on the surface; 25. The influence of launch tubes, transport containers and paratroopers on total aircraft mass was restored; 26. The old issue where the propeller was visible through the light halo of the cockpit light bulb is gone thanks to improved technology; 27. Fixed an issue where the formation lights toggle switches on American fighters were not animated when the engine was turned off; 28. Added parameter for VR: render_eye = 0 [-1, 0, 1] to startup.cfg. If set to -1, only the left eye camera will be shown on the monitor in VR mode, and only the right eye view if set to 1. If set to 0 it shows both eyes. 29. HUD appears faster on mission start; 30. Fixed problem with the direction of MLRS rockets in a multiplayer game; 31. Restored functionality of fixed cameras (LAlt+2) in multiplayer (both Cooperative and Dogfight modes) when starting the server from within the game with spectators allowed (difficulty option Allow Spectators).

Attention All Pilots and Tankers! If you are dreaming about epic dogfights after you eat your Christmas ham or turkey this year, you’ll be happy to know we have launched our Annual Winter (Christmas) Sale! As usual we are offering HUGE discounts on all your favorite Sturmovik titles and content. And remember you can buy and send Sturmovik titles as Gifts to all your wingmates, friends and family! They always make the BEST Christmas gifts! The Sturmovik Team wishes a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to ALL our friends and supporters around the world during this Holiday Season. As 2021 comes to a close we reflect on what a challenging year it was and how it pushed the team to its limit in ways never dreamed of. We hope the pandemic and all it’s inconveniences and distractions will finally subside in 2022 so we can make even more amazing content and features for Sturmovik with less difficulty. We hope you and your family stay healthy and safe through the holidays this year and let’s say a hardy CHEERS to an amazing 2022!! The Annual Winter (Christmas) Sale runs from 10:00am PST Dec. 22nd to 10:00am PST Jan. 5th in the IL-2 Official Webstore and on STEAM. IL-2 GREAT BATTLES IN IL-2 OFFICIAL WEBSTORE IL-2 IL-2 GREAT BATTLES ON STEAM BOS – 85% Off BOM – 75% Off BOK – 75% Off BOBP – 75% Off FC1 – 66% Off Tank Crew - 50% Off GAZ-MM 72-K - 40% Off Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38 - 40% Off Hurricane Mk.II - 66% Off Yak-9 – 66% Off Yak-9T – 66% Off Fw-190 D-9 – 75% Off P-38 J-15 – 75% Off U-2VS -75% Off Ju-52/3M – 75% Off Bf-109 G-6 – 75% Off Yak-1B – 75% Off Spitfire Mk. VB – 75 % Off LA-5FN – 75% Off HS-129 B-2 – 85% Off P-40E-1 – 85% Off Macchi MC.202 – 85% Off Fw-190 A-3 – 85% Off LA-5 Series 8 – 85% Off Steel Birds - 30% Off Ice Ring – 66% Off Blazing Steppe – 75% Off Fortress on the Volga – 75% Off Hell Hawks Over the Bulge – 66% Off (Webstore Only) Ten Days of Autumn – 75% Off (Webstore Only) Havoc Over the Kuban – 75% Off (Webstore Only) Achtung Spitfire! – 75% Off (Webstore Only) CLIFFS OF DOVER IN IL-2 OFFICIAL WEBSTORE CLIFFS OF DOVER ON STEAM Cliffs of Dover: Blitz - 35% (Webstore Only) Desert Wings: Tobruk - 20% (Webstore Only) RISE OF FLIGHT IN ROF OFFICIAL WEBSTORE RISE OF FLIGHT ON STEAM All ROF Content – 75% Off Enjoy! See you in the skies and on the battlefield! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Pilots! Happy Holidays to everyone in the IL-2 Sturmovik community! May it be filled with good health, family, friends and lots of time to play your favorite virtual air combat simulation! Today’s Developer Diary is a showcase of the beautiful P-51B which we are working very hard to finish for you by the end of the month. Just some minor bugs are left along with still finishing the tricky Malcolm Hood. We also have some shots of some new combat vehicles for you to check out like the M8 Greyhound and Universal “Bren Gun” Carrier Mk. II. And we have a new good looking USAAF bomber crewman model to show you. The fur sure looks look warm! We’re working as hard as we can to end this challenging 2021 strong so wish us luck as we battle to get things done! Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Hello Everyone! Today is a Big Day for our project and our community - update 4.701 is now available! And with it comes a new game world technology – cloud rendering based on hypertextures. This technology, in comparison with the previous one, carries a number of improvements, such as: Increased variety of cloud cover; A new level of scale of cloud formations; Higher level (macro level) of cloud structures; Greater realism of structures and forms of cloud formations; Improved lighting model of clouds, and objects under and in the clouds; Diverse structure of overcast clouds (including "windows" and cloudless areas); Localization of precipitation under significant cloud formations and, as a consequence, localization of precipitation on the map; New visualization of precipitation at a distance; New rainfall lighting model; Lack of repeatability of the cloud distribution map on the scale of the game map; Reduced number of "compromise" solutions such as "object outlines" "mountain intersection aliasing", etc.; Increased performance of the graphics subsystem. The mission format was changed, so third-party missions and campaigns need to be re-saved using Mission Editor or Mission Re-saver utility. Old track records can be played by deleting the .msnbin file from their folder. We have taken great care in mimicking the current cloud selection options for mission builders, so all your older missions are technically compatible with the new clouds. However, the clouds will look quite different and you may need to adjust your mission design to get the desired result. The new clouds are much larger on average than the current ones so visuals will be quite a bit different. We apologize if the new clouds inconveniences mission makers. We hope that the improvements outweigh any problems and we also hope to add some additional cloud patterns in the coming months. Overall, we hope the new clouds will significantly increase the visual realism of our simulator, as well as bring a new greater simming and gaming experience. Another great addition in this update is for Flying Circus – Vol. II. Included is the versatile two-seater - the German DFW C.V. It was the most common aircraft of this type on the German side from 1917 until the end of the First World War. This small aircraft is capable of carrying up to 200 kilograms of 12- and 50-kilogram bombs. Additionally, it is armed with a Spandau machine gun and a