Big day for the IL-2: Great Battles Series as the World War I based Flying Circus Vol 2 reaches officially released status, Flying Circus Vol 3 and beyond get a confirmation, and the latest update also brings us the Spitfire XIVe with bubble canopy. Oh and Wings over Caen Typhoon campaign for Battle of Normandy also released today. Let’s dig into all of the details.
Volume 2, Volume 3, and beyond
Great Battles has a bit more life left in it than I thought after today’s announcement. First, the part that we knew was coming is the release of Flying Circus Volume 2.
Update 5.101, released today, marks the end of Volume 2 development and it delivers on the last major feature for Flying Circus. Career mode is finally here and it brings Flying Circus up to par with the World War II offerings.
Flying Circus Vol 2 includes ten aircraft, the Western Front 1918 map, and Career mode along with support for Scripted Campaigns and the Quick Mission Builder.
The launch today is accompanied by a launch trailer by Soto Cinematics. Enjoy!
If that was all that we were going to learn today it would have sufficed. But we do have more new information with the announcement of both Volume 3 and future plans.
The announcement today reveals that 1C Game Studios have partnered again with Ugra Media to develop the next release of Flying Circus. This volume will have eight aircraft. They are:
- German Albatros D.II fighter
- German fighter Halberstadt D.II
- French Nieuport 17.C1 fighter
- French Nieuport 11.C1 fighter
- French fighter Nieuport 17.C1 GBR adapted for British service
- French Hanriot HD.1 fighter.
- British two-seat reconnaissance aircraft R.E.8.
- British two-seat medium bomber F.E.2b.
Volume 3 will also bring further improvements to the Western Front map adding more details to the remaining sectors of the map while also adding new industrial sectors, farms, and frontline objects. Five seasons will also be added: Summer, early Autumn, late Autumn / early Spring, and Winter.
Here’s an interesting piece to all of this too. The announcement today says that early access will begin this summer and that release is expected before the end of the year. That’s an aggressive timeline. It seems doable given the similarities between some of the aircraft coming or already introduced such as the two Nieuport 17 variants and the Nieuport 11 or the Albatross II and the already released Albatross D.V.
And that isn’t quite it either as today’s announcement also says that there are plans for follow-up content in 2024 where an additional set of aircraft will be developed with Ugra Media to develop the remaining land-based aircraft.
That pack will include:
- British Sopwith Pup fighter.
- British rear-engine fighter Airco DH.2.
- British two-seat reconnaissance Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter.
- German fighter Albatros D.III.
- German Fokker E.III monoplane fighter.
- German two-seat reconnaissance Roland C.IIa.
The note about land based craft is specific as it appears that the seaplane Felixstowe F.2A and Brandenburg W12 are unlikely to appear along with the Channel map that was added to Rise of Flight.
1CGS did say the following about how the 2024 project would continue to improve the product overall.
We plan to further improve the maps of Flying Circus projects, supplement their development and add the airfields that are located further from the front line. Please note that the Western Front map is available to all players who have purchased at least one of the Flying Circus projects. This map will be further improved and supplemented.
Spitfire XIVe bubble canopy variant released
The next World War II Collector Plane for the series has also released today. The Spitfire XIVe bubble canopy variant represents a very late war version of the Spitfire XIV differing from the Battle of Normandy Premium Spitfire XIV primarily with the bubble canopy design and cut down rear fuselage.
The following modifications are available for the released aircraft:
- 150 grade fuel allowing +21 lb boost. Automatic supercharger gear shifting is disabled, stages should be manually switched at 11000 ft altitude (20 km/h estimated speed increase at sea level).
- Two 250 lb G.P. bombs with racks (250 kg weight increase, 22 km/h speed loss, 11 km/h speed loss after drop).
- 500 lb G.P. bomb with rack (237 kg weight increase, 12 km/h speed loss, 6 km/h speed loss after drop).
- Replacement of MkII Gyro Gunsight with MkII* Reflector Gunsight.
- Clipped Wing.
- Rear view mirror (1 kg weight increase, 1 km/h speed loss).
- F.24 photo camera installation behind the cockpit (28 kg weight increase). Clipped wing only.
- Rounded exhaust pipes.
The Spitfire XIVe can be bought on the IL-2 store or on Steam where the pre-order discount dropping the price to $15.99 USD currently remains in effect. The standard price of $19.99 USD is likely to become the norm starting soon but 1CGS have typically allowed the pre-order discount to go for a short time after release.
Wings over Caen, Normandy single missions released too
A free Scripted Campaign for IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Normandy owners has arrived. Wings over Caen is a 10-mission campaign that puts you into No. 245 Squadron’s Typhoon Mark IB fighter-bombers. I’m looking forward to this campaign as the action is likely to be short and sharp showcasing the effectiveness and the losses of Allied fighter-bomber squadrons immediately after the Operation Overlord invasion.
