User manual GAMES PC IL-2 STURMOVIK

EDITORIAL NOTES "This simulator was in development for more than 3 years. It was the serious and hard work of aviation engineers, designers, programmers and real pilots - the staff of 1C:Maddox Games. We were in constant contact with the players community during the development period and tried to implement as many player's suggestions as possible to try to satisfy all user groups. The work is now finally complete. We would like to express our thanks to the thousands of players who helped and supported us during those years. We are also very grateful to all the pilots that were involved in the long tests of the flight models. Finally, we would like to say many thanks to our beta testers, who helped us to eliminate any bugs." Oleg Maddox, Lead Designer of IL-2 Sturmovik. "I was a pilot at the 'Bundeswehr' and had the opportunity to fly a rebuilt variant of the ME-109. After testing IL-2 for many hours I have to say that a new generation of flight simulators is born. IL-2 has the best flight models that I have ever seen in a flight simulator. It is not only the best, it is very close to the real thing. Also the graphics and the damage model are amazing...with IL-2 you feel like you are flying in a real WWII surrounding. I say such words about a flight Simulator for the first time, IL-2 is really fantastic." Andreas Preusse, Pilot, Germany. "It has been an honour for me to be involved in testing this product. I am one of the few people in the world who realises the amount of effort and dedication that went into this sim - and I'm nevertheless amazed by the results. I think a combination of the IL-2 team's engineering knowledge, real-world flying experience, passion for history and most of all complete devotion to perfection have created something more than a sum of all the parts. IL-2 takes flight simulators to a whole new level. It's the first sim that I enjoy flying more than real planes." Ilya Shevchenko, