It’s been a bit since I last did a multiplayer Flight Journal piece with IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles so let’s change that thanks to a bit of fun I had the other night flying on Combat Box. With limited time and a desire to fly something, anything, I hopped on Combat box and aimed to make a quick impact on the frontlines.

A Typhoon… or at least a gust of wind

Flying solo means limiting your tactics and techniques to make yourself a little less vulnerable. In practice, its a bit of a gamble that a solo fighter may sneak through where a larger formation might be more obvious. I bore this in mind as I planned out my route while taxiing my Typhoon out to the grass runway in the southern part of the current scenario.

After takeoff, I swung my aircraft around to head east towards Köln. The Köln Cathedral makes for a great visual landmark and I used it as my first waypoint that I would then use to set course towards the target area. From the cathedral, I then turned to a new course that I would fly skimming the tree tops hoping to avoid notice. A couple of aircraft flew above and I never knew if they were friend or foe… but they didn’t see me and on I went!

My next landmark I was looking for was a road and a rail line, cutting through a valley, that would lead me to the target. I spotted it as I crested the next hill and started following the rail line towards the target.

And I didn’t have to wait long as the target appeared ahead!

I used my speed gained flying low to make a sudden climb, a wing over, and pushed the nose forward to line-up for a rocket attack. I pushed the button and…. nothing happened.

My key bindings had changed and that was not my rocket attack button. I tried to fix the problem but ended up firing all my rockets in a single burst, landing harmlessly in the nearby forest.

Choice words were uttered.

But the Typhoon isn’t just about rockets. It’s got four 20mm cannons and as I turned around towards the target I spotted another Typhoon, a Spitfire and a C-47 rolling into the area too. Destroying the flak guns firing at me on my first pass were now my objective and as the Typhoon’s bombs went off, I ripped into the first flak battery. Then a second one and a third just as the C-47 began a paradrop over the area. With no more flak guns firing, few targets left, and friendlies departing the area it was time to head home.

I visited the Köln Cathedral one more time and then landed back at base.

Paradrop sounds fun

I had just enough time to squeeze in one more sortie so I chose to back-up fellow C-47 pilot from the last run and go and drop some Allied troops on a designated zone further to the north.

While the first C-47 got out ahead of me, I waited for my aircraft to get its engines on and ready to go while checking my paradrop bindings just to be sure. With two good engines, I was up in the air and ready to help move the frontlines.

While the first C-47 went off course towards another zone, I headed to the target area following a similar tree skimming profile that I did with the Typhoon. No Fw190s or Bf109s spotted my lumbering C-47 and the tip of the lake that I was using as a reference point appeared before me.

I followed the contours of the lake and spotted the drop zone. Climbing and reducing throttle to reduce my speed and cluster the paratroopers into a tighter drop zone, I brought the C-47 around and lined-up. The buzzer went and the droops began to disembark.

It was a successful drop and the server registered it as such. Success! To score a takeover of the target several drops need to be performed and I didn’t have time to run more, but I did help contribute to the team’s objective. Always a good feeling!

And then I flew the reverse course once again dropping low into valleys and hoping not to be spotted. I spotted Köln once again and brought my Dakota in for a safe landing. My time was up and I felt satisfied with my two quick sorties.

Some times you don’t need to spend hours on a multiplayer server to have a complete experience. A couple of quick sorties, some dashes across the frontlines to hit a target, need just be minutes long.