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Dear Friends, Today we'd like to tell you about the new Great War aircraft that are in development. While transferring them from our classic project Rise of Flight to IL-2 Great Battles, we are fixing problems we found during this work - sometimes there are some asymmetric aerodynamic elements, a wrong object hierarchy, engine overheating/overcooling, and other similar problems. For example, while working on the Airco DH.2 recently, we found problems - it had an invisible "ghost" stabilizer in the physical model, inconsistencies in drag values, and it was also missing its top speed - judging by the reference data, it was missing it by about 15 kph. Well, mistakes happen, and they will be corrected: the DH.2 in FC will have recalculated drag values, corrected handling, and an increased top speed. Soon the beta testers will try it out, and some additional changes may be in order after these tests. Its AI will also be updated as it needs to be taught how to use its blip switch for taxiing (such early flying machines had no throttle and the engine always ran at full power - its pilot had to press and hold a blip switch button that cut the ignition when he wanted to slow down). Another upcoming aircraft, the Sopwith Pup, also had some problems with its flight characteristics and engine, which are currently being corrected. While working on Flying Circus aircraft, we are not only adding new features thanks to the IL-2 Great Battles engine but also fixing old problems whenever we get the chance. The new Flying Circus aircraft pack is scheduled for release this summer.

Dear friends, Today we'd like to inform you about the upcoming update 5.203. In this update, the AQMG (Advanced Quick Mission Generator) mode will be greatly expanded. New mission types will be added: glider towing to the Normandy and Rhineland maps and artillery spotting and balloon defense to the Western Front WWI map. But the most significant addition will be made to the detailed map of Prokhorovka. Tank Crew will now have a completely new mode that wasn't available before - Ground Forces AQM. Just like its aerial counterpart, it will allow you to choose a specific mission type that will affect the composition and positions of your forces: Strongpoint Defense, Enemy Strongpoint Attack, Breakthrough, and Enemy Rear Area Attack. You'll be able to set an initial distance from the enemy (since ground vehicles are very slow compared to aircraft), the strength of your force, the enemy force, and air support. Other changes in this update include the correction of the distance at which nearby aircraft can be heard, further updates to the Lightning Strikes, Havoc over the Kuban, and Hell Hawks over the Bulge campaigns, various minor improvements such as fixes to career progression, taxiing on certain airfields, mission generation, etc. The popular community-created campaigns Kerch-Eltigen Operation and Battle of the Hürtgenwald will be included in the game with the permission of their authors. We also want to start a multiplayer-related competition today: submit your best in-game tracks of multiplayer action! You can show any action, plane, or tank, as long as it is interesting and recorded in multiplayer (if you already have a saved track that you love and it loads in the game, you can submit it as well). Tracks should be short, showing an interesting event and a few seconds before and after. Please submit your tracks by April 12th. Then we'll choose the best ones - their authors will be awarded Collector planes of their choice and we will create a multiplayer promo video using these tracks. Please post the links to your tracks here or in our Discord channel till the end of April 11th.

Dear friends, Today we would like to tell you about a new aircraft that our artists have been working on for some time and engineers have recently started to create its FM. The Ta 152 is the last creation of the German aircraft designer Kurt Tank, which managed to take part in combat operations during the Second World War. This aircraft was the culmination of the evolution of the Fw 190 fighter and Germany's most advanced piston fighter. It was in development for a long time, several years, and appeared at the very end of the war. During the development, several modifications of the original Fw 190 were produced, which finally led to the Ta 152 - the name "Fw" was changed to "Ta" in recognition of the designer's merits. Compared to the Fw 190D "Dora", the wingspan was significantly increased for better maneuverability at high altitudes, the fuselage was longer, and the new Jumo-213E engine was equipped with two boost systems: MW-50 (water-methanol mixture injection for low and medium altitudes) and GM-1 (nitrous oxide for high altitudes). The "Dora" engine was already characterized by a high degree of automation and regulation and thus complexity, but here the Germans went even further - the engine was equipped with a two-stage three-speed (!) supercharger. As you can see, these improvements were made for high-altitude combat, where the Ta 152 had to outperform the Mustangs and Spitfires of the Allies - the threat from the bomber armadas climbing higher and higher was growing every year. The plane had a pressurized cockpit and could reach a speed of 750 km/h at an altitude of 12 km, and its ceiling was 14 km! Think about it - a piston fighter that could climb and fight above modern jetliners had no equal. Its armament is also respectable, even by late WWII standards: 30mm MK 108 and two 20mm MG-151/20 cannons allowed it to destroy any air target. The Ta 152 went into production at the end of the war and appeared in the skies of Germany in January-February 1945, but due to the disparity of forces, they had no effect on the course of hostilities: they were produced in very small numbers (about 25 H-1s). They remained in history as a monument to German wartime engineering and design. In our simulator, we expect to release this very interesting aircraft this summer.

