Even though I’ve been into combat flight simulation for over two decades, the first of any particular moment is still a little bit special and worth remembering. When I loaded up into the Parallel 38 server with a friend of mine on a fighter sweep and got into a dogfight, it was a special moment when I scored my very first multiplayer server dogfight victory. Things went a bit sour after that but as always its a learning experience. Let’s have a look at how it went!

Fighter sweep south

Parallel 38 is setup as a dogfight server with objectives on the ground and a general combat area that encourages encounters with other enemy aircraft. If you want the IL-10, La-11, Yak-9P, F-51 and so on, you can choose one of the closer bases. If you want the F-86 and MiG-15, you’re further back. So further back we started!

The server had just restarted so a half dozen or more were vying to taxi and takeoff. The situation right now has people lined up in rows at this particular airbase so the taxi process is a bit hairy… especially if someone hasn’t got their brakes and taxi feel set properly. Someone nearly hit me on my first (and uneventful sortie). This time around, I was able to get around the mess and link up with my wingman for a takeoff.

After that, my wingman and I headed southwards towards the fight.

Into the fight

In the hours that I’ve put into IL-2 Series Korea so far, the MiG-15bis has probably been my most flown aircraft. This has been a surprise to me as I was far more excited about other aircraft but I have to say that the MiG-15 has grown on me significantly.

While some have stated that its hard to fly, I find it quite smooth and easy to manage overall. Yes, it control locks hard at high speeds and the guns can be a bit difficult to aim with, but it cruises and climbs so brilliantly. It just feels effortlessly smooth to me!

Those were my thoughts as I headed into the combat zone. Flak and AAA erupted below and my wingman and I spotted dots below and ahead. We ended up spotting an aircraft directly ahead and broke to attack. An F-84 flashed past us in the other direction!

The F-84 went under me while I went up and over. I did not notice this during the fight but later on I discovered that the F-84 was loaded with a nearly full set of HVAR rockets so my advantage was significant – but I didn’t know that at the time.

I took a rather conservative lag pursuit on the F-84 and fired a burst towards him as he passed infront.

I missed and he went vertical.

At this point he made the mistake of stopping his fight with me and focusing on another aircraft infront of him. I could see the tracers firing as we went around and I pulled some high Gs to try and get onto the F-84 again.

His inattentiveness to me and my tight reversal had me pulling in behind him as he again went vertical.

He came directly into my gunsight and I pulled the trigger with a few separate bursts. Two 23mm and one 37mm cannon firing at once make for one heck of a kick and while my first shots went astray the next few connected with one final burst to seal the deal.

You can see it in action here with this YouTube short!

Feeling confident with my first kill, I started climbing again to look for my next target.

Below me, a swirl of jets, props, AAA, burning smoke, and other signs of intense combat let me know I was in the right area. My focus below was shattered when tracers flew past my canopy. A Sabre flashed past hitting me with a glancing shot during a high speed dive!

For a brief time, we found ourselves in a rolling scissors but the F-86 pilot was clearly enjoying an energy advantage and my opportunities to get a reversal faded away quickly.

I dove away hoping to lose him in the clutter but the F-86 had me well in sight and stayed glued to my six. Another glancing hit knocked part of my elevator off decreasing my control effectiveness. Worse, another Sabre had pulled in behind him… 2v1 and my wingman was busy with his own trouble!

Turning at high speed around a small hill, I was desperately searching for an exit strategy.

As the F-86 pulled into a deflection shooting position I hit the rudder hard and went for a reversal to throw him off of my six.

That wasn’t a good idea at this very high speed! The MiG-15 wings snapped off immediately and my aircraft tumbled to the ground. The Sabre? He tried to pull away but also snapped his wings and went tumbling in after me. Woops!

So one victory, one defeat, and some lessons learned on how speed can kill and what to do and not do when you find an F-86 Sabre on your six!

The first of what I assume will be many challenging and fun multiplayer experiences with IL-2 Series. More to come!