From finishing a new free campaign for the Tempest Mark V to building new aircraft, there appears to be a lot going on at the 1CGS office and this week’s update covers a little bit of everything with the focus on new content for Battle of Normandy. Here’s some highlights that we learned about this week…. plus let’s look at that C-47!

Campaigns, aircraft and new features

A little bit of everything was touch on this week. Let’s talk aircraft first because they are so essential to the experience. Seven aircraft are currently under develop and at various stages of completion. According to the list Jason Williams gave us much earlier in the project, the C-47 Dakota (an AI aircraft) was early in the pipeline supposedly coming just after the Hurricane and the screenshots released today look very good.

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Here’s what we know about the other aircraft as of today:

• C-47 – Exterior model textured and in-engine, flight model being worked on
• Spitfire XIV – Exterior model textured and in-engine, flight model being worked on
• Bf109G-6 Late – Flight model being worked on
• P-51B – 3D model being worked on
• Typhoon Mark IB – 3D model being worked on
• Mosquito – 3D model being worked on

Work also underway includes a deeper system for controlling fuel systems, a new free scripted campaign for the Tempest Mark V called “A Violent Wind,” work on revising general aircraft visibility after a discussion had earlier in the week with the community, Air Marshal, AI improvements and “building technical capacity” for the new Normandy map.

Not given much mention again this week is the Hurricane Mark II which has taken a bit longer now than originally expected. Perhaps as a result of all of the different armament configurations that the team has undertaken to do. When it does arrive, it will be worth it, it’s just taking a bit of time!

The Dakota in the room

Any time 1CGS shows us a beautiful AI aircraft model… I want it. First it was the Ju-52, then it was the B-25 and now the C-47 Dakota. Although transport aircraft occupy a niche in the IL-2: Great Battles series, I still really want the C-47 and that’s because of two sim related reasons: First, it provides a counterpoint to the Ju52 and makes things a bit more even for the two teams (useful on a server like TAW or Finnish Virtual Pilots – Dynamic War) and second because it may actually help sell more Ju52’s because there is now more of a reason to have transport aircraft in multiplayer scenarios.

There are less logic driven, more emotional reasons too. The C-47 and the DC-3 that it was based on is another aviation icon that transcends World War II. Between the civilian and military versions produced on and off license, this airframe saw 20,000 produced with some still in service in niche roles. One of my Great Uncles flew one during Operation Manna that dropped 7,000 tones of food over parts of the Netherlands.

Although there are no plans to make the C-47 flyable right now according to the developers, with a completed exterior 3D model and soon to be finished flight model, I feel like 2/3rds of the project are done. Hopefully one day we’ll see it come to fruition (along with that B-25).