Single missions for all Battle of Normandy aircraft and the C-47 have also been released today. You can find those in the single missions section.
There are also dozens of fixes and updates in Update 5.101 so be sure to check out the full list of notes here.
Stormbirds 
Very cool. I’ll admit the FC2 map sort of came out of the blue for me, but I haven’t been following it very closely in a while.
Also very cool to see they’ve got the career system up now. Pat Wilson’s is very good, but the back and forth nature does add friction to it.
Hopefully we also see the quick battle system come to FC soon too.
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Yes I’m hoping that we’ll see the Advanced Quick Mission system come to the map eventually too. I was worried that it wouldn’t but further development seems to open the door to it.
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Humpf. Well, I give a begrudging ‘well done’ for this. Have not bought FC Vol. 2 as it seemed a little dull and – unless am I wrong here – as a Vol. 1 owner I in any case I get the map?
Vol. 3 looks much more interesting, though lack of Pup is a bit sad. Oh, and puhleees will they do a B.E or Av.504 so the actual aircraft of the front are modeled.
Not sure about the Spit. Probably will in time. Would prefer a Mk. VIII even if we lack a correct map.
GB not quite finished, it would seem.
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Glad to see they are recreateing ROF with more modern features and visuals. While WW2 is my favorite flight sim era I really enjoy WW1 as well. So far looks like a very nice addition and I will definitely pre order Vol.3. Looks like the only content not in the current plans is the channel map and sea planes. My guess is that if Vol. 3 and the follow up DLC sell well they will eventually build that as well.
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I am really happy with that update and the news for the following content too. I wish an opposite timeline because I can’t wait the early war planes like Fokker E.III, Roland C.II and Airco DH.2.
I can’t wait to experience these planes in VR. Must be breathtaking like my first sorties in the Flying Circus Career mode… sometimes struggle a bit how it works, a few mistakes here or there but I think this will all be fixed 😉
I really like the Artillery fire adjustment. The recon flights where I have to report the targets by radio are a bit exhausting (can’t set the LeftWin+1 command on another button and the task list is too small).
But since yesterday I had a lot of fun already. And this is just the beginning…. 😉
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Agree, the mid-war fighters are some of my favorite in the WW1 flight sim’s. Something so cool in going up in a wing warp controlled or blip controlled pusher.
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I get my Eindecker? Alright, guess I’m finally picking up FC 1/2 on the next sale.
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Not to be blunt here, I’m a bit concerned for the series going forward:
1. Great that there will be a FC3 but what about the next installment after BoN? I would much rather know that there will be another installment than just the future of a small dish.
2. What about adding the Channel Map and Tarnopol Map from RoF and their planes into the game? Doing the latter map would be easier and it would bring the Sikorskys so we could have a full on Russian Austro-Hungary installment. The Channel Map would also bring us the beloved Felixstowe.
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Dude, the new team seems allergic to helpful news. I am a little surprised that they admitted FC.3 was on.
FC.2: to buy or not to buy, that is the question.
Shamrock says GB series is at an end, but then he’s always been a pessimistic chap.
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Battle of Tarnopol would rule. I posted on the IL-2 forums concerning this a couple of years ago. planeset could be as follows:
Russian Empire:
Ilya Mourometz
Sikorsky S.16
Nieuport N.17 DUX
Farman F40
Caudron G3 or Morane L or Lebed 12
Austro-Hungary/German Empire:
Hansa-Brandenburg C.I (could do several series)
Hansa-Brandenburg D.I
Oeffag D.II or D.III (could do a couple of series)
Albatros C.III
Rumpler C.I or Lloyd C.V
The French and German types could carry over very nicely to the Western Front. The Hansa-Brandenburg C.I is a ABSOLUTE MUST since it was the most important A-H aircraft of the war.
Cheers,
Fafnir_6
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Thanks for the mention Collin. I’m so glad they will finish FC3 and FC4, means I can make more video! Still waiting on news of where the WWII series will go.
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The thing I don’t rightly understand is the huge price tag for FC Vol.3 weighed against the actual content for said volume, when compared to price & content of the volumes before.
Vol’s 1 & 2 both had a dedicated map in their own right & 10 aircraft per volume. As I see it, Vol. 3 will have 7 aircraft (unless you ‘really’ want to count 2 Nieuport 17’s as 2 sperate aircraft) & no map, just refinements & additions to the existing western front map from Vol. 2.
Yet the price tag is exactly the same as the 2 previous volumes, weighing in at a hefty 80 USD.
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