Dear friends, Update 5.202 is live. It brings a lot of new content and improvements in different parts of the sim. The Battle of Normandy has been expanded to include 9 aircraft instead of the standard 8: Spitfire Mk.IXc, which we released today. As it was a mainstay of the RAF in early 1944, it is a great addition to the career mode during the Normandy period. This addition is retroactive, so all existing owners of Battle of Normandy will get this new bird for free. The second and last 'long' version of the IAR fighter, I.A.R. 80-B, is also included in this update, which means that IAR-80/81 is officially released. Owners will get two aircraft in the same purchase, the 'short' 80-A and the 'long' 80-B, each with its own set of historical modifications, including fighter/bomber ones, and paint schemes. In this update we also show some love to our older planes - our engineering team has thoroughly checked and improved the FM of several planes thanks to new historical data found by enthusiasts. P-47 critical AoA and maximum wing lift have been increased and made less stable (please be more careful with the flight stick until you get used to it). All Fw 190-A roll rates have been increased. The P-40 received the 1942 engine modification that allowed it to run on emergency power for a longer period thanks to reinforced ball bearings. WW1 aircraft shaking from damage is reduced and visible damage is tuned to better match actual damage. We were also able to add manual fuel gauges to more aircraft: all Il-2s, all Fw 190-A series, all He 111s, Ju 87, and I-16. These FM improvements are even more enjoyable because the control mapping process has been streamlined: not only can you search for an assigned command by pressing a button on your control device or entering the command name, but many new on/off commands have been added to assign them to HOTAS switches - parking brakes, engine superchargers, cockpit open/close, bomb bay doors, air brakes, Ju 87 siren, individual engine propeller feathering, etc. There are also many improvements to mission generation. Flying Circus pilots get their own Advanced Quick Mission Generator on the Western Front WWI map, which was previously only available on WWII maps. There are several improvements to the career mode: the flight altitude over the Western Front during WWII is higher than on the Eastern Front, 12-13,000 feet, and there is a new mission type, Airfield Defense (see other changes below). AI pilots should now generally do a better job of attacking head-on. The historical campaign Lightning Strikes has been heavily reworked and improved, and there are fixes for the Ten Days of Autumn and Steel Birds campaigns. New experimental mission editor features mentioned in our last DD are also in - to enable them, you can add the line full_editor = 1 to the [SYSTEM] part of the data\startup.cfg file. Changes you make to water and forest maps in the editor will be visible in the game in Mods On mode. The landscape change menu will also be accessible, but it's intended for enthusiast teams working on the new maps (a map with a changed landscape will not load in the game in Mods On mode and will cause an error during loading). All in all, we have done our best to include something nice for everyone in this update, and we hope you enjoy it! See you in the skies! 5.202 Changelist The Romanian I.A.R.80/81 fighter is available in both variants (short and long) for all owners of the corresponding Collector Planes kit; British Spitfire Mk.IXc fighter is available for all owners of Battle of Normandy; Advanced Quick Mission mode has been added to the Western Front WWI map for owners of any Flying Circus module; A search by command name and assigned key/axis has been added to the control mapping settings; For easy assignment of HOTAS toggle switches, several cyclic commands are duplicated as separate on/off commands: bomb fuses, bomb bay doors, air brakes, Ju 87 siren, engine superchargers, canopy open/close, all propeller feathering, specific engine propeller feathering, tail wheel lock, and parking brakes; P-47: updated FM, reduced stability margin to better match historical data, increased maximum wing lift and critical angle of attack; P-40: added "Engine V-17190-39 (1942)" modification to reflect improvements in engine design that increased the allowable operating time at emergency modes; Fw-190 A-series: roll rate brought to historical values (increased); Fuel gauge switch control is implemented on all IL-2s, I-16, all Fw 190-A series, all He 111s and Ju-87; Career: the altitude of intercepting and escorting bombers in Rheinland and Normandy careers has been increased to 4000-4500 meters; Corrected the visual display of damage and reduced shaking when WWI airplanes are damaged; IAR 80/81: its unique bomb control system has been improved to better match the historical prototype - in the bomb drop mode the bombs are released by the main trigger (command "fire all guns"); Career: updated Airfield Defense mission; Career: Spitfire Mk.XIV fighters in Rheinland career are equipped with E-wing (two 12.7mm instead of four 7.7mm machine guns); Fixed a problem with AI pilots pulling away from a frontal attack too early; Improved routine for detecting an enemy attacking a group of AI planes from blind spots; Fixed a problem with AI gunners aiming in tanks with coaxial machine guns; Experimental features for editing water and forest maps have been added to the editor: to enable them you can add the line full_editor = 1 to the [SYSTEM] part of the data\startup.cfg file. Water and forest map changes you make in the editor will be visible in the game in Mods On mode. The landscape change menu will be also accessible, but it is intended for enthusiast teams who are working on the new maps (an existing map with an altered landscape won't load in the game in Mods On mode and will result in an error during loading). Career: in the transport escort missions for the Eastern Front career, the front line has been restored; Career: fighter-bombers have been added as targets in the Attack Intercept and Attack Escort missions; Career: Fixed rocket launches in the air without gaining the right altitude in Assault Escort missions; Career: fixed very long attack of a target by attacking aircraft on the runway for Attack Escort missions with start on the runway; Career: for Transport Escort missions for Eastern Front careers, fixed smoke hanging in the air that should be on the ground; Career: redesigned the template for escorting transports that bring cargo to the airfield instead of dropping it on parachute containers, fixed a bug with escorted transports not being able to land; Career: Fixed early scoring of mission success when the plane has not even reached its airfield yet; Career: Fixed takeoff at Malye Chapurniki airfield on Stalingrad map; Career: Added a new engine for AI P-40 fighters in Stalingrad and Kuban careers; Western Front" map: fixed takeoff at Braizieux airfield; Updated "Lightning Strikes" campaign; Added sound for all La and LaGG on the release of the bomb drop button; On La-5F and La-5FN, changed the limitation of camera downward movement when the canopy is open; IAR 80/81: Bomb racks removed from fighter modifications; Fw-190 (all): corrected animation of cockpit canopy opening handle; Ju 88 C-6: fixed a bug displaying one of the bombs in the bomb bay; Several popular multiplayer servers have their icons in the server list (please contact our Community Manager if you want to assign one to your server); Small fixes have been made to the "10 Days of Autumn" and "Steel Birds" campaigns; Improved air behavior of parachute containers and Ar 234 rocket boosters; Fixed a problem with artillery gun crews when repairing them by MCU Command: Damage.

Dear friends, The beta testing of the new update 5.202 continues: IAR-80B and Spitfire IXc are being polished and new career changes are being tested. The new control assignment features are working great. We have some good news about the upcoming Spitfire IXc: this aircraft, which was a mainstay of the RAF in early 1944, will be added to the Battle of Normandy lineup. This means that all Battle of Normandy owners will automatically receive it when the 5.202 update is released. This will make the BoN career mode even better and more realistic. It also means that both Western Front modules, Battle of Normandy and Bodenplatte, will have their own Spitfire IX, which was an iconic British aircraft of the time (there is a Spitfire IXe in the Bodenplatte module). In addition to the new content and improvements in nearly every system of the sim mentioned in our previous DD, 5.202 will bring a neat feature that many of the Mission Editor enthusiasts have been dreaming of - on-the-fly editing of landscape, forest, and water maps that previously could only be edited using 3rd party graphics editing software. This feature, developed by our lead programmer Sergey, makes editing much more intuitive and easy as you can see the effect of your changes in the sim world immediately - you can plant a forest or cut down the trees near the airfield, fill a new river or remove a lake, create a mountain or dig a ravine. Here are some preview screenshots of this feature. The new version should be ready for the release soon, in two weeks

