The latest IL-2 Developer Diary comes a day early and it comes packing a huge amount of content into it with the focus being almost entirely on IL-2: Battle of Bodenplatte. The map, the Me262, the P-38, and the B-25 are all part of a huge update! Even a few more details about the Tempest and Mustang have come out today. Let’s check it out!

European tour

The final details of the Bodenplatte map are finally coming into view with a huge list of cities that are included on the map as well as a tally on the full size. This is a full western Europe map that includes some extremely well known locations. Antwerp, The Hauge, Frankfurt am Main, Cologne, and Amsterdam are just some of the locations.

I asked Jason and team about some of the landmarks of these cities back in Part 2 of my Q&A series with him and Daniel. It’s clear that Jason’s trust in the map team is well placed. Look how great this all looks!

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The map team is also working hard to ensure that this map has all four seasons and that it feels distinct from the previously released maps. I think this is going to be a real gem of a map that will strongly support the Western front theatre. A true work of art!

Here are some of the number details released during today’s update as well:

• There will be more than 200 settlements of various sizes.
• Air forces of the opposing forces will take off from more than 100 airfields.
• The total length of all roads will exceed 20000 km.
• The reachable zone of the map is 129859 square kilometers (400.8 x 324 km) while the entire map is 176947 square km (460.8 x 384 km).

Some seriously impressive stats here. Bodenplatte’s map will be the largest in the series by a fair margin.

The P-38 and the B-25

Today we got our first looks are two long awaited aircraft. The P-38J-25 is the first of the two and its a later war type that saw service in Normandy and through much of the rest of the war. Although the P-38 didn’t have the reputation in Western Europe like it did in the Pacific, it still played a vital role. It was particularly effective as a fighter bomber – a point highlighted by the M8 Bazooka tubes featured in the model images below. A real beauty too!

The B-25 Mitchell is another incredible model that we’re looking at. The label describes it as a B-25D – a version of the B-25C Block 20 that was built in Kansas City rather than at Inglewood, California. The B-25 was extensively used by the RAF in this scenario although the type would easily transition to other time periods and battles. It’s an AI model for now but its no secret that the team wants to make it a flyable.

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Me262 nears completion

Not quite done yet but nearly there, the Me262 external model is now complete and different liveries are done as well. Still left to do are further flight model and engine model work (the Jumo 004 being the first jet engine simulated in the Digital Warfare engine). The artist team is still doing textures for the cockpit at this point as well.

As you can see from the latest images, the IL-2: Battle of Bodenplatte Me262 looks every inch the early jet fighter that it’s real life counterpart was.

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The Me262 is expected to join the FW190D-9 in a future patch. Possibly as early as next month. Stay tuned for more.

More stuff in the works

Not officially part of the update, Jason gave a quick update too on some other items that the team are working on. Were you hoping to hear about the P-51 or the Tempest? I know I am and Jason says that those are both making great progress too.

Glad  you guys are enjoying the diary pics. The P-38 is just awesome. When I saw it in person on my trip to the office a couple weeks ago I was floored. And don’t worry about the Dora it is coming along great and the Tempest is being built as well. Same artist who is doing the Dora. Oh and I have seen the P-51 in its early form and it looks super great too. All good things coming as I mentioned a few weeks ago. The team and our partners are firing on all cylinders these days.

Jason Williams on the IL-2 forum

I have to join in with Jason in saying that I too was floored by the P-38 … and the B-25 to be honest. Both are incredible. I’m also very excited to see the Tempest and the Mustang and I suspect we’ll be seeing those soon. If the Mustang looks anything as good as the P-38 does… well I think we’re in for a treat. The Tempest is also seemingly in great hands as the artist who did the FW190D-9 (see screenshots below) did an outstanding job there too.

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An I-16 celebrating International Women’s Day

The last update from this week’s Developer Diary features a unique custom skin for the I-16. This one is dedicated to International Women’s Day – a national holiday in Russia and officially recognized day around the world. The day this year is March 8 and that means that the team is on holidays tomorrow – thus the update today. The more you know.

Check out the full update right here on everything above and more.