A new developer blog has been put out by the folks at 1C Game Studios. This week we’ve got some updated screenshots of the nearly complete Nieuport 11 and the Halberstadt D.II plus some more work in progress images from the Li-2 and its array of paratroopers. There’s also a screenshot contest on. This is the IL-2 news!

Two mid-war classics

Nicknamed the Bébé, the Nieuport 11 is a key piece of WWI aerial history as this was the Allied fighter that ended the so-called Fokker-scourge. The Nieuport is a sesquiplane configured scout with one or two Lewis guns mounted on the top wing. It’s dedicated ailerons enabled the type to roll faster and perform sharper maneuvers than the wing-warped Fokker Eindecker. According to the update, this is one of two that will be among the first Flying Circus Vol 3 aircraft to arrive ushering an earlier era for WWI air combat fans.

The second airplane for Vol 3 is the Halberstadt D.II. This type has the distinction of being the first bi-plane scout to serve for the German Empire during WWI. The aircraft has some distinction as being one of the first to be painted in bright colours with Oswald Boelcke’s D.II painted bright blue and Manfred von Richthofen flying a bright red D.II for a few weeks in March 1917. It had a single forward firing lMG 08 “Spandau” machine gun.

This week we also see some updates on the Li-2 with a model of the Soviet paratrooper shown off along with paratroopers now dropping from the Li-2. There are also what appear to be cargo pods pictured slung beneath the airplane.

We’ve also learned from discussions from the last update that the Li-2 will have a functional bombsight. We’ve also learned that in career mode there will be one transport unit for Battle of Moscow and multiple transport and bomber units for Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Kuban careers. Transport units positioned near the frontlines while bomber units will be positioned further back – all according to historical records.