Dear Friends, The huge update 5.201 is live. It contains three major additions and a number of other fixes and improvements. Flying Circus Vol.III is now officially released and is available on our website and on Steam. Most of the Flying Circus Vol.III aircraft were already available via the Early Access program - the last one is the R.E.8 two-seater, a very versatile aircraft for its time (it began to reach the front in late 1916). It was designed to carry radio and photographic equipment for reconnaissance and artillery spotting, and a small bomb load on underwing racks. For more information on this airplane, please read our Dev Blog#354. In total, Flying Circus Vol.III contains 8 early Great War aircraft: the Albatros D.II, Halberstadt D.II, Nieuport 11.C1, French Nieuport 17.C1, Nieuport 17.C1 adapted for British service, and Hanriot HD.1 fighters, and the R.E.8. and F.E.2b two-seater reconnaissance planes. Updates to the Western Front map to include the entire frontline, many new objects and settlements, and five seasons - Summer, Autumn, late Autumn, Winter, and Spring. The WWI Pilot's Career mode has also been updated - it now starts earlier, in 1916, includes all available WWI era aircraft including FC Vol.III and Collector, takes advantage of the updated map and uses all of its seasons. Please note that the updated map and career mode are also available to owners of any Flying Circus volume (If you don't see the new map seasons immediately, please wait a few hours - they are being assigned to eligible accounts on the server). It is recommended that all FC players start a new WWI career, however we have been able to keep the old FC careers playable - they don't include the new additions and are unsupported, but you should be able to finish an existing WWI career if you wish. Another fascinating addition is a new aircraft type, something we haven't had in the sim before - a player-controlled military glider. In our simulator, the visual model of the CG-4A glider was restored with great care, and our engineers recreated in its new virtual life all the main features of its control and use. It should be noted that this is a new class of objects for our simulator and we have developed a number of technologies to make its realization possible - for example, a flexible towing cable. In addition to the Quick Mission Builder and multiplayer modes, if you have the Normandy and/or Bodenplatte modules, you can fly them in career mode on the Western Front during the major airborne operations - Overlord, Market Garden, and Varsity. The third major addition in this update is the short version of the long-awaited IAR-80/81 Collector Plane (the long version is also included in the purchase and will be made available in early 2024 in January or February). We have covered it extensively in our Dev Blog#355. The I.A.R.80-A fighter series 106-150 is the base model for the short version - it has six 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns that fire German ammunition. Its flying capabilities were comparable to those of the Yak-1, but later versions of the IAR had more powerful weapons and bombs: I.A.R.80-B series 181-200 has four 7.92 mm machine guns rather than six, as well as two 13.2mm FN Browning machine guns that fire 13.2 mm Hotchkiss rounds. The I.A.R.80-M has two 20 mm MG-151/20 cannons and two 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns. The I.A.R.81 series 151-175 is equipped with six 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns and can carry up to three bombs weighing up to 400 kg. The underbelly bomb rack has a distinctive parallelogram mechanism, similar to the Ju 87 dive-bomber, preventing bombs from hitting the propeller during dive bombing. In addition, the Achtung Spitfire! campaign that previously was only available on our website is now released on Steam. 5.201 Changelist The CG-4A Collector Plane has been released; Flying Circus Vol. III has been released - R.E.8 two-seater airplane is added to the sim; Romanian I.A.R.80/81 fighter is available in Early Access (short version, long version will be added in the next update); Added Autumn, Late Autumn/Early Spring, Winter and Summer seasons for the Western Front WWI map (available to either Flying Circus module owners); All Flying Circus Vol.III airplanes have been added to the Pilot's Career mode during WWI timeframe; The accuracy of AI gunners on player-controlled aircraft matches the "Ace" level on AI-controlled aircraft; AI won't turn on the landing light during a daytime approach; A tactical number set by the player is saved; The send message button in multiplayer chat matches the team color; A 100% setting on a control axis should result in 100% value displayed in the technochat instead of 99%; T-34 mod. 1942 and PzKpfW III Ausf. L won't be erroneously listed as part of the Bodenplatte module in the equipment selection menu; Pilot's Career: new options have been added for fine tuning the difficulty level; Assault guns with indirect fire capability (SU-122, SU-152, Stug III Ausf. G, SdKfz 184 Ferdinand) have panoramic sight leveling features to ensure accurate shooting. Ballistic tables added to the Description tab for Stug III Ausf.G and SdKfz 184 Ferdinand ; New training scenarios added for SU-122 (firing at stationary targets and indirect fire); Removed extra aftersounds from the SHKAS machine guns firing sound; Airco DH.4 stabilizer fixed camera position corrected; Pilot protection from the shrapnel corrected on British planes when the canopy is closed; Albatros D.II lower wing aerodynamics data corrected; Li-2 altitude throttle lever function inverted according to its label (forward - poor mixture, reverse - rich); La-5 ser. 8 wing sturdiness corrected; Overlord campaign is updated and translated into French.

Dear Friends, The preparation of the new update continues at full throttle. The CG-4A glider is a challenge as several new features are necessary for its towing, which have never been included in the simulation. The Western Front WWI map and the last aircraft for Flying Circus Vol. III, the R.E.8 two-seater, are almost complete and receiving final touches. A quick heads-up: please note that due to the sheer amount of changes we're making to the Flying Circus Career mode (not only is the map much more populated but new aircraft have been added and its timeframe starts earlier) it will not be compatible with the existing careers using this map. If you currently have an ongoing WWI career, we recommend finishing it before December 19th when we will release the new update. Alternatively, you can wait for the update to start a new career. The long-awaited I.A.R. Collector Plane is also nearing completion. In this case, however, instead of one, there will be two Collector Planes in a single purchase. The long and short variants are quite different, so they are considered distinct aircraft in the game. Each plane comes with its own modifications, paint schemes, flight characteristics, and more. The short version will be available in the December 5.201 update, with the long version following soon before the end of the Winter, likely in January. The first Romanian fighter to be produced in large numbers was made mostly of metal, except for the stabilizer and flaps which were made of a different material. The flaps and landing gear were operated by hydraulic pressure. The I.A.R.80-A fighter series 106-150 will be the base model for the short version. This fighter was equipped with six 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns that fired German ammunition. Its flying capabilities were comparable to those of the Yak-1, but later versions of the IAR had more powerful weapons and bombs: I.A.R.80-B series 181-200 had four 7.92 mm machine guns rather than six, as well as two 13.2mm FN Browning machine guns that fired 13.2 mm Hotchkiss rounds. The I.A.R.80-M had two 20 mm MG-151/20 cannons and two 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns. The I.A.R.81 series 151-175 was equipped with six 7.92mm FN Browning machine guns and was designed to carry up to three bombs weighing up to 400 kg. The underbelly bomb rack had a distinctive parallelogram mechanism, similar to the Ju 87 dive-bomber, preventing bombs from hitting the propeller during dive bombing. The aircraft was powered by a twin-row radial 14-cylinder air-cooled engine, the I.A.R.-14K; it was licensed from the French Gnome-Rhone 14K. This engine could produce up to 1000 hp in take-off mode. A less powerful version of this type of engine was also present in the Hs-129 B-2 Collector Plane, a German ground attack aircraft. We have a question for Romanian players or anyone knowledgeable in Romanian aviation during WWII. Do you recall the photo of Squadron Commander Collins's family in the cockpit of our Typhoon? If you have thoughts on what should be the default photos in the IAR cockpit, we'd appreciate your ideas. Maybe a famous pilot's wife or girlfriend? Two photos could be taken during the war years - one for the short IAR and one for the long one. In other news - if you're interested in Tank Crew details, Daniel 'Han' has recorded a short video describing a new feature for more precise artillery fire, bubble levels in the gunsights of the SPGs we have - SU-152, SU-122, Ferdinand and StuG III G. The video turned out to be a bit too realistic, so please make sure video subtitles are turned on since it might be hard to hear his voice over the engine noise and explosions.

Dear Friends, Another update, 5.108, is live. It adds a new airplane to Flying Circus Vol.III Early Access - this time it is a British two-seater F.E.2b - and fixes a number of minor issues. We have covered it in detail in our Dev Blog #352. In short, it was an unusual design compared to the rest of Great War and later aircraft - a pusher two-seater biplane with the gunner positioned in front of the pilot. Later in the war they switched to a night bomber role. Meanwhile, the preparation of the next update has started already - we're planning to release a lot more new content, including three new aircraft! Please stay tuned, we'll tell you about it in our next Dev Blogs. 5.108 Change List F.E.2 two-seater airplane is available in Early Access for all owners of "Flying Circus Vol. III"; La-5 and La-5F oil temperature gauge corrected; Li-2: the clock shows flight time; Nieuport 17 GBR (British): superfluous parts won't appear among the debris; Normandy and Rhineland Career mode: Attack Support and Defense Support missions added; Overlord campaign updated and is now available in Spanish thanks to E69_Cananas; Achtung - Spitfire! campaign updated; La-5 and La-5F: default trimmer positions are set for horizontal flight at 3000m altitude in nominal operation mode; La-5, F, FN: the radius of the damaged propeller was changed so the nose of the aircraft won't "hang" in the air in case of a nose-down incident; Fixed issue that make it possible to keep an installed modification in multiplayer when moving from the mission where it was available to a mission where it is not allowed; Albatros D2, Halberstadt D2: fire and fuel tank leakage effects corrected; U-2VS: bomb sight added.