defensive Parabellum. Various modifications are provided for the installation of a camera, radio, defensive turret with a Parabellum coaxial machine gun or a Becker 20mm automatic cannon. The placement of the Benz Bz.IV engine is a peculiar one, in which the pilot has significant difficulties in looking ahead. However, this motor is quite powerful at 200hp. Quite an accomplishment in 1917. In addition, this update brings a long-awaited development goal - all planes are converted to 4K skins texturing. This was done in coordination with a few super dedicated community members! The last aircraft to be converted from 2K to 4K texturing in update 4.701 is the Yak-1b series 127. In addition, the Battle of Normandy development plan is moving along, and in this update, all map building objects planned for Normandy are available in the Mission Editor. Also in 4.701, all ground vehicles, which were planned for the Flying Circus – Vol. II were added to the project. Finally, there are many other changes and improvements, a complete list of which you can find below: Main features 1. DFW C.V airplane is now available for all customers who pre-ordered Flying Circus Vol. II; 2. The new hypertexturing cloud technology added to the sim; 3. Yak-1b fighter has external 4K texturing done by Martin = ICDP = Catney; 4. Visual shot effect improved for all guns in the game; 5. New fuel tank explosion visual effects created: different for WWI and WWII era aircraft and for ground and in-flight explosions; 6. Wind direction can be chosen in Quick Mission; 7. Morning/evening fog can now be selected with any weather subtype in Quick Mission; 8. Precipitation strength can now be set separately from the cloud type in Quick Mission; 9. Cloud types have informative names in the Quick Mission weather panel; 10. Fw 190 A3, A5 and A6 aircraft paint schemes updated (Martin = ICDP = Catney); 11. P-39L paint schemes updated (Martin = ICDP = Catney); New objects for Battle of Normandy 12. European farmsteads “town_eu_small”; 13. English city blocks "town_gb_block"; 14. Temporary Mulberry harbor objects "mlbr_bridge", "mlbr_pierhead", "mlbr_phoenix", "mlbr_phoenix"; 15. Radar stations Chain Home Low, Chain Home RX, Chain Home TX, FuMG-401 Freya LZ-A, FuMG 41/42 Mammut; 16. V-1 launch site structures (the missile itself is still in development); 17. A short section ramps for railway and road bridges "br_rw_ramphish_dn" and "br_rd_ramphish_dn"; 18. A reverse arch for the automobile bridges "br_rw_invarch"; 19. Pier object “port_n_walkingpier”; 20. Hangars, barracks and shelters “arf_n_hangarb1”, “arf_n_hangarblister”, “arf_n_hangart2” (open and closed), “arf_n_nissenhut” (in blocks one, two and three barracks), “arf_n_hangarb1”; 21. Objects updated: airfield hangars “arf_hangars_1”, “arf_hangars_2”, “arf_hangars_3”; 22. Objects updated: "arf_caponiers_13_h_1" and "arf_caponiers_14_h_1"; 23. Coastal barriers ("hedgehogs", etc.) "bf_n_barrageat", "bf_n_barragebg", "bf_n_barragelog"; 24. Defenses “bf_n_mgpos”, “bf_n_aaposmid”, “bf_n_aaposheavy”, “bf_n_artpos”, “bf_n_comandpost”, “bf_n_pbunker” (as well as static artillery of the German coastline defense): 25. Unique landmarks: Ardennes Abbey, Caen Castle, Falaise Castle, Evreux Cathedral, Cherbourg Fort, Moncton Fort, Portsmouth Hospital, Stonehenge, Winchester Prison; 26. German long-range artillery concrete positions R669 (155 mm) and R683 (210 mm); 27. British armored car Humber Mk.IV; New objects for Flying Circus Vol. II 28. Renault FT tank; 29. Schneider CA 1 tank; 30. Mark V (female) tank; 31. The open version of Leyland 3 Ton truck; 32. The open and ambulance versions of Daimler DR4 truck; 33. The open and mobile AA searchlight versions of Benz LKW 1912 truck; 34. The open, ambulance and mobile AA searchlight versions of Jeffery Quad truck; 35. The German AA 37 mm automatic gun Maxim Flak M14; Aircraft changes 36. P-51D-15 engine model was fine-tuned and its speeds increased slightly (by about 5-8 miles per hour with a boost of 67 inches) as the result; 37. P-51D-15 handling at high speeds was improved. Controls are a little less stiff within the envelope; 38. P-51D-15 behavior at high Mach numbers was tweaked, Shaking and loss of control at the edge of envelope more severe; More likely to suffer airframe damage if trim used too liberally at high Mach. 39. P-51D-15 autopilot has been improved - the level flight assist more accurately maintains the altitude with different amounts of fuel remaining; 40. The excessive water spattering on the P-51D-15 canopy during the rain has been reduced; 41. Fixed shaking of both SPAD VII.C1 150 hp and 180 hp in the absence of a control signal at high (but lower than buffeting) speeds; 42. The issue of the absence of US pilots in B-25 and A-20 aircraft during Winter has been fixed; 43. The texture of the smoke generators in the hangar was corrected; 44. Fixed the "lagging" of the ammo explosion effect from the aircraft; 45. Reduced the likelihood of cases when a high-speed frontal collision won’t cause aircraft destruction; 46. Ju 87 D-3 brake flaps won’t visually disappear at a distance; 47. The AI pilots try to not hit allies in the line of fire (functionality restored); 48. Fuel tanks and aircraft structure are correctly damaged by AP projectiles fired by simple (non-detailed) AI-controlled objects; 49. Fokker D.VIII: the anemometer is correctly visible from the cockpit; Ground vehicle changes 50. KV-1s and T-34 mod. 43: the interior visual model of the gun in the mantle area has been improved; 51. KV-1s machine gun ammunition corrected (coaxial MG 25 magazines, rear MG 9 magazines, bow MG 15 magazines); 52. The overestimated combat survivability of guns, guidance mechanisms, electrical systems and radio stations has been reduced on all tanks, both detailed and simple. Tank guns can be disabled by an AP round hit of a similar caliber or multiple hits of .50 and larger caliber AP bullets; 53. MG firing sound correctly stops when a detailed tank is destroyed; 54. AI-controlled tank and aircraft turret MGs sounds corrected; 55. Some AI-controlled tanks and AFVs will fire their coaxial MGs (Humber, SdKfz-222); 56. A game and dedicated server crash bug that could happen randomly in multiplayer missions with A LOT of ground vehicles has been found and fixed; Career and Quick Mission changes 57. In Сareer mode the UK and US crews have the correct crew visual models and paint schemes depending on their country; 58. Random encounters with high-altitude interceptors (including Me 262) added to AQMG; 59. In AQMG, the behavior of AI bombers