Many of you will recall that we had information come out about two new Collector Planes for the IL-2: Great Battle Series and that the two aircraft would be the Hurricane and Yak-9. We haven’t heard much following that initial leak of information, however, we have new chatter from the developers and there’s lots of talk about the future. Let’s have a look what we’ve learned!
Hurricane and Yak-9 confirmed?
Though an official confirmation isn’t yet here, we have more information from the developers that these are indeed the next two aircraft that 1CGS will be releasing as Collector Planes for the IL-2 series.
Responding to a thread on the IL-2 forums, Black Six, a developer from 1CGS, responded with information that teased and all but confirmed the new Collector Planes:
Regarding these new quasi-official planes more specifically, quasi-official Hurricane II can be used in the BoM and BoS career and quasi-official Yak-9 in the BoK career only.
Black Six on the IL-2 forums
Black Six has been responsible for some great scripted campaigns from the 1CGS team so it makes sense that he is seeing this from a campaign/career perspective. 1CGS doesn’t release Collector Planes unless they have a plan for them to appear in the single player campaign and so it is the case with these two aircraft.
The Hurricane Mark II saw widespread use in many theatres of WWII including on the Eastern Front. Hurricane’s were rushed to the front to help aid in the defense of the Battle of Moscow and they were there again on the frontlines during the Stalingrad campaign as well.
Adding a Collector Plane that breathes a little life into past releases is not just about adding an aircraft but helping to keep those battles vibrant. Though I had thought that 1CGS would go for a Bodenplatte related aircraft, it does make some business sense to go this route instead. More to the point, the Hurricane has broad appeal across both eastern and western interests and it’s one of the western aircraft that has come up consistently year in and year out across the IL-2 community.
With the potential to include the Hurricane Mark IIA, B, C, and D along with field modified armament, 1CGS has the ability to make this a very versatile purchase. Hurricane II’s were used for everything from fighter sweeps to anti-tank missions and it’s my hope that they will be able to give the Hurricane all of these options.
The Hurricane should also be fairly easy to do as Jason commented in the same thread:
Don’t need to visit a museum to make the Hurricane.
Jason Williams on the IL-2 forums
Meanwhile, the Yak-9 appeals to a mid-war audience for IL-2: Battle of Kuban and it fills in a major missing part of the Yak line-up.
While some may see this as “yet another Yak,” the Yak-9 fills in a key spot in the Russian aircraft line-up being one of the most produced fighters in the Russian inventory and one that the Russian aircraft fans have been calling for. The Yak-9 also comes with a wide variety of modifications and I’m curious to see what 1CGS can offer us. The Yak-9T appears to be a lock as it was mentioned by name in the earlier statements.
And what about late war German planes?
Late war German planes are likely needed to be kept in reserve for a future Eastern Front expansion. That’s a statement that has been said many times in the community and it’s apparently also a discussion point for the developers.
Any late German collector plane can block for us in the future the possibility to create late Eastern Front battle.
Black Six on the IL-2 forums
That was in response to asking about the team making a FW190A-9. This subtly different version of the Anton series of Focke-Wulf fighters had a different engine (making more power) and a few different propeller options along with a now standard bubble canopy and all of the modification kits that the A-8 had. Clearly, 1CGS does hope to go to the Eastern Front again some day.
That said, it’s very unlikely to be the next title as the community has been fairly vocal about going other places.
And up next?
The question that is now lingering is where 1CGS is taking the IL-2 series next. IL-2: Battle of Bodenplatte and Flying Circus Vol 1 are now close to completion and it’s expected that they will be complete in the next couple of months. Tank Crew will take a bit longer.
Once these titles are complete, 1CGS will surely be starting to say much more about where the future will be taking us. Back in December of 2017, we had a major official announcement that brought Battle of Bodenplatte, Tank Crew, and Flying Circus to life. These three titles have dominated the attention of the developers and the community since that time.
We still don’t know what’s coming next but with the development beginning to wrap up on the current set, I think we’ll be seeing more about the future soon.
Stormbirds 
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