A new developer diary is out from Jason Williams and the Combat Pilot team. The Pacific based World War II combat flight sim in development continues to press forward and today we’re getting our best look at the Akagi carrier that we’ve had yet. There’s also a bit of news on some of the supporting materials coming out from the group as well.
Touring the Akagi
One of the ships that will forever be known in the history books is the Akagi, a 855 ft long aircraft carrier first laid down as a battlecruiser before being converted into the role.
The ship has been featured in combat flight sims before as it was one of the key components of the Japanese fleet at Midway and one of the key targets that was ultimately hit by dive bombers. The status update has a great summary of its history:
Akagi had a busy early part of the war taking part in the surprise Pearl Harbor raid and effective Indian Ocean raid amongst other successful Japanese operations. This amazing ship was set ablaze by U.S. dive-bombers at Midway and when the fires became uncontrollable she was scuttled by torpedoes from Japanese destroyers Arashi, Hagikaze, Maikaze, and Nowaki. She took 267 members of her crew with her. Akagi’s wreckage was found in October 2019 at a depth of 18,011 feet (5,490 m), 1,300 miles (2,100 km) northwest of Pearl Harbor.
The video tour shows us the ship fully textured and detailed both above deck and below deck. I’ll be honest and say that I never fully explored what was underneath the main deck of the carrier and was surprised to see how deep into the ship the elevator could go. Impressive!
Calendars for the holidays
Jason also reports that their Combat Pilot calendar sale is underway which gives purchasers a Pacific themed Combat Pilot wall calendar featuring plenty of artwork. The purchase also supports the project.
Ace Tier Patreon supporters will also gain access to the pre-alpha build of the sim in December. So there’s something tangible coming even if its a very early experience.
Stormbirds 
Leave a comment