in Intercept Bombers type missions has been changed (they may panic, drop the bombs and run away when the flight leader is shot down); 60. UK and US callsigns of ground observation posts have been corrected in AQMG; 61. Correct paint schemes are assigned to aircraft covering the airfield in Attack Airfield type missions in AQMG; 62. The cruise speed of P-47D-22 and P-47D-28 in Career mode missions is adjusted to the historical 250 mph; 63. Two previously AI-only squadrons in the Career mode on the Rhineland map can be joined by the player: No. 322 (Dutch) Squadron RAF and No. 329 (Free French) Squadron RAF. 64. The redeployment mission from Migalovo to Dugino on 22.10.1941 for the German II./LG 2 squadron (Bf 109 E-7) has been restored; Mission Editor changes 65. Location of the toolbars are saved correctly, system toolbars and sections are removed; 66. It is now possible to set a block of buildings state to ‘destroyed’ by not entering all the individual IDs of the blocks, but only one ID = -1 with a damage level of 1. This should greatly save time for adding a destroyed block of buildings, reduce the size of missions created, mission loading time, and slightly increase performance. 67. Setting the value of block damage with ID = -1 between 0.1 and 0.9 will result in random destruction of the corresponding percentage of buildings in the block (the fewer buildings are in the block the more random it becomes). The random destruction of specific buildings is tied to the coordinates of the block on the map.

Hello P-51 Lovers! We know you’ve been waiting patiently to see more of the P-51B, so today we show you what it looks like both inside and out! This new ‘Pony’ should be ready by the end of this month. It’s the Holiday Season and a time for giving, so there will likely be two updates in December! One with the new clouds and the DFWC.V and the other with the P-51B and maybe, just maybe new fuel systems and drop tanks for several Bf-109 variants. Of course, plans are subject to change pending testing. And as mentioned previously the Malcolm Hood has taken extra work to get it right, so that component is not ready to be shown yet. Without further delay… Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Attention All Pilots and Tankers! We are proud to announce that we have opened Pre-Orders on two new Collector Tanks and a new Collector Plane for IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles series! The following are now available for Pre-Order in the IL-2 Official Webstore! All feature a 20% Pre-Order Discount! - Churchill Mk.IV Heavy Tank - StuG III Ausf.G Mobile Assault Gun - IAR-80/81 Romanian Fighter-Bomber We continue to expand the selection of aircraft and tanks that can be operated on any map in the Great Battles series and create entertaining matchups in both our Single-player and Multiplayer environments. We have chosen these subjects as they further bolster the historical options you have as a player or mission builder for Tank Crew, Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Kuban. However, as always they can be used on any map against any opponent you wish. These new tanks and the IAR-80/81 also add some very interesting history to the Great Battles series. The Churchill tank was offered through the Lend-Lease program and the IAR, flew for both the Axis and Allied sides during the war! The StuG was on just about every battlefield everywhere. The tanks are once again being built by our talented partner DigitalForms and the IAR-80/81 is being built by our long time friend and collaborator Ivan Shirshov. We also plan to make a Romanian pilot and language pack for him. Churchill Mk.IV The Churchill was a British heavy Infantry Tank that first saw combat during World War II in 1942 and remained in service in the postwar era until 1952. One of the heaviest Allied tanks of the war, the Churchill went into action for the first time during the Dieppe Raid in France in August 1942 and also saw action in North Africa, Italy, and on the Eastern Front. The chassis design proved very versatile and it was used as the basis for many specialized vehicles throughout the war. The Churchill Mark IV was the most numerous of the series, with 1,622 produced. This variant was virtually identical to the Churchill Mark III, with the main difference being a cheaper and better-protected cast turret. A Bedford 12-cylinder gasoline engine powered the tank and was capable of providing 350 horsepower. The tank’s top speed was around 24 km/h (15 mph), but Soviet tests claimed that a Churchill Mark III reached 28 km/h (17 mph). The main armament of the Churchill Mark IV was the Ordnance Quick-Firing (QF) 6-pounder gun of 57mm caliber. The secondary armament consisted of one coaxial 7.92 mm Besa machine gun mounted in the turret and a second Besa machine gun fitted in the hull. Beginning in 1943, some Churchill Mark IVs were refitted with 75 mm M3 guns taken from battle-damaged Shermans in North Africa (as well as a .30 caliber M1919 coaxial machine gun) and became known as the Churchill NA 75. Around two hundred tanks were converted in this manner. As part of the Lend-Lease program, the Soviet Union was sent 344 Churchill Mark IIs, IIIs and IVs, beginning in 1942, with 91 being lost enroute on the Arctic Convoys. Eventually, these tanks saw action at Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kursk, Prokhorovka, Kharkov and other battles. StuG III Ausf.G The Sturmgeschütz III (or StuG III) assault gun was one of the Germany’s most-produced armored fighting vehicles during World War II and saw action on all fronts in both Europe and North Africa. Initially deployed as a mobile armored light gun for infantry support, the StuG III underwent constant revisions throughout the war and was eventually heavily employed in the tank destroyer role. The StuG III Ausführung (Ausf.) G was the final and most common variant of the StuG III series with approximately 8400 built. Production of the type began in December 1942 and ended in April 1945. Panzer III Ausf. M chassis and Maybach HL120 V-12 gasoline engine rated at 296 horsepower allowed for a top speed of 40 km/h (25 mph). This StuG III Ausf. G was armed with the 75 mm Sturmkanone 40 (StuK 40) L/48 that was a modification of KwK 40 tank gun with different recoil absorbers (you may be already familiar with it from Pz.IV tank included in Tank Crew). Additionally, a shielded 7.92 mm MG 34 light machine gun was fitted above the loader’s hatch and spaced armor plates were also added to the vehicle front and sides from May 1943.

