New features and developer insights were revealed today during the latest IL-2 developer update. So many updates in-fact that I devoted a whole article about just one feature – the new pilot physiology system. Meanwhile there are other updates that we should look at and some serious eye candy. We’re also teased about some new aircraft! Let’s talk about it all!
American trio in flight, Tempest too
We’ve got new screenshots showing off the trio of classic American fighters of the European theatre – the P-47D-28 Thunderbolt, the P-51D-15 Mustang and the P-38J-25 Lightning. These are aircraft of legend and splashed across countless history books on the subject. With the Thunderbolt already here and the other two currently in beta and due out in the next big update, we’re in for some very exciting times indeed.
From what we’ve learned, the Tempest V and P-38J-25 are both in beta right now having completed the first round of testing and moving into the second round. Meanwhile, the P-51 is just entering the beta test stage now. Beta tests usually mean that they are feature complete and may need tweaking so this does indicate a fairly late stage in the process of building these aircraft.
If you look closely at the Tempest you’ll also see that there are objects under the wings. Jason has confirmed that they are bombs so the Tempest will have a bombload capability. What else it can do we don’t yet know.
We’re also now getting a great look at the Mustang’s cockpit. It looks really good to me!
The map too
We’re getting our first looks at airbases on the new Rhineland map as well. According to Jason, the map project for this is intense and one of the most challenging. Airbases in Western Europe were sometimes very complex so it’s great to see these airbases with their assorted buildings and revetments shown off in these screenshots.
They go a long way towards making sure that each map feels special in its own way. These airbases clearly belong here and not, for example, on the Stalingrad map where rough fields were often the most likely scenario for flight operations.
Personal images right in the cockpit
A fun new feature has been announced by 1CGS and that’s the ability to put a personalized image in the cockpit. At this point we don’t know if these are drawing from a pre-set list or if players will be able to customize them.
They do look cool! At this point I don’t know if they will be available in German planes as well but I would assume yes.
Enhanced visibility range
A previous update featured the news that 1CGS was adding enhanced spotting range for objects such as aircraft and ships. The latest images tease that enhancement with the ability to spot aircraft outside of the 10km bubble that it is currently set at.
Can you spot the aircraft in these scenes? I’m not sure if I can or not – but rest assured this feature is still in development.
This was just a tease to show that we have the tech after years of complaints about 10km limit. It’s not all that easy to spot them, but eagle eye players will see them.
Jason Williams on the IL-2 forums
New Collector Planes in pre-production
Jason Williams also teased us during today’s update by mentioning, for the first time, confirmation that there will be additional Collector Planes released for IL-2: Great Battles following up on the tail end of Bodenplatte’s development cycle.
These aircraft would very likely be done in a similar way to what we saw with Battle of Kuban where the La-5FN and Bf109G-6 were added as Collector Planes. Those two were directly connected with the Kuban campaign’s timeline and I can foresee these additions being related to Bodenplatte in the same way.
There’s also likely a limited list of types on offer as the team may want to leave room for a future title – say Normandy or Italy that has at least some overlap with the Bodenplatte timeline.
Nonetheless, I think this is an exciting development and I’m looking forward to finding out what they have planned. Let the speculation commence!
Stormbirds 
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