Back on the weekend I hopped into the Flugpark server for their traditional Sunday fly-in. For the uninitiated, Flugpark is the go-to Flying Circus server that a dedicated community of WWI aviation fans has been consistently bringing in dozens of flyers nearly every weekend. What the small flight sim community doesn’t have in popularity, it has with a ton of dedication. I used to count myself as a regular but for a wide variety of reasons I haven’t been on in ages. I changed that and had a ton of fun… but also each sortie got progressively worse in outcome. You’ll see!

Airco DH 4 to artillery

Hopping onto the server solo, I picked what I thought might be an easily achievabale objective. Just across no-man’s land was an artillery battery. North of the major dogfighting area, I thought it might have a chance of sneaking in unnoticed.

My aircraft of choice for this sortie was the Airco DH4. A two seat British bi-plane day bomber with the ability to sling an impressive loadout for an aircraft of the era. I picked two larger HERL bombs and eight smaller bombs. This plus the aircraft’s forward Vickers machine gun and rear facing twin Vickers fitted turret makes for a prickly airplane.

With the engine cranked and started, my gunner and I set off for our artillery strike mission. Gradually climbing, the DH4 felt steady and able to take the task on. We climbed over no-man’s land with artillery shells splashing on the ground all around us… a reminder of the brutal nature of WWI trench warfare.

Nearing the other side of the artillery marked moonscape below, I spotted the general vicinity of the artillery and got myself ready to attack. But not before spotting a lone dot in the distance closing fast. An Albatross!

The enemy aircraft made an attempted head-on pass missing the mark with a few bullets. Past he went and my gunner swivelled and opened fire. A few of the shots hit the Albatross as he passed.

What followed was an almost graceful cat and mouse game where each would turn on the other, exchange fire, and then turn again. While the Albatross got a few hits in, my gunner got more and the enemy aircraft gradually began to widen the distance. Enough to hit my target!

In I went with careful modulation of the throttle keeping speed and RPM managed. Dropping in over the target I let loose with the entire arsenal. Every bomb dropped off and as I pulled off the target I could see splashes of fire over two of the artillery pieces. Others may have been damaged but were still there.

The Albatross made one more pass before backing off for good. Having taken a bit of fire now, I climbed away gingerly and headed back to base.

My navigation skills were good (this time) and I landed back where I had started. That was good!

R.E.8. to farmers field

Feeling pretty good about myself? I thought I’d try out a new aircraft to me. I had yet to fly the R.E.8 so out it came. I loaded it up with a similar bombload, got things ready to go, started the engine and took off down the grass runway looking forward to another strike mission on the enemy’s HQ.

Things didn’t go well as the less powerful and earlier R.E.8 had none of the power of the DH4. After almost a minute trying to gain altitude, I crashed into a farmers field. Whoops!

R.E.8 to the precipice of the enemy’s HQ

Having learned my lesson, I reduced the fuel and bomb load slightly and set out on the same mission. This time I climbed away successfully and set course on my mission.

I was joined this time by a fellow flyer in a Bristol Fighter. The two of us proceeded to fly over No Man’s Land before we got split up briefly. We both pressed onto target individually from there on in.

The sky was clear ahead, my target was in sight, and I still had a full load of bombs. As I approached the target, all was well. Right up until the moment where there was a…Server reset! Frustration! But that’s how it goes sometimes.

Breguet 14.B2 to oblivion

I had time for one more sortie after the server rolled over and so to the skies I took with yet another aircraft. This time its the French Breguet 14.B2 which actually is quite an impressive aircraft. It has quite a payload capability and it manages to do it with some speed and confidence.

Having taken off and then followed another Breguet ahead of me, things began to devolve fairly quickly. A dogfight ahead with an SE5a being attacked by a Dr. I saw me try and help the damaged friendly. Yes, I was on a strike mission but I had to try and help out the friendly.

With the Dr. I in my sights but beyond effective range, I let lose with a volley of fire anyways hoping that the shots would throw off the triplane attacker. No luck as the pilot was singularly focused. I flew past and came around.

This time the Dr. I was in range and in my gunsight. I fired a long burst observing hits all across the fighter. One of those shots must have hit the pilot because the aircraft pitched up violently and stalled as it went past me. That’s a victory!

I turned again for the target, minus the other Breguet I was with before.

Above me, an enemy Gotha G.V pressed on towards our lines. I wrote in the chat a warning but continued on my own mission.

Unfortunately, my confidence in the mission had basically expired because it wasn’t more than a minute after seeing the Gotha sail through the air above me that I was set upon by a cloud of enemy fighters. The first to attack was a Fokker D.VIII firing with impressive accuracy and causing widescale damage to my aircraft. I lost part of my elevator control and my evasive moves became sluggish and ineffective.

More fighters entered the fight too and while the Fokker did the most amount of damage, it was the Fokker Dr. I that delivered the coup de grâce. And that was that!

Final comments

This was fun. I haven’t done Flying Circus properly for months or longer and getting in on the server, linking up informally with teammates, and digging into the Great War flying experience was invigorating.

With a Zeppelin coming and a bit more life breathed into the series, I’m glad that this corner of IL-2 Great Battle’s multiplayer community is still vibrant and strong.