Hello Friends! Happy Monday to everyone! We have a short DD for you today that features the DFW C.V for Flying Circus Vol. II and new 4K skins for our old friend the Yak-1b which were crafted once again by our partner Martin “ICDP” Catney. The Yak-1b completes our initial goal of bringing all aircraft and tank skins along with their templates up to the 4K standard. It took several years, but what an accomplishment!! Thanks again to Martin, Francisco (BlackHellhound1) and Marcus (Raptorattacker) for helping make all this possible! DFW C.V Yak-1b 4K Skins The DFW C.V, Yak-1b 4K skins and our initial release of our new clouds will be in the upcoming 4.701 update later in December. Which we pray to all mighty Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Yahweh, Zeus, Lucifer, Cthulhu, Thanos, General Zod or whatever powerful deity controls its fate, please give us the strength to finish the P-51B so we can include it in update 4.701! Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, Welcome to a rare Monday edition that is our 300th Developer Diary which happens to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of the original IL-2 Sturmovik for the PC! Two decades on and IL-2 products are still going strong! Simply amazing! We know you would like this to be a super special diary today, but for us, it’s just another busy week at work trying to finish our projects. Please don’t think that we are not proud of this milestone, because we are, but there is just so much to do and we need to stay on task! However, we hope that there will be 300 more DDs and 20 more years of Sturmovik products to come! We also realize that we could not have gotten this far without the financial support of our customers and those dedicated people in our community that help us make Sturmovik week after week. We salute anyone and everyone who has contributed to the Great Battles series over the years either as an unpaid volunteer or professional partner. From painting skins to developing apps, making missions to beta testing, 3D modeling to historical to research, localization of text to voice acting and on and on, this 300th Developer Diary is dedicated to you guys! THANK YOU! No DD is complete without some news and images about current projects and today’s is no exception. Both of these projects have been undertaken by third-party partners – the C-47 cockpit is being built by Ugra Media and the IAR-80/81 is being built by our partner Ivan. Both of these models have been shown before and they have progressed since we last showed them, even if their appearance is not drastically different from before. There is lots of work being done to keep the poly and texture budgets under control and make the model not only beautiful, but also efficient. This is always a big challenge for anyone who makes models for us. C-47A IAR-80/81 The IAR will likely go on Pre-Order next week as well as our two new Collector Tanks which Jason will also announce next week. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, The cold November is here already and we continue working on our projects. An important milestone for the Battle of Normandy is getting near - its map will be ready to a degree that will allow us to begin the development of Pilot's Career for this theater (meaning that settlements, airfields, roads, rivers and forests will be there). It will be too early to share the screenshots of the map itself at this point since the work on its visual part - texturing and finalizing landscape features, coast and additional detail - happens at the last stage of development according to our workflow. Nevertheless, this stage is not very far away either, since the map overall progresses according to the plan. Speaking of the map, we can say that creation of map objects is finished, including the new city blocks characteristic for Britain, coastal defenses, radar stations, farmsteads for rural areas and, of course, unique landmarks. For creating believable airfields, certain additional airfield objects were created which are characteristic of this theater of war. The work on various naval and ground units for BoN continues - there are several ship types that participated in the landing, including landing craft and radar-equipped ones, and several vehicles like this British armored car Humber Mk.IV, which is ready for deployment. The German heavy fighter Ju 88 C-6 and the legendary US fighter P-51B-5 are getting close to release. Progress on the P-51B has been frustratingly slow with several technical delays due to research and software issues. Anyway, it's Flight Model 99% done and only Malcolm Hood visual is on the finish line of production. Please be patient the early Pony will get here we promise! Arado 234, Mosquito FB MK.VI and Me 410 are at earlier stages of development, but they are progressing according to the general plan. In the meantime, the work on the new fuel system is nearly finished and it will make its debut on Bf 109 fighters. As soon as it is ready we'll apply it to all the aircraft of the sim. This new tech will make the fuel system modeling more realistic, damageable in more detail and pilot interfacing with it will be recreated with more fine details. With this new technology up and running, we plan to switch to the development of the launch, guidance and warhead functioning of the V-1 vengeance weapon - its FM and 3D model, including the launch site, are already ready. There is good progress in Flying Circus Vol. II project is well. The German two-seater recon/strike airplane DFW C.V is the closest one for the release - at the moment its 3D model is nearly finished while its FM is in the works - and we plan to have it in the next update already. Sopwith Triplane should be also released before the end of the year as well as the British heavy bomber Handley Page O/400. Early next year we'll have to finish German bomber Gotha G.V, Western Front map, and two Collector Planes, late WWI fighters. In addition, there is a lot of WWI-era ground vehicles incoming - for instance, in the next update, we plan to release Jeffery Quad, Benz LKW 1912 and Daimler DR4 in several modifications and tanks - Mark V female, Reno FT and Schneider CA 1. WWI aviators will find their life slightly more complicated due to the addition of the German 37mm automatic AA gun Maxim Flak M14. All the things listed above are just a fraction of what we and our partners are working on at the moment, so please stay tuned - we'll be able to tell you more about the other development streams in our next Dev Diaries.