Dear Friends, The next update, 5.108, is in the works and today we are starting its beta testing. The next version will include further improvements to the career mode - for example, ground support will be added to the Normandy theater for both offensive and defensive missions. There will be other additions if they are ready in time, but one of the highlights of the next version will be the next Flying Circus Vol.III aircraft - the F.E.2b two-seater. The F.E.2 was a biplane with a pusher propeller and a sprung landing gear with a front support wheel to minimize the risk of overturning during a bad landing. The entire trailing edge of the upper center section was hinged along the rear spar and could be lowered to act as a flap-type air brake. The forward cockpit was occupied by the observer gunner, with the pilot sitting behind him at a higher level. The engine was almost completely cowled and drove a two-blade pusher propeller. Interestingly, in February 1915, this type of plane was tested with a brake parachute. This was probably the first time in history that a braking parachute was used on an airplane. A newly designed air brake that had been used on the first F.E.2a was also tested, but the air brake was eventually abandoned. During testing, the performance of the 100 hp Green engine was found to be unsatisfactory, mainly due to its poor power-to-weight ratio, and the machine was modified to be fitted with a new in-line six-cylinder water-cooled Beardmore engine rated at 120 hp. The center section of the upper wing was made in one piece and the air brake was removed. The aircraft with the new engine made its first flight in March 1915, but the first deliveries to the Royal Flying Corps did not begin until May. The first F.E.2b to go to France was flown to the No. 6 Squadron airfield at Abeele by Captain L.A. Strange on May 20, 1915. By September 25th the squadron had four F.E.2b's in its strength. Production of the F.E.2b was undertaken by a number of contractors, but it took some time before the machines were available in sufficient numbers; by the end of 1915, a total of thirty-two had been delivered. The first R.F.C. unit to go to France fully equipped with F.Es was No. 20, which arrived on January 23, 1916. No. 25 Squadron followed on 20 February, No. 23 on 16 March, and No. 22 on April 1st. The F.E.2b was mainly used for the needs of the army: for reconnaissance and for the escort of other aircraft, and it proved to be very worthy in the battles against enemy aircraft. Often grouped with D.H.2 fighters, the F.E.2b fought back against the Fokker monoplanes that dominated the skies at the time. The success of its use in combat was due to the wide sector of fire of the machine guns in the nose of the plane. The plane was also occasionally used to attack ground targets on the front line and in actions on the enemy's rear communications. In the second half of the war, the F.E.2b was widely used as a night bomber; for this purpose, the aircraft were painted black and equipped with night take-off and landing equipment. The performance of the F.E.2b with the 120 hp Beardmore engine was not outstanding and from time to time attempts were made to improve its flight characteristics. At the end of March 1916, a new version of the Beardmore engine with an increased power of 160 hp appeared, and as it was essentially an improved version of the previous model, it could be fitted without the need for major design changes. Between 1915 and 1918, 1,939 F.E.2b aircraft were produced. After the release of the previous update and the new La-5F Collector Plane, some players asked us to provide more details about the changes made to the existing Lavochkin family aircraft. Our Lead Engineer "Gavrick" has personally explained the changes. The La-5 is one of the oldest aircraft in the IL-2 project, it was created during the development of the Battle of Stalingrad 10 years ago and many of the modern approaches and techniques we're using now were just being introduced. The La-5FN was modeled several years later, and while it was built on the basis of the La-5s, certain things were reworked: for example, the effect of engine cowl flaps on aerodynamics was modeled in a different way (but the resulting aerodynamic coefficients remained almost the same). It became obvious that the older La-5 should be reworked to the new technology standards, but we didn't have the time to do it at that time - however, some improvements made to it (the physical models of the constant pressure regulator of the boost manifold and the propeller were made more precise). And finally, recently the new La-5F was created on the basis of the FN. We finally had time to update everything - the airframe aerodynamics modeling of the old La-5 and the La-5 engine modeling with the modern technique used in the La-5F. So what actually changed for the old La-5 characteristics? The lift-drag polar diagram remained mostly the same. Engine power and propeller thrust were corrected - but the resulting speed change remained less than 10 km/h. The aircraft became slightly faster at low altitudes and slightly slower at high altitudes, which is historically more correct than the unmodified model. The effectiveness of the stabilizers and controls also changed slightly, so the handling of the aircraft became "sharper", more like the La-5FN. Therefore, these changes weren't an FM overhaul per se, but rather a list of small corrections and improvements that were necessary to give all three Lavochkin aircraft a common technological base, so that all their differences are caused by design features and not different modeling methods. That's it for today. Please stay tuned for the 5.108 update - it is planned to be released this month!

Dear Friends, Good news today - one of the most experienced campaign designers James =Jaegermeister= Yarbrough has finished his new creation, a brand new campaign called Overlord, just in time for us to try and include it in the update coming out next week. This means that if the testing goes well, the 5.107 update will have something nice for everyone: the La-5F Soviet fighter for Eastern Front scenarios and multiplayer, two additional Flying Circus Vol.III Early Access aircraft, Hanriot HD.1 and Niueport 17 GBR, for the Great War gentlemen, and if you prefer the late WWII Western Front, this excellent historical campaign will be right up your alley. Here's what the author has to say about his latest effort. The 354th Fighter Group, commonly referred to as the "Pioneer Mustang Group," was the first USAAF unit to be equipped with the new P-51B/C Mustang during WWII and to see combat in Europe. They flew long-range escort missions over the English Channel with the 8th Air Force's heavy bombers in the months leading up to D-Day. As final preparations were made for the invasion of Normandy, the 354th Fighter Group was reassigned to the IX Tactical Air Command and committed to direct support of the ground troops going ashore. The 354th flew escort for C-47s dropping paratroopers and towing gliders on D-Day. Your role in this campaign begins as a replacement pilot arriving with the 354th Fighter Group on D-Day and assigned to the 356th “Red Ass” Squadron under the command of Major Richard Turner. In mid-June 1944 the Pioneer Mustangs flew strike missions across the English Channel from ALG Lashenden during the first V-1 rocket attacks on London and were directly in the path of the “Doodlebugs” as they headed towards their intended targets. They moved to ALG-2 at Criqueville in late June where they flew ground attack, search and rescue, fighter-bomber escort, and fighter sweep missions during all the major battles of Operation Overlord. After the Allied breakout at Saint-Lô, the 354th FG was reassigned to the new XIX Tactical Air Command and moved east with Patton’s 3rd US Army through Paris and eventually into Germany. Due to the hectic flight schedule and squadron reorganization, you will move up from wingman to element leader and finish the campaign as a flight leader. This is a historically based campaign depicting real events, however, the number of planes and specific squadrons involved in the missions have been altered slightly, and some event locations have been moved for improved gameplay. We hope you'll enjoy the campaign, new aircraft, career mode additions, and all the other improvements in the upcoming update. It's just around the corner!

Dear Friends, Summer is almost over and many team members are on their way back from vacation. During the year, the IL-2 team has grown at a record pace - 17 talented professionals have joined us. These programmers, artists, and other specialists have now finished their training, settled into the project, and are working full-time on all kinds of neat stuff, both announced and yet to be announced. You may know the only person who left due to family reasons - Kurt, our former Community Manager. (Fortunately, he is doing well and we wish him all the best). Please bear with us - even though it may seem like things are quiet from the outside, there is still a lot of work going on. Of course, all of the team members, old and new, are getting paid for more than just being really nice people. Today we want to show you the screenshots of the new planes that were taken today - they are in beta testing right now. The next two planes in Flying Circus Volume III are already in the air. Meet the legendary Nieuport 17... and Albatros D.II. The Soviet cousin of the C-47, the Li-2, is slowly but surely making its way there as well. This time there is a bit of winter action here. The upcoming 5.106 update will bring even more improvements. There will be new Career Mode missions (including an Intruder mission, a deep strike into enemy territory), updated campaigns, and more. See you in the skies!

