Back into IL-2 Sturmovik with a new flight journal. This time I’m writing about the first three missions of the recently released Iron Wind campaign. The campaign has been developed by long time scripted campaign developer Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshkov who has done a long list of campaigns for the Great Battles Series. Now he’s back with a new campaign that puts you back into the skies over Stalingrad in the Lavochkin La-5 Series 8. Let’s have a look at the first few missions. If you’re into spoilers though, I do “spoil” the very few surprises in the first three missions.

Mission one: Getting into things

Starting out at Shkolniy airbase on the outskirts of Stalingrad, the action starts up pretty quickly in this campaign though the first few missions go fairly easy on the virtual pilot acting as a kind of introduction.

The airbase is populated with parked airplanes and vehicles, a trio of LaGG-3s fly overhead as you prepare to takeoff, and a small formation of German He111s soars overhead. The He111s will be long gone before we’re airborne, they aren’t part of the mission, but they are part of the overall picture of what’s happening. This is all very typical of missions designed by BlackSix.

Also true to form is the short distance between home base and the action. We were airborne no more than six or seven minutes before we were over the frontlines and defending the troops and armor columns that we were assigned to protect.

Less than a minute after getting there, a cluster of dots on the horizon and excited radio calls from my wingmates alerted us all to the threat of some incoming German attack aircraft. Hs129s bore in on the troops were were protecting and we took off after them.

The first time I played this mission I ended up shooting down a Hs129 right away, however, his flap flew off after the first couple of hits and destroyed my engine. I ended up flying the short mission over again and came away with several kills by the end. Hs129s are an easy target for La-5s in general but its a good way to get a feel for the airplane in combat before more challenging missions come your way.

The fight didn’t last long but it was a bit of a swirling mess with Hs129s and La-5s all mixed in. The Hs129s don’t have much of an ability to fight the Lavochkin fighters so this mission really about getting you into the action and spending a bit of time flying the airplane before more challenging encounters come. After downing three Hs129s, my ammo ran dry and it was time to return to base.

That was another short flight over the undulating terrain below and the blasts of artillery and smoke on the horizon. I landed, parked, and shut the engine off. That was a quick one but a fun way to start.

Bomber interceptor

The second mission is a bit more involved than the first one. Heading south from our base, our objective was to climb to around 5000 meters and be on the look out for German attack and bomber aircraft.

The climb out was uneventful though I do want to draw attention to the fact that we twice saw large formations of aircraft only for them to be revealed as friendlies as they got closer. Lots of activity going on in the air and on the ground once again.

As we began patrolling our designated zone, it became clear that enemy bombers were on the way with the cloud of dots coming into focus ahead of us. Our flight climbed for more altitude and set an intercept course for the formation as they themselves headed towards targets in the Stalingrad area.

Other members of my flight were first to engage and a Heinkel lit on fire and dropped away from the formation. Next, it was my turn and I picked a bomber and fired my cannons at it. Hits on the starboard engine caused considerable damage.

I broke off the attack as the He111 lit on fire and tumbled away. I rolled around and attack a couple more times, damaging two more bombers and shooting one more down.

After all of that, my ammo was once again dry and it was time to return to base. The travel time back to base was short as the interception with the bombers brought us awfully close to Stalingrad. Fortunately our efforts had blunted their attack.

A quick landing and shut down. Another mission accomplished and it was just about 20-minutes on the clock.

Hunting tri-motors!

The third mission had us back out on patrol. This time with moodier skies and a low sun angle. Our mission was to patrol routes used by enemy transport aircraft with a low level patrol.

Taking off into the low sun, we set course to the first waypoint overflying a firefight on the ground below and a flight of IL-2s doing what they do best.

Then it was time to turn onto the patrol course. The first time I flew this mission I was a little cavalier about the flak gunners… which tore a wing off with well placed 20mm shots as I passed over a German artillery battery and associated defensive guns. At 1,000 meters flight altitude you’re up close and personal with the stuff happening on the ground.

So back I went flying the mission again. This time I was more wary of the flak, as I should have been from the start. It wasn’t long on patrol before I spotted the first of the transports. A trio of Ju52 tri-motor transports flew past us on the opposite course.

We intercepted immediately. I hit one on the way down, a second then came into my gunsights and I opened up on that with the transport going down in flames. My wingman dispatched one on their first past too.

More dots appeared… surely they were fighters coming to their rescue? No! More transports!

A few more victories before the guns were dry and it was time to return to base!

Initial thoughts

Once I’ve worked my way through the complete campaign, I’ll be back with a campaign review. Already I can tell you from the first few missions that Iron Wind achieves the usual level of action and immersion that virtually any BlackSix authored campaign will achieve.

The missions so far have been short, sharp and interesting. I know BlackSix has said in the forums recently that the early missions are intended to get you into the action and that the difficulty ramps up over the course of the campaign. I do look forward to challenging some Bf109s that will invariably show up but the slow burn does give virtual pilots, especially those newer to the La-5, to adapt to the plane and the scenario before throwing them into more challenging situations.

As it has been, my own mistakes has contributed to replaying a couple of missions but they’ve never been long enough for me to mind.

I’m having a good time but I’ll be curious to reflect on the rest of the campaign once I’ve got there. Simultaneously, I’m playing my way through Gestapo Hunters which is a very different kind of experience. More to write on both soon.

Iron Wind is available on the IL-2 store and on Steam for $8.49 USD and $9.99 USD respectively.