Dear Friends, The team is on a well-deserved extended weekend and Jason is lost in the middle of America on a research mission, so today’s DD is very straightforward. Behold the jet powered Arado AR 234 B-2 bomber! What sleek lines she has! As you saw last week, the Arado’s unique cockpit is also in development. We are working as hard as we can to make her operational as fast as we can. The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, Autumn has arrived in Moscow and Las Vegas and even thought the air temperature is dropping, our work pace is heating up fast. Work on our new cloud tech continues and is making rapid progress. We will make many different “cloud patterns” over time as we mentioned previously, but right now we are trying to create some quality cloud designs that we can put into Beta testing and fulfill the minimum designs needed to get you up and flying with them sooner rather than later. Please enjoy these screenshots and prepare to get lost in them! Work on the forthcoming P-51B continues and I really wanted to show you a shot of the cockpit with textures, but they aren’t quite ready for public viewing yet. But rest assured that the P-51B work is going hot and heavy. I am “encouraging” Mike as much as possible to get her done. So, we can’t show you the P-51B cockpit at the moment, but how about some shots of the Mosquito instead! As you can see, it’s taking shape and looking nice! Like our other British birds this one also has a busy cockpit that when finished will be nothing but Royal Air Force awesomeness! Testing on the new AQMG is progressing well and it should be released in our next update as mentioned last week. The Breguet 14 is also entering its final stages of tweaking before release as well. Work on the next update overall is going quite well so we expect a smooth release of 4.605 this month as planned. There has also been some good news with some research endeavors Jason has working on. If all goes well It may bring a new warbird to our skies. One that many of you have asked for. Stay tuned for more on that. And as mentioned by Jason in his recent Briefing Room post we have two Collector Tanks being worked on by our friends at DigitalForms and we will announce those very soon. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Pilots, This week we are working hard on the 4.605 update which will see two major releases. First, a French WWI bomber - the Breguet 14.B2 will be released for Flying Circus: Vol. II. The second will be the initial release of the Advanced Quick Mission Generator (AQMG) that adds a lot more mission content to the series. Breguet 14.B2 The Breguet 14.B2 was operated by the French, Belgian and American air forces during WWI and it is quite a powerful machine and successful bombing platform. It was well liked in Rise of Flight and we are proud to bring it to the Flying Circus series. This time around, we have taken the time to improve a couple details of this wonderful aircraft including the addition or Fuel Mixture and Elevator Trim. Both of these details were not included in the ROF version of this plane. Whenever possible, we try to add missing details to our re-born ROF aircraft. Advanced Quick Mission Generator The Advanced Quick Mission (AQMG) offers a very fast way to generate Scenario-style missions quickly that offer high quality combat. It’s not a campaign and it’s not the QMB. It’s kind of an in-between feature that lays the groundwork for possibly more detailed Scenario generating (building) in the future. It’s one more way to create combat missions without having to learn the complex Mission Editor. The AQM is more of a “generator” than a “builder “meaning most of the hard work is done by the system and the user does not have to make many inputs to get up and running. The goal is to create a mission that is fun with lots of combat with flexible settings for enemy activity. The AQMG is based on the very old Campaign generator we originally had for BOS that we set aside several years ago (it worked quite well though) to make the Pilot Career mode. We never tossed the code and have now adopted it for Great Battles. The AQMG is located inside the GUI beside the QMB and you can easily transition between the two features. The AQMG lets you choose several parameters that affect the mission, such as the map, airfield, mission type, starting position, your aircraft, loadout, weather, the time of day and the strength of enemy opposition. A mission is then generated from a historically based mission template that is populated with your objective and other friendly and enemy units that you may or may not encounter on your mission. It just takes seconds to set up a mission and get flying in a well-crafted historically appropriate mission that includes takeoff, ingress, targets, egress and landing. This is a bit more than your typically Quick Mission that is mainly geared for fast action and target practice. The AQMG can create thousands of different scenarios so no two missions will be exactly the same. This means thousands of hours air combat are at your disposal. Here are a few examples from the Moscow, Stalingrad, Kuban and Rhineland maps. The AQMG is available on all of our main theater maps at time of release. We hope to expand it to other maps in the future. The AQMG is one more tool in our mission creation toolbelt, alongside the QMB, Scenario Missions, Scripted Campaigns and Pilot Career offering a huge library of single-player content without the need to use the complex Mission Editor. In addition to all of these options, we recommend you also check out the Easy Mission Generator (EMG) by SYN_Vander and Pat Wilson’s Campaign Generator (PWCG) to have even more options for creating combat missions. Both are excellent, excellent apps! We will continue to explore ways to improve both the QMB and AQMG features in the future as well. Being able to adopt these AQMG missions for Co-Op is also high on our wish list. Old Clouds vs. New Clouds Video Work on our new cloud technology continues at a rapid pace. So much so that we can now show you a comparison of how the old clouds and new clouds compare when rendered in the engine. This video demonstrates just how powerful the new cloud tech is and its potential. We can now offer A LOT more cloud cover and not smash the framerate that you are accustomed to. Early testing points to a net gain in framerate even with exponentially more cloud particles and shapes in the scene. The video is a direct comparison of the same track and was originally captured in 4K and reduced to 2k thanks to Jason’s outdated movie editing software. The mission that was flown in the video was an 8 vs. 8 QMB mission on the Rhineland Map with all ground objects like vehicles, flak, trains and ships enabled. The cloud cover in the New Clouds portion is considered “heavy”. The Old Clouds portion is considered just your average ‘cloudy’ preset. Many of you will ask about how it performs in VR. To give you some idea here is what fellow team-member Jury aka Zeus told me today after testing it with his VR unit. This is a direct quote… and no he was not sucking up to the boss! Jury, 11:58 AM @Jason It's absolutely Awesome in VR On my settings (I did not change it from the release version), I did not notice a decrease in FPS at all in VR Hardware: I5-9600K overclocked by 4,8Hgz + RTX3070 + WMR "Samsung Odyssey+" in 60Hz refresh screen setting In all Isay`s clouds test-missions - stable 60FPS in VR in all altitude In QM battle 8x8 - stable 60FPS in VR in all altitude IMHO its huge step onforward like in a fairy tale in VR imagine you fly in a living volumetric sky ... Or even in a huge labyrinth of clouds We believe this is very good news for VR pilots and all IL-2 fans for that matter. There are still some bugs to work out and there is (as usual ) some issue with Radeon cards we have to solve first. However, we are quickly moving to put these in Beta soon and then work on making many interesting and realistic cloud designs! Enjoy! Jason P.S. Yes the music in the video is annoying I know. P.S.S. I mixed up my monitor listing in the video. I know there is no such thing as an ASUS Predator. I meant ASUS 43PGUQ. I also have an Acer Predator monitor.