Dear Friends, The release of the next update draws closer and we have some new screens to share. Soviet paratroopers are now training in airborne operations using the new Li-2. Their comrades in their winter uniform are preparing and will join them soon. The Halberstadt D.II is in the final testing stage. As with the Nieuport 11, these two will be the first Flying Circus Vol.III aircraft to appear on your computers. Meanwhile, we have started a screenshot event - if you have Battle of Normandy (BTW, while the Summer Sale on Steam has ended, you still have a couple of days of discounts left on our website till July 16th) you can participate. Make a nice screenshot of the Normandy landings and submit it in our special Discord channel or forum thread before Thursday, July 20 at, 1900 UTC. The winner will receive a code for the collector plane of his or her choosing. See you in the skies!

Dear Friends, Today we present to you the 5.104 update. It brings a new campaign and new mission types for Career mode. 5.104 UPDATE The new historical campaign Sky Nomads now is already available on our website and on Steam. It continues the story of the Soviet fighter pilot you may know from the Blazing Steppe campaign. After having fought in the Stalingrad battle in 1942, in 1943 he found himself in a midst of a hectic battle of Kuban - the campaign title reflects a bit the nomad life of the 43rd IAP which had to constantly change airfields and endure several Luftwaffe strikes on its positions. There is more information about the campaign in our Dev Blog #344. New missions in the Career mode are photo reconnaissance, artillery spotting, and the escort of the transport aircraft on airdrop missions. The photo recon missions are now available with the Arado Ar. 234 of Sonderkommando Götz in Normandy (in the next update it will be also added to Spitfire XIVe). Artillery spotting missions are given to RAF squadrons No. 26 and No. 63 in Normandy which had the Spitfire MK.Vb and were specially trained for this task. The transport escort missions happen in the historical timeframes of the Normandy, Market Garden, Bastogne, and Varsity airborne operations - you can them in any Allied fighter squadron. Do your best to keep them safe on their way to the drop zone and back home! There are other changes and fixes in the list as well: 5.104 New historical campaign Sky Nomads (Yak-7b pilot in the battle of Kuban). There is detailed info about it in our Dev Blog #344; New Career mode missions: Photo Recon on jet Arado Ar. 234 in Normandy (Sonderkommando Götz); New Career mode missions: Artillery Spotting on Spitfire Mk.Vb in Normandy (No. 26 and No. 63 Squadrons RAF that were specially trained for this task); New Career mode missions: Transport Aircraft Escort of C-47s on their way to their drop zones during Normandy, Market Garden, Bastogne, and Varsity airborne operations timeframes; Tank campaigns Last Chance and Breaking Point are updated (added tactical numbers to aircraft involved, added new vehicles to some of the engagements); Many award descriptions updated; Ju 87D-3: the additional armor plate now moves together with the canopy as it should; Bf 109 G-6/AS: rockets correctly disappear when jettisoning their containers. WARBRD RACE 2023 WINNERS In other news - we have the winners of the air race finals. They will receive or have received gifts from us and VIRPIL Controls. As you can see, CSW_Tommy454 grabbed the first prizes in both categories - air races are unpredictable and two participants crashed in their Messerschmitts after performing a difficult maneuver! The race stream is available here. Also, if you have participated in the race qualification, don't forget to check your profile on IL-2 website - there is a -50% off promo code applicable to all released content, including the newest ones like Spitfire XIVe, SSW D.IV or Battle of Normandy. JULY CALENDAR Finally, here's an artwork ready to become your desktop wallpaper for next month if you wish (FullHD, 4K). See you in the skies!

Dear Friends, As the summer goes on, the work continues. One of the collector planes in development, Li-2, is nearing its release. Here are some of the WIP shots we wanted to share with you (no airborne operations shots yet - the paratroopers will learn how to jump from it next week). As you can see, unlike its unarmed C-47 cousin, this one was like a gunship wannabe - it had turrets AND a forward-firing machine gun - who knows when it might come in handy, right?! An armed transport aircraft with paratroopers and cargo inside - how much more versatile can you get? Well, add the bomb-carrying capability to this mix as well and you get a machine that ticks nearly all the boxes you ever wanted. Usually going the 'jack of all trades' route meant sacrificing something in every trade, but the USSR needed versatile aircraft. While the Western Allies during the war had plenty of long-range fighters to cover their bombers and mainly unarmed transport aircraft and had air superiority most of the time, Soviet VVS resources were always not enough. You may notice many other differences to the C-47 - different instruments and cargo doors, for instance. Even the engines were different, being Soviet-built. We hope to release this interesting aircraft later this month or in early August. See you in the skies!

Dear Friends, The work continues. At the moment we're working on the schedule of the new project, new techs, compiling design documents for the new aircraft and other objects - and along with all that we're developing the six Collector Planes, some of which will be released before the end of this year and some in the beginning of the next one. One of them is the British fighter Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIVe "Bubbletop". Unlike the Spitfire Mk.XIV already existing in the sim, this one has a bubble canopy without the dorsal fuselage spine. Many WWII fighters had such modification - the goal was the improved backward field of view. However, the dorsal spine wasn't there for nothing - it provided better aerodynamics via better airflow behind the canopy, reducing total drag of the aircraft. Nearly all pre-war aircraft designs had it because of a bit higher speed, but the actual war, as it usually does in human history, set the priorities differently. In the beginning of the war two Axis design bureaus tried a different canopy and rear fuselage design: there were Focke-Wulf Fw 190 designed by Kurt Tank and Mitsubishi A6M Zero designed by Jiro Horikoshi. They weren't the first fighters with bubble canopies and without a dorsal spine behind, but they were the fighters that were quite numerous and affected the air battles on either side of the Earth. The bubble canopy without the dorsal spine affected the aerodynamics negatively, but it gave the pilots much better view backwards - this was noted not only by them, but by their adversaries as well, since an air engagement was usually initiated by a sudden attack from a blind zone. Soviet engineers created bubble canopy modifications of the existing aircraft in the end of 1942 and in 1943 these models were produced on a massive scale. Their Western colleagues adopted it later and bubble canopy modifications began to emerge in 1944. Bubbletop Spitfire Mk.XIV appeared a year after the initial design, in April 1945. In Great Battles, Spitfire Mk.XIVe "bubbletop" will have two wing variations - with long (fighter) and short (photo recon) wingtips. As we always do, there will be other modifications included. Spitfire Mk.XIVe bubbletop will be released in the beginning of the next Spring, which is a bit symbolic, since, as we mentioned above, the real fighter appeared on the front during Spring 1945.

