This evening we got what might be construed as a teaser from IL-2: Great Battles Series producer Jason Williams. It’s cryptic and it may be nothing but it could also be something so let’s have a quick look at what is going on.
Something is coming?
Earlier this evening, Jason Williams took to the IL-2: Great Battles General Discussion forum and wrote an interesting and extremely cryptic post titled ‘Wednesday.’ The containing message reads,
Humpday is what we call it in the USA.
Jason Williams on the IL-2 forum
We call it that in Canada too but I don’t know if we should take this literally. Jason has usually teased every major announcement with something in the days and weeks before. We’ve had some fun with some of them with Morse-code and reminiscing about the old days as clues to what comes next. So what could it be?
It could be anything…
We don’t have much to go on here so let’s have a look at this as logically as possible.
We know that the main 1CGS team is working on IL-2: Battle of Normandy. This is a major project that is now well underway but has so far delivered just one piece of content with many more in the production stages. If this is a tease and if there is something new coming, it’s something that is going to happen alongside development on Battle of Normandy.
That’s happened in the past when Jason announced Battle of Bodenplatte, Flying Circus Vol 1 and Tank Crew – Clash at Prokhorovka in one massive announcement. It took me by surprise and it was made possible by bringing in two third party teams to do the work. Ugra Media contributed significantly to Flying Circus Vol 1 and Tank Crew was contributed to by Digital Forms who did the modeling of the tanks.
With Flying Circus Vol 1 now long finished and Tank Crew – Clash at Prokhorovka in the final wrap-up stages (based on the last Dev Diary) that leaves the door open to future projects and collaboration with these or other third party teams.
One of the items that hasn’t been talked about for a while are the mobile AAA guns that were originally part of the Tank Crew plan and then planned for later on. These could be announced as part of a Collector Tank package as with some of the aircraft.
It could be Vol 2 to Flying Circus with a selection of new aircraft and a new location. I’ve previously hypothesized that this project and the old Channel map could be linked with the Normandy project and share art assets while introducing some interesting aircraft to the mix.
It could be a new Tank Crew title focused on another part of the war. Again, it might be linked with the Normandy project and introduce new tanks that could interact with the Normandy invasion.
Others have suggested that the Humpday reference refers to The Hump, a nickname given to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains, where USAAF pilots flew transport missions in supply of Allied forces on the other side. That could be connected with a plan to introduce a flyable DC-3/C-47/Li-2 to the series. The AI model has already made great progress.
Yet another possibility is that whatever is being announced is an entirely new entrant to the series and not specifically following up any previous announcement. As outside of the box as I can go on this it’s hard to really pin down what it might be aside from it likely having a strong connection with the IL-2: Great Battles Series.
Of course, it could be something far less exciting although still worthy of a tease for the series. Either way, it’s important not to get too worked up but at the same time we can engage in some good old fashioned speculation. What will Wednesday bring? I guess we’ll have to wait and see!
Stormbirds 
Dude, you gotta pace yourself. Not every tweet and new youtube video needs a news article. You just basically wrote a bunch of stuff that could be summed up as “It could be anything”
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I go at my own editorial pace.
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I enjoy your editorial pace.
This is my IL2 & DCS information center.
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That’s pretty harsh. I like being informed about updates that personally I am too lazy to chase. It’s his site and you don’t have to visit; if he finds something interesting then he posts it. Some of it I read, some of it I don’t (MS flight does not really interest me).
True, it ‘could be anything’ but it is fun to speculate and generally keeps people engaged and entertained. No harm in it at all between the very interesting assessments that Shamrock also provides.
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Indeed. I don’t post on everything that happens, however, when Jason teases something like this it’s always something interesting – big or small. He doesn’t do it often so when he does I pay attention.
And a little speculation in good fun is just that.
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weird comment
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Are you being serious? This guy puts an incredible amount of time and energy into this and delivers a 1st class blog that is second to none. This site is a must for any flight sim enthusiast and Shamrock is a 1st class dude that is always respectful of everyone.
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Thanks for the kind words Robert! Appreciate all of your comments over the years too.
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Odds are on the Hurri followed or C-47, but I enjoy your speculation. Hope it’s the former.