Dear Friends, In today’s DD we want to show you some screens featuring our new cloud technology and renderer. We have been working on new clouds for a few months and we now have some WIP results we can show you. As you can see, they look more natural and have more variety and are larger than our previous clouds. They also have localized rain showers and react well with the lighting creating a beautiful scene. While other teams out there have more resources than we do to make amazing clouds, our new clouds are the work of just two motivated people on the Sturmovik Team (Sergey and Isay). And soon we’ll be working with community member and friend rowdyb00t who has previously made some cool cloud mods with our current technology. This new cloud technology has great potential and of course it will take some artistic talent to make it look it’s best. They should also offer better visuals with no loss of performance over the current technology, at least that’s what we see in early testing. We think you’ll like these new clouds and we’ll work to get these to you as soon as we can. The technology is being perfected as we speak and we will begin work on making the new cloud content shortly. Then they will go into testing with release hopefully in a few months. Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Update 4.604 Dear Friends, We’re glad to inform you that a new update is released - 4.604! In addition to the new SPAD VII.C1 180 h.p. for Flying Circus Vol II, this update brings many improvements in different areas. There is a whole section of changes related to aircraft armament, including the much-discussed M2 .50 Browning machine gun rounds. We also worked on the improvement of everything connected with aircraft collisions with the ground - improved graphic effects, damage model of the airframe and pilot from collisions. The pilot's physiological model has undergone a new revision as well. A whole section of upgrades is devoted to improvements to previously released aircraft, and another to player controllable vehicles. And some AI objects developed as part of the Battle of Normandy have been introduced into the project. Our team continues to work on improving the IL-2 universe in every possible way. Stay tuned for more updates this year! 4.604 Main Features 1. Late Spad VII.C1 modification with a 180 hp engine is now available to all customers who pre-ordered Flying Circus Vol.II; 2. LCI(L), Landing Craft Infantry (Large), developed for Battle of Normandy was added to the sim (no visible crew yet); 3. The nationality of the player's aircraft in the Quick Mission now depends on which paint scheme was selected before the mission was generated (which in turn determines the voiceover, crew, and tactical numbers); 4. Spad 7 instruments improved by Oyster_Kai; 5. Several additional textures improved by Oyster_Kai for multiple aircraft such as Bf 109 series, P-51D-15, P-47D-28 and Ju 88 A-4; Changes to Armaments 6. Instead of having two sizes of tracers ("MGs" and "cannons"), they now depend on the projectile caliber and the tracer length reduces as the projectile speed decreases (important when viewed from the side). Visible tracers of machine guns and small-caliber cannons became significantly smaller, and the size of tank and artillery tracers increased as the result; 7. Smoke traces from tracer bullets and shells became less dense; 8. Graphic effects of armor-piercing 7...15 mm bullets hitting an aircraft were reworked to look more realistic; 9. US Armor Piercing .50 bullets mass and ballistics corrected. Muzzle velocity of 36-inch M2 .50 MG changed to 864 m/s; 10. M2. 50, M2 .30, Browning .303, Hispano Mk.II, Hispano Mk.V, Vickers Class S, M4 machine guns and cannons installed on aircraft (including turreted weapons) have their dispersion corrected according to newly found reference data; 11. Soviet guns dispersion data was adjusted based on a more critical approach to the choice of reference data options (gunnery test reports of obviously defective units were discarded) and using a different method of calculating the parameter of the dispersion function. In general, the dispersion spread either decreased slightly or remained almost the same; 12. The machine gun overheating of German aircraft turrets when firing long bursts was adjusted according to the same approach for all other aircraft (there was a discrepancy before); 13. Inadequate dispersion of turreted machine guns on Flying Circus aircraft was adjusted to match dispersion of these weapons installed on over-wing mounts; Changes to Aircraft Damage Model 14. Improved aircraft damage model: tangential ground impacts at high speed are more likely to cause an explosion, impacts at medium speed cause more damage to the aircraft and fuel tanks are more likely to catch fire on impact; 15. The excessive likelihood of control wiring damage on all Flying Circus aircraft has been corrected; 16. If control wiring is damaged on Airco D.H.4, Halberstadt CL.II, Bristol Fighter, Albatros D.Va and S.E.5a, Fokker DR.I, Fokker D.VII, Fokker D.VIIF, Fokker D.VIII the corresponding rudders will "dangle" along the air stream (other aircraft will be updated in the next update); Changes to Pilot Physiological Model 17. Impact and excessive overload injuries model has been adjusted for aircraft and vehicle crews. Collisions with the ground have become more traumatic for pilots; 18. The accumulation of pilot fatigue from overload during long maneuvers has been reduced. This will allow for somewhat longer aerobatics and combat maneuvering. There is inadequate information on the fatigue accumulation under the influence of prolonged small overloads in the publicly available scientific articles, the rare data is very contradictory and therefore the model in this part was adjusted based on the collected opinion of surveyed pilots. Throughout the year we received feedback from experienced pilots and it became generally clear that fatigue was somewhat overestimated. This was corrected; 19. Pilot's backrest angle was adjusted on Pe-2, He-111, Ju-88, and B-25 (it is taken into account in the G-force tolerance model); 20. P-47D-22 pilot no longer has G-suit due to the timeframe of the war this aircraft was designed for; 21. The maximum value of overload that can be displayed on the instrument panel (HUD) has been expanded; Changes to Graphics 22. Graphical artifacts "thin white stripes in the distance near the coastline" on maps with sea have been removed; 23. Graphics artifacts "white dots along the edge of the sight reflector and some other glass facets when the pilot is wounded or at night when using MSAA and the maximum graphics preset" have been removed; 24. Fixed ships reflections jumping whenl looked at from the shore; 25. Fixed local troubles with sea "climbing at shoreline rocks" on Kuban map; 26. The delay between a high-speed ground impact of an aircraft and the resulting explosion has been minimized; 27. Graphics effects of aircraft falling and exploding when hitting the ground or water or suffering an air collision were improved. A fire now burns for a while at the crash site; 28. The effect of PTAB bursts landing far off the target has been restored; 29. Shadows rendering on tank's hull while quickly turning in 1st person view were corrected; 30. Turret and gun barrel shadows cast by player's tank on the ground during 1st person view were corrected; 31. There are no "holes" in the shadow cast by the Sd.Kfz.184 on the ground in 1st-person view anymore; 32. Airco D.H.4 detailed cockpit model correctly shows in all camera positions inside it; 33. Strong stuttering near Mill airfield on the Rheinland map has been fixed; 34. The visual disappearance of cockpit windows of a damaged Yak-9 at a close distance has been fixed; Changes to Aircraft 35. Restored the cloud cover target obscuring for AI fighter pilots; 36. AI fighter pilots shouldn't fire at a target if there is an allied aircraft in the line of fire; 37. AI fighter pilots will correctly attack a locomotive instead as the last car; 38. Cockpit won't sometimes open by itself at the end of a mission and gunners won't try to bail out; 39. Crews will bail out slightly faster from multi-crew aircraft; 40. Pilots and gunners that were killed while leaving the plane will have correct poses; 41. Fixed roll trimming of Typhoon Mk.Ib; 42. Fixed (reduced) Typhoon airframe resistance to aerodynamic loads (destructive overload decreased); 43. Typhoon constant tail loose on ditching fixed; 44. C-47A can carry British paratroopers too; 45. Added a paragraph about automatic dive operation to Pe-2 aircraft descriptions (both of them); 46. Fixed the appearance of turn indicator on Yak-7 and Yak-9 aircraft; 47. Fixed an error in the RPK-10 instrument model on the Yak-1b; 48. The guest player occupying the position of the lower He 111 H-16 gunner will correctly see his collimator gunsight; 49. Airco D.H.4: mixed up graphic animation of fuel tank leaks and fires has been fixed; 50. Airco D.H.4: a graphical artifact in the gunner's cockpit when looking at it with the photo camera mounted has been fixed; 51. Airco D.H.4: an issue where damaged landing gear disappeared at a distance has been fixed; 52. Airco D.H.4: the front cockpit instrument glass won't be visible through the rear cockpit windshield; 53. Airco D.H.4: bomb racks won't visibly appear at a distance when there are no bombs; 54. SPAD VII.C1 150h.p.: "broken glare" issue won't happen at a medium detail level; 55. SPAD VII.C1 150h.p.: the installed Lewis over-wing MG will correctly cause drag; 56. SPAD VII.C1 150h.p. and SPAD XIII.C1 excessive batting amplitude has been reduced; 57. P-39 "Prototype" paint scheme no longer has the insignia; 58. All Spitfires: an excessive haze of the windshield armored glass has been removed; 59. Both Yak-9s cockpit glass won't visibly disappear at a distance when damaged; Changes to Player-Controlled Tanks and Trucks 60. New flame effects from exhaust pipes were added to all Tank Crew tanks (it appears when the engine is damaged and when gasoline engines are outgassed); 61. New powder gases effects were added to all Tank Crew tanks (flashing out of the gun breech when the bolt is opened after the shot is fired); 62. On all player controllable tanks the shading from the sun in a dark area affects gunsights; 63. Wound effects correctly function in all commander' viewports and visors; 64. Hatches won't sometimes open by themselves at the end of a mission and the crewmen won't try to bail out; 65. Poses of unconscious tank crewmen were corrected; 66. The crew leaving sequences of player controllable tanks and anti-aircraft guns were improved; 67. The voiceovers of ammunition type in commander's commands to suppress point and attack target when selecting sub-caliber rounds and machine gun were restored; 68. Single shots of M2 .50 and MG-34 machine guns on player controllable tanks won't create multiple shot sounds; 69. AI drivers of player controllable tanks would correctly close the visor armor shield at the start of combat; 70. Player controllable KV-1s and SU-152 have an additional paint scheme based on historical one but compatible with custom tactical numbers; 71. It is now possible to fold the armored glass block on KV-1s and SU-152 (N key); 72. Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M and Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G driver's front and side armor flap opening controls are now separate (LWin+C for the front one as it was before, N key for the side one); 73. GAZ-MM driver's side window and windshield flap controls are now separate (LWin+C for the front one as it was before, N key for the side one); 74. Reflections in GAZ-MM windows are improved; 75. Sd.Kfz.10/5 driver's visor opening is now audible; 76. Sd.Kfz. 10/5 single-player scenarios were updated; 77. Sd.Kfz.10/5 notes now contain the info on how to use the searchlight; 78. The missing voiceovers of the commander's orders to fire machine gun on target and suppressing fire were restored; 79. All Steel Birds campaign scenarios were optimized for better performance; You can discuss the update n this thread.

