The much anticipated Spitfire Mark Vb is now available along with a raft of other changes for IL-2 update 2.011 that launched earlier today!

The Spitfire is here!

If you’re a Battle of Kuban Premium Pre-order owner then the Spitfire is now in your hangar and ready to fly. This British-made fighter won the hearts of the public while flying in the skies over London during the Battle of Britain. The improved Mark Vb model was later sent to allies such as the Soviet Union where a few regiments used the Spitfire Vb in combat during the Kuban battles.

My first impressions on this fighter will be out in a couple of days. In the meantime, enjoy these screen shots! Update: Now with even more screen shots!

Blazing Steppe ready for action

Black Six’s second premium pay-for campaign is also here with Blazing Steppe. Set during the late summer in the Stalingrad region, players will take to the skies in the Yak-1 Series 69 during some pivotal moments of the lead-up to the Stalingrad battle.

Other key improvements

• 3D Vision support is added thanks to the earlier Open VR API implementation;
• Cockpit instruments were made more contrast on all planes for easier readability both in VR and on regular screens;
• Forest drawing distance is increased by 1.5 times on Ultra graphics preset. The performance hit this causes is negligible on high-end video cards this preset is intended for;
• Battle of Moscow airfields were reworked to reduce their performance hit, make judging the distance to the ground easier and improve their overall visual image. Please note that on middle-end video cards performance may degrade over any airfield if you increase the grass option setting;

For the full list, visit the forums for details.