Did you ever play Elite Dangerous? They would put out the most complex and covoluted hints at new content (blurred videos with subliminal images, morese code, colours with specific RGB values etc). Such is the obsession of modern gamers, by the time you or I had watched it and thought: ‘That’s interesting, I wonder wha…’ about 12 people had solved it and spoiled the mystery. Mind you, that was Elite all over.
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If it’s an aircraft release I’d put my money on the C-47, one meaning of the word ‘hump’ being ‘to carry’. But I suspect it’ll be a small announcement or maybe a DD.
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It could be a very small thing as well – though Jason usually only teases when there’s something interesting about to happen.
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Well well well, it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting!
I’m not into TC stuff myself but I don’t quite get why some people are upset about the announcement, it seems interesting enough for people who are into TC and tbh Jason didn’t hype it up beforehand, that’s all on the community.
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We are sometimes our own worst enemies when it comes to hyping things up and setting up for disappointment.
IMHO this is an interesting addition and one that I think, when the dust clears, will be a cool addition.
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BoN is in early WiP stage. So I don’t think that it will be some new theatre annoucement.
I count on Marshall mode release or some 3rd party projects.
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Update: after some searches I count on something about C-47 😛
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Lots of transport pilot fans would be happy about this. I would fly C-47 runs on Finnish Virtual Pilots all the time if it were available!
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That’s as good a guess as any! Could be small or big. But usually Jason teases bigger things. Usually…
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👌
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Battle of the Bulge wasn’t too long after Normandy invasion…
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Is the Malcolm Hood kinda hump-shaped? Was that going to be added as an option for the P47? I may be barking up completely the wrong tree here!
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It is a bit isn’t it?
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Not ‘humped’, what you meant was ‘elegant In a lady-like way’.
On the P-51 it looked cool, on the P-47 it looked fugly.
My money still on the Hurri, October announcement not withstanding. Though small bet on C-47.
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Could it be a tease about the Sm-79 coming to Desert Wings Tobruk? That aircraft has a definite hump and was even nicknamed “Hunchback” I understand. Fits with the overall plane set quite well.
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My money’s on that beautiful hurricane hump. 😀
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Quite possibly.
It would be nice to know where they’ll be going next and what planes (other than the ones they said they hope to include).
But at the same time, I think that announcement is more likely to come at end of the year.
Cheers.
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There’s nothing wrong with your editorial pace. You’re doing a great job!
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Thanks! Appreciate the comments and the support!
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Thanks for your creating this blog.
Oh, and it’s ‘Hump Day;. where’s my Hurri?
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Thanks Blue 5 and thank you for your comments over the years! Let’s see what the day brings!
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I hope it’s something we can have and not something we have to wait many months for.
As you know we flightsim-heads have the patience of a four year-old who wants a cookie.
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Hahah it would be nice if there was a surprise of something essentially ready to launch. That’d be interesting!
I’m not going to hold my breath on that. Patience is a virtue! ☺️
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Greed – for lack of a better word – is good…
I only just noticed that you have a Patreon account. Apologies for not subscribing sooner.
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I only started it up recently and I’ve been relatively quiet about it so far. I may say something in a status update on my efforts with the blog and what I’m working on next. But I have a busy 4-weeks to get through first.
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All the type.. and then was just a couple of ground vehicles.
What a disappointment..
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I did list these in my article as one possibility.
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Not blaming you, but I am a little disappointed. I hope this is a joke. No one paid money for the GB series owing to a love of small flak wagons.
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It wasn’t the first thing on my list either. In truth there’s an interesting series of possibilities that can be had here – I just think we were all hoping for something more dramatic given the tease.
I still think we’ll see or hear something before the year is out.
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That was very poor PR. Most users of the whole GB series – even the TC devotees – likely cared little about a drivable AA vehicle. Lots of people bought TC, but have to pay for this as well. Lots of people pre-ordered BoN and the Hurri and hoped to receive a return on their investment. Way to create a sour mood, Jason. Learn from DCS fails.
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SR15,
Keep doing what you’re doing. All your articles are well written and your opinions are well thought out.
Like previous commenters say, this is my #1 place for DCS and IL-2 related news.
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My first thought was maybe something related to Battle of the Bulge. Bulge / Hump, you know? Maybe a map or mini-expansion or something. Guess we’ll see if it turns out to be anything more than the flak wagon they announced.
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Absolutely. I feel like this announcement is almost the result of a legacy stretching back a couple of years and there’s lots of potential for the future.
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