Dear Friends, Very soon - next week - we'll publish the next update that is planned to bring (provided no critical problems are found during the beta testing) the long-awaited StuG III and C-47A, AND the WIP Western Front Spring 1918 map (!). We have told about the legendary Skytrain in one of our previous Dev Blogs, so today's star is StuG.III Ausf.G. There were many StuG.III self-propelled guns produced during the war, more than 9000 units spanning around 10 modifications. The Ausführung G that is recreated by our very talented partners at Digital Forms was the later one, having the heaviest gun and armor of all of them. The vehicle represented was built on the Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M base, so it has nearly the same chassis, engine and transmission. The fighting compartment, however, was completely rebuilt: replacing the turret with the welded armored superstructure granted it enough internal volume to accomodate the bigger 75 mm StuK 40/L48 gun. Its barrel and ballistics are similar to KwK.40 L/48 installed on Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G and later ones. This gun used the same ammo as 7,5 cm Pak. 40 AT gun. Unlike the tank gun equipped with a telescopic gunsight designed for direct fire, the StuG.III gun had Sfl. ZF 1a artillery periscope marked for thre ammo types - APHE, sub-caliber AP and HE. Late StuG III modifications were equipped by infantry MG34 machinegun with box magazines stored in the fighting compartment. To fire it, the loader had to get out of his hatch, raise the armored shield and set the machinegun up in one of the two positions - for firing at air or ground targets. Schurzen armor plates for protection against AT rifles and shaped charges could be also installed. Six one-shot smoke mortars could be also installed. Sure enoungh, not only we modeled them in the game, but we couldn't resist and upgraded the two previously released Tank Crew tanks with this weapon - Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M and Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.H1 Tiger. All in all, StuG.III is a light enough to be maneuverable, but also has a good frontal armor protection and a powerful main weapon. As we mentioned above, it will be available to its owners very soon.

Dear Friends, Today we'll tell you about one of the Collector Planes in development - IAR-80/81. Both kinds of this Romanian aircraft will be available in our sim: the 'short' model with short fuselage and wings and the 'long' one (that's right - with long fuselage and wings). At the moment, the work on the first model has progressed well and the second one will be developed relatively fast after finishing the first. This fighter/bomber was designed under the lead of Ion Grosu and took off for the first time in 1939. In 1940 the aircraft went into mass production and later was updated many times, resulting in many modifications. Most of them will be available in Great Battles: "Short version" I.A.R.80-A serie 106-150 : fighter armed with six 7.92mm FN Browning MGs firing German rounds (base model). I.A.R.80-B series 181-200 : fighter armed with four 7.92mm and two 13.2mm FN Browning MGs firing 13.2mm Hotchkiss rounds. I.A.R.80-M : fighter armed with two 7.92mm FN Browning MGs and two 20mm MG-151/20 German guns. I.A.R.81 series 151-175 : fighter/bomber armed with six 7.92mm FN Browning MGs and capable to deliver up to three bombs with up to 400 kg total weight. The underbelly bomb mount had a special parallelogram mechanism for dive bombing that prevented a released bomb from hitting the propeller. In addition, the flaps on this dive bomber modification had larger angle range, serving as ad-hoc air brakes. "Long version" I.A.R.80-B series 212-230 : fighter armed with four 7.92mm and two 13.2mm FN Browning MGs firing 13.2mm Hotchkiss rounds (base model). I.A.R.80-C series 251-290 : fighter armed with four 7.92mm FN Browning MGs and two 20mm MG-FF Ikaria guns. I.A.R.81-C series 301-450 : fighter/bomber armed two 7.92mm FN Browning MGs and two 20mm MG-151/20 German guns and capable to deliver up to three bombs. All the IAR-80 modifications that will be modeled in our sim were powered by twin-row radial 14-cylinder air cooled engine I.A.R.-14K, which was the licensed version of the French Gnome-Rhone 14K. In takeoff mode it could reach 1000 HP. The similar, albeit less uprated engines were installed on the German ground attack aircraft Hs-129B-2 most Great Battles players are familar with already. This first Romanian mass-produced fighter was all metal except the stabilizer and flaps skin. The flaps and landing gear had hydraulic actuators. All in all, it possessed flight characteristics similar to Soviet Yak-1, but late IAR modifications had much more powerful weapons and bombs. The visual 3D model of IAR-80/81 is being developed by two famous enthusiasts - Ivan Shirshov (3D model) and Martin =ICDP= Catney (exterior textures). We hope they'll finish their part of the work in the coming months and we'll be able to start the work on its FM and systems. We'd like to repeat once again - if you're interested in creating new content for our series, we're always open for collaboration. Just contact us.

Dear Friends, This year we have already released two previously announced Collector Planes. Today we would like to share plans for the future aircraft. In addition to the already released Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIVe Bubbletop and Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 A/S, the plan for this year includes: 1. Li-2 - Soviet military transport aircraft. Unlike the original C-47 (Li-2 was based on it under license), it was also used as a bomber and had an optional turret and even forward firing weaponry. The planned release date is Summer 2023. 2. American towable glider (!) WACO CG-4A, which has been widely used during the Normandy landings. The planned release date is Fall 2023. 3. Soviet fighter La-5 series 38 with a teardrop-shaped canopy. Its lighter design had a positive effect on the characteristics of the aircraft compared to earlier models. The planned release date is Fall 2023. 4. Romanian fighter IAR-80/81 in two basic variants («long» and «short»). Both variants and 7 modifications of the aircraft are described in detail in DD #334. The planned release date is the end of 2023. Please note: since this Collector Plane will be effectively two significantly different aircraft (different fuselages, different flight characteristics, different paint scheme kits, there are differences in their cockpits as well) in one package, its pre-order price will increase on May 17th to the level of larger Collector Planes like C-47. Of course, the pre-orders placed before this date won’t be affected by this change, so if you’re interested in getting these aircraft eventually, please consider doing so before May 17th. 5. The development of three new fighters scheduled for 2024 has begun: German interceptor Focke-Wulf Ta 152 Soviet legendary biplane Polikarpov I-153 «Chaika» British fighter Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IXc armed with 7.69 mm machine guns and a different tail. 6. By the end of 2023, it is planned to complete the development of the Flying Circus Vol.III which will include eight aircraft: F.E.2b R.E.8 Hanriot HD.1 Nieuport 11.C1 Nieuport 17.C1 Nieuport 17.C1 GBR Albatros D.II Halberstadt D.II It is also planned to complete the Western Front 1918 map and populate the entire front line with objects. This updated version of the map will be available in different seasons. 7. The story of Flying Circus continues: plans for 2024 include additional improvements to the map and the development of seven new collectible aircraft: Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter B Sopwith Pup Airco DH.2 Albatros D.III Roland C.IIa Fokker E.III 8. We’re also helping a team of enthusiasts who are working on a new map of one of the theaters of operations on the Eastern Front. A significant progress has been made - we hope that the map will become part of the Great Battles game world soon. The details about the map and the development team will be revealed later. Since the Battle of Normandy release, 9 World War II aircraft, 15 World War I aircraft and two maps have already been produced or are in development. And that's not all! Your support motivates us to improve and extend the Great Battles series. A new historical campaign is in the final stage of development - it is dedicated to the operation of Yak-7 fighter armed units. This year we plan to release another campaign and there are ideas for creating three new campaigns already. In addition, this year we’re updating a number of previously created campaigns to integrate new technologies and content developed recently (you can see the Tank Crew campaigns being updated in the screenshots below). The 1C Game Studios team wishes you good luck and aerial victories in the virtual sky! Congratulations on the upcoming Victory Day!