Dear Pilots, Today we want to show you some WIP pics of the P-51B/C with the birdcage style canopy. It really changes the look of the P-51 and it's obvious why they changed to the bubble style canopy with the "D" model and some "B" airframes had their birdcage replaced with the 'Malcolm Hood' canopy which was a semi-bubble modification. We will also model the Malcolm Hood. Also, if you happen to have any detailed references on the Malcolm Hood's canopy frame, rails or emergency release mechanism please share them with us. We could use some more detailed pictures or drawings of it. The P-51B/C is unfortunately behind schedule and should have been ready by now, but she is getting ever closer to release and likely to be finished next month. Also, here is a pic of our American bomber pilot model ready to face some German flak! Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, This Dev blog is a bit unusual - I wanted to illustrate how the virtual world created by our team is not just a place to show nice-looking aircraft and vehicles, but it comes really close to real world experiences and situations (which is the ultimate goal of any sim). This past Saturday night, myself and Roman (one of our flight model and aircraft systems engineers) had time to enjoy our sim as players and our experience turned out much like the real Eastern Front air clashes - somewhat confusing, challenging and stressful. We flew a pair of Yak-9Ts to patrol a water basin area where both Soviet and German priority targets were located. I was the flight leader and... it didn't go well. Upon reaching the area, I spotted a target flying at our altitude at a 7-10 km distance and closed up to identify it. The target started to do shallow, full-speed evasive maneuvers. I identified it as Fw 190 even though I wasn't totally sure. Roman (my wingman) wasn't confident as well and we continued the approach. At a closer distance where a positive ID could be obtained the target made a sharp evasive maneuver that continued as a dive so I decided to engage. The first single 37 mm shot connected and the target exploded, the pilot was killed. Very cool to watch, but immediately we saw the report (in the chat) that a La-5 was destroyed. Oh no! Quite a negative combat situation – I was thinking about the inevitable court-martial as we continued the patrol. Then Roman spotted a target on the right - a medium-sized twin-engine aircraft not more than 2 km away. Having forgotten about the tragedy that just happened for a moment, we rushed to it. This time we closed to be absolutely sure what it is - it could be Bf 110, but also a friendly Pe-2. Climbing up from below the contact, Roman identified it to be German by yellow wingtips and he started his attack, but the German pilot wasn't sleeping and successfully evaded the attack while his rear gunner hit the Yak’s radiator. But this is why a pair is always more effective than a single fighter - having evaded Roman's attack the 110 exposed itself to me! A short 37 mm burst connected and blew off part of its wing. The pilot tried to keep his plane in the air, but couldn’t manage to do it and fell to the ground below. We didn’t see any chutes. Apparently though, the 110 wasn't alone. A fighter that must have been providing cover saw what had happened and quickly closed the distance between us. Roman managed to spot it just in time and maneuvered smartly to get onto his six o'clock, then the FW made a fatal mistake and made a sharp climb which slowed him down and made himself a fatter target with much less deflection than say a sharp diving turn would have. I always find it easier to lead a climbing target than a turning target. A few 37mm rounds connected making it a falling wreck. Since Roman's radiator was leaking and our 30 rounds ammo was nearly spent, I made a decision to return to base immediately. In spite of the damage sustained, Roman’s Yak successfully reached the airfield and landed in time. After cutting off the engine and opening the cockpit canopy, the thrill of victory quickly left and a dark feeling of the grave episode of mistaken identity set in – a Willy’s jeep containing the Commissar pulled up. P.S. An interesting thing - I wrote this immediately after the landing and before viewing the flight record. After viewing it, I believe this experience proves that what we had just done was even more lifelike and close to what you usually read in pilot memoirs than I first thought. When I saw the flight record, it turned out that when I wrote 'the first single shot' or 'a short burst' I couldn't be more wrong. I fired at least five short bursts at the first target (the friendly La-5) before I hit it. The second target was also hit only after firing for some time when it was doing scissors evasion maneuvers. This is close to historical reality as well - memories of combatants can sometimes be confused or tell a different story than reality. It’s this kind of thing that helps make our job of creating a ‘simulation’ difficult at times. Update on IAR-80/81 On the actual development front, our modeling partner Ivan is working hard on the IAR-80/81 and it’s beginning to take shape nicely. When we see the cockpit starting to take shape, we will offer it up for Pre-Order. This plane promises to be very interesting. Battle of Normandy objects development We're happy to report a good progress on the Normandy project. The most of the buldings anf ground vehicles are ready and the work on the sea objects is going at full head flank speed - today we can show you a couple of screenshots straight from 3D editor screen. This is WIP model of a Gleaves class destroyer that participated in the invasion.

Dear Pilots, Our Mosquito FB Mk,VI for Battle of Normandy is coming along nicely. Some very early WIP shots of it in the engine. Still much support work to do for it still. Will initially be available to fly with 8 squadrons in Career mode. Q. If it's made from polygons is it still a Wooden Wonder? Enjoy!

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, 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

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.

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