A couple of announcements from the 1CGS team have come to light with news that the team will be working with a talented third party developer to bring the Romanian IAR80/81 fighter to life in the IL-2: Great Battles Series. We also have a good look at the Hs129B-2 with 4K skins and a little news about the future of the series.

IAR80/81 announcement

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We have a surprise this week as news has broken that a third party developer is building the Romanian IAR 80 and 81 fighter for IL-2: Great Battles. This low wing monoplane is in development with the above screenshots showing off some of the exterior detailing plus a good look at the engine detailing.

This aircraft was relatively popular in some places around the IL-2: Forgotten Battles community, especially the 81c with its twin MG151/20 cannons and decent handling that elevated it above its more mediocre speed and climb performance.

Created by Industria Aeronautică Română (IAR), the IAR was a Romanian fighter that made up the bulk of the Romanian fighter force throughout World War II. They were used on the eastern front and in defense of Romania which brought them into direct confrontation with USAAF heavy bombers and escort fighters. On the eastern front, the IAR80 and 81 fought at Stalingrad and in the sim it should add a little extra flavour to that scenario.

Hs129B-2 gains 4K skins

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Martin “ICDP” Catney has done it again with a new 4K skinned Hs129B-2. The three shots above plus over a dozen on the update show off the new higher resolution skins to good effect.

The update mentions that most aircraft now have 4K skins which is a great benchmark and that the Yak-1B Series 127 and the Ju52 are next to get the upgraded skins. Great news all around!

Other feature mentions

The update also mentions that the team is working hard on a variety of features.

The AQM or advanced quick mission generator is being added back into the series (this was the original campaign mode) providing a middle ground between more dedicated Career missions and the very short quick mission generator. I think this will be a great thing to have back in the sim.

Air Marshal gets a mention and Jason recently answered a question on the forum that the team is still working on getting it right. It sounds like a complex and involved update to the series’ multiplayer functionality so we’ll see how it goes and what outcome it has.

Drop tanks and fuel management once again get the nod as something in development.

There is news that there will also be new paid campaigns released into the sim and that sounds very exciting. I particularly enjoyed some of the recent additions to the series and new single player content is always great to have.

Finally, new clouds is once again mentioned and Jason thinks we’ll see more about that soon. IL-2’s had decent clouds for years now and they have improved their technology more than a few times but other sims like MSFS and DCS World are pushing the technology further so IL-2 has to keep up. I can’t wait to see what they have planned!

For all of this and more, visit the latest IL-2 developer diary.