Dear Friends, Today we'd like to present you the final part of the Stalingrad trilogy, the ending of the story that started in "Blazing Steppe" and continued in "Fortress on the Volga" campaigns. The new campaign will tell you about the combat operations of the Soviet IL-2 attack planes in December 1942. The development of the third part took much longer than we initially expected, partly because of the need to research a huge amount of data from the archives telling about the actions of the three Soviet Fronts and Air Armies, but the result will prove itself worthy of the effort spent. We are proud to announce the Pre-Order of the new historical Campaign "Ice Ring" for IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad. Basing on the combat order records and operational reports of the Soviet 8th Air Army, we have managed to recreate an absolutely unique history of combat operations of the 226th Ground-Attack Air Division regiments. The campaign consists of three large stages, during which you'll operate from 4 different airfields and take part in the most dramatic events of the final part of the Battle of Stalingrad. The successful counter-offensive of the Red Army in November 1942 led to the encirclement of the 284 thousands troops including the German 6th Army and 4th Tank Army, as well as Romanian divisions. Then the task of supplying the troops was assigned to the transport and bomber units of the Luftwaffe, so the first part of the new campaign is dedicated to the very beginning of the Soviet air blockade formation. At the end of November, the command of the Soviet 8th Air Army issued an order to relocate the 235th Fighter Air Division to the south of the city. It was also decided to form a special air group of IL-2's pilots from the 226th ShAD who were experienced in dogfights and flying in difficult weather conditions and place it under the 235th IAD headquarters command. During this period, you'll fly reconnaissance flights, search and destroy German transport aircraft in the air and strike at their take-off and landing airfields inside the cauldron. The situation of the encircled enemy group on December 2-6, 1942 from the reporting map of the Don Front and the situation at the morning of December 2nd from the campaign map. In mid-December, when the special air group was disbanded, you'll return back to your regiment. Against the background of the ongoing reorganization in the division and the beginning of the enemy offensive from the direction of Kotelnikovo (Operation "Winter Storm"), you'll have to fly several combat missions directly against the surrounded German troops. At the end of the campaign, when the situation on the southern flank of the Stalingrad Front becomes critical, you'll be sent to the most threatened sector. As part of a hurriedly formed ground attack air group, you'll take part in the heaviest battles on the Myshkova River, which determined the outcome of the entire German counter-offensive and sealed the fate of the troops surrounded in and near the devastated city. Events on the Myshkova River from December 22 to 26, 1942 from the reporting map of the Stalingrad Front and the situation in the middle of December 22nd from the campaign map. You'll fly 15 combat missions on the IL-2 AM-38 (model 1942), about 7 hours of gameplay in total. The new campaign is scheduled to be released in Summer 2020. The IL-2 Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends, Today is an important day for the project. We are proud to present the results of joint work with our partner "Ugra Media" - the Flying Circus Vol. II release. We have completed the Western Front 1918 map to the planned degree, as well as the development of the Career game mode (the full list of changes is available at the end of the news). During the work on the Career, we created new types of missions and adapted a significant number of existing ones to match the realities of the war in the skies of 1917-1918. FLYING CIRCUS VOL. II Flying Circus Vol. II includes: The map "Western Front 1918" containing northwestern and southeastern parts of the front line and Quick Mission Builder mode for it. Pilot’s Career mode for WWI. French fighter Spad VII.C1 in two variations. British Sopwith Triplane rotary engine fighter. French rotary engine fighter Nieuport 28.C1. French medium two-seat bomber Breguet 14.B2. British medium two-seat bomber Airco DH.IV. British heavy twin-engine bomber Handley Page 0-400. German Fokker D.VIII monoplane fighter. German fighter Pfalz D.XII. German heavy twin-engine bomber Gotha G.V. German two-seat recon/bomber DFW C.V. FLYING CIRCUS VOL. III Also, 1C Games Studios and Ugra Media have entered into an agreement to develop the third part of the project - Flying Circus Vol. III. It will include 8 aircraft: German Albatros D.II fighter German fighter Halberstadt D.II French Nieuport 17.C1 fighter French Nieuport 11.C1 fighter French fighter Nieuport 17.C1 GBR adapted for British service French Hanriot HD.1 fighter. British two-seat reconnaissance aircraft R.E.8. British two-seat medium bomber F.E.2b. In the 3rd part of the project, it is planned to make the Western Front map and the Pilot Career mode final. Map objects and Career mode will cover the entire length of the front lines on the map, complementing and improving the content of Rise of Flight. There will be new industrial plants, farms, front line objects and other details. The map will have five seasons: Summer, early Autumn, late Autumn / early Spring, Winter and Spring. Release of the Flying Circus Vol. III is scheduled for the end of 2023. The first airplanes of the set will be available this summer via the early access program our players are familiar with. FUTURE PLANS After the completion of FC-III, there are plans for 2024 to develop an additional set together with Yugra Media that will reproduce the remaining land-based aircraft in Rise of Flight. It is currently planned to include: British Sopwith Pup fighter. British rear-engine fighter Airco DH.2. British two-seat reconnaissance Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter. German fighter Albatros D.III. German Fokker E.III monoplane fighter. German two-seat reconnaissance Roland C.IIa. We plan to further improve the maps of Flying Circus projects, supplement their development and add the airfields that are located further from the front line. Please note that the Western Front map is available to all players who have purchased at least one of the Flying Circus projects. This map will be further improved and supplemented. SPITFIRE MK.XIVE RELEASED In addition to the Great War news, we would like to present a new British collectible aircraft from the final period of the WWII - the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIVe. The main difference between this aircraft and the previous Mk.XIV is the teardrop-shaped canopy, which provides a better view. The aircraft has several modifications available: 150 grade fuel allowing +21 lb boost. Automatic supercharger gear shifting is disabled, stages should be manually switched at 11000 ft altitude (20 km/h estimated speed increase at sea level). Two 250 lb G.P. bombs with racks (250 kg weight increase, 22 km/h speed loss, 11 km/h speed loss after drop). 500 lb G.P. bomb with rack (237 kg weight increase, 12 km/h speed loss, 6 km/h speed loss after drop). Replacement of MkII Gyro Gunsight with MkII* Reflector Gunsight. Clipped Wing. Rear view mirror (1 kg weight increase, 1 km/h speed loss). F.24 photo camera installation behind the cockpit (28 kg weight increase). Clipped wing only. Rounded exhaust pipes. It is already in the sim and available on our website and on Steam. WINGS OVER CAEN FREE CAMPAIGN RELEASED As we have announced in Dev Blog 338, this update contains a gift for all owners of Battle of Normandy. Wings over Caen tells about the tour of duty of No. 245 Squadron RAF«Northern Rhodesia» in the summer of 1944. Over the course of 10 hectic missions, you will be able to feel the difficulties its Typhoon pilots experienced after their rebase to Normandy. We have also added the single missions for all Normandy aircraft plus C-47 (make sure to check them out!) and the last of the ships planned for this theater - Fighter Direction Tender. You can find the full list of changes in this update below. 5.101 Major Features The WWI Western Front map improved, Flying Circus Career mode added, Flying Circus Vol.II released; The Spitfire Mk.XIVe with Teardrop Canopy Collector Plane released; New action-rich historical campaign Wings over Caen added (it's free for Battle of Normandy owners); 11 interesting single missions added for all aircraft of the Battle of Normandy, including Arado and Spitfire XIV, and C-47; FDT (Flight Direction Tender) ship added, it was created as part of the Battle for Normandy; Blazing Steppe, Fortress on the Volga and Ice Ring campaigns updated (tactical numbers and correct paint schemes added for each aircraft, the number of aircraft increased by 15-20% in most missions, missions updated for the new sim version and re-tested); His Majesty Griffons campaign updated (tactical numbers and correct paint schemes added for each aircraft, Ar 234 flight added to mission 9, American vehicles replaced by British in UK held territory, missions updated for the new sim version and re-tested); Hawks Over the Bulge campaign updated (fixed waypoints); Added 9 single missions for Flying Circus Vol.II airplanes; AI Changes Fixed bugs when AI pilots drop paratroopers and cargo containers (difficulty calculating an approach, wingmen not dropping cargo after the leader); Corrected evasive maneuvers for World War I aircraft AI pilots, which previously sometimes led to a spin and collision with the ground; Fixed an issue with AI pilots climbing in formation, which, in particular, could cause the wingmen to fly with their flaps extended and therefore lag behind the rest of the flight; Improved formation keeping by AI pilots during climb and descent; AA searchlights on a truck chassis function correctly; Aircraft Changes Pe-2 Ser. 35 and Pe-2 ser. 87 - crew models updated; Pe-2 Ser. 35 and Pe-2 ser. 87 - Female Crew modification added; Pe-2 Ser. 87: fixed the texture of the machine gun trigger guard in the upper turret (regular and closed); The location of tactical number symbols has been corrected on the “Two-color” and “White” skins for IL-2 mod. 1943 and the "White" skin for the Yak-1 ser. 69; Airco D.H.4, Handley-Page O/400 and Breguet 14: flight commander flares fired when giving orders won’t damage the aircraft wing; A-20B: fixed a problem with the display of the tail signal lights at a distance; The size of off-road bumpy terrain features on the Normandy map now corresponds the other maps (Kuban, Rhineland, etc.); Balloon operators launch flares when given a mission command MCU Command: Flare; Detailed tanks launch flares when given a mission command MCU Command: Flare; Fw 190 A5/A6/A8: fixed a number of minor typos in the cockpit; Hs.129: SC50 bomb racks are linked to the middle part of the wing (was to the outer one); Spitfire Mk.XIV critical engine operating modes have been adjusted similar to Mk.XIVe. Spitfire Mk.XIV aircraft behavior when extending and retracting flaps has been corrected. Spitfire Mk. XIV formation lights look correct from a distance when clipped wings are selected; Spitfire Mk. XIV: fixed a bug due to which the fuel tank damage could be calculated wrong when hitting wing tanks; Bf 109 G-4: aerodynamic drag and weight of bombs and bomb holders is calculated correctly; Me 410 A-1: Stuvi scope wind speed readings have been adjusted to match the values in the technochat; All Bf 109, all Fw 190, IL-2, MiG-3, LaGG-3, MC-202: the point of application of the air drag of the underbelly and underwing cannons has been fixed (it was applied incorrectly, in the center of the aircraft); All Bf 109: fixed a bug due to which gunpods were linked to the wingtip instead of the middle part of the wing; Bf 110 G-2: fixed propeller blur at low rpm; Ar 234 B-2: increased drop in aerodynamic quality of the wing when its part is shot off; Fixed a random crash bug when setting C-47A engine cowl flaps streamwise; C-47A engine cowl flap control valves are named correctly in the cockpit; Fixed display of the Ju 87D-3 gunner's cockpit in multiplayer when a guest gunner is connected; Recovery time of time limited engine modes have been adjusted (now the required recovery time is proportional to the time limit itself); Tank Crew Changes Fixed excessive damage to gun barrels by shell fragments when hitting the rear of the turret; It is again possible to damage the player controllable tank Pz.Kpfw. V Ausf.G “Panther” undercarriage; The GUI display of the number of rounds left in a player controllable tank has been fixed; Churchill tracks are visible in the first person view; The hull armor is correctly taken into account when calculating an APHE hit at the front part of the Churchill gear box; Western Front 1918 Map Changes General fixes for the Western Front map, Spring 1918: Leveled terrain under the Ochey airfield (2630-1); Leveled terrain under the Pronville airfield (0908-5); Restored objects on the airfield La Bellevue (0905-7); Added airfield Marville (1726-5); Changed the name of the airfield to Avesnes-le-Sec West (0811-1); Removed a flooding from the Etain airfield (1927-2); Fixed forest clearings (1327-4, 1427-8, 1328-2, 1325-3); Removed the overlapping of buildings in the villages on the front line and trenches (1306-7, 1206-5, 0807-4, 0506-6, 0307-6, 0207-3, 2432-1, 2532-8); Airfield Bernes (1209-4) - the sign has been removed from the hangar; Train station Lille (0409-7) - removed the extra model of the station, mistakenly added to the map; Airfields Stenay and Stenay South (1724-8) and Belrain (2425-7) have leveled terrain; Added the city of Luxembourg (1531); Added Fort Verdun (2025-6); Many farms have been added to the countryside; Ypres (0107-3) - added a canal near the city; Bridge markings added (1421-3, 1425-4, 1425-3, 1426-2, 1426-3, 1427-1, 1427-8, 1428, 2831-6, 2831-9, 2832-8, 2832 -9, 2520-4, 2520-7, 2519-6, 2625, 0815-4, 0715-7, 0815-8, 0314-5, 0214-3, 0507-4, 0611-5); Added missing ground textures near buildings (1203-5, 1203-6, 1203-8, 1406-1, 1306-4, 1310-9, 1103-5, 1105-9, 0910-4, 0911-1, 1523-5 , 1425-1, 0806-9, 1621-1, 1721-9, 1624-4, 1624-1, 1627-2, 1820-9, 1820-2, 1921-9, 2027-8, 2028-4, 2029 -5, 2029-3, 0607-5, 0505-2, 2128-5, 0402-3, 2229-8, 2229-1, 2230-5, 2231-9, 2230-5, 2431-2); Corrected forest clearings (1327-4, 1427-8, 1328-2, 1328-5, 1325-3); Removed trees from houses 0506-4, 0508-7, 0508-3, 0510-7, 0610-2, 0610-8, 0608-7, 0608-7, 0606-5, 0605-8, 0605-9, 0606-7, 0608- 3, 0609-1, 0508-7, 1207-1); Added missing textures for railways (1307-3, 0203-3, 0605-9, 0605-8); Toul airfield (2629-8) - the terrain at the end of the runway has been leveled. Other Сhanges An excessive shine of camouflage nets fixed; Fixed a bug in the operation of the air reconnaissance, artillery correction and photo reconnaissance GUI, which led to inability to use it if there were ground vehicles in the mission; Fixed a bug in the work of MCU: ComplexTrigger, due to which the event of dropping paratroopers worked regardless of the specified country; Updated the sounds of air explosions of medium and large caliber AA rounds; Added separate sounds of air explosions for the British QF13-pounder 6 cwt (76.2 mm) and the German Flak 77 L/27 AA guns; Updated external and internal (heard from cockpit) sounds of the ShVAK autocannon; Fixed assignment of tactical codes to the aircraft of the player's cover flight in the Career mode; Tactical codes generated for a mission shouldn’t be applied to the unique skins in the hangar; Mission Editor: Fixed the drop-down list of countries in the Properties section for airfields.

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

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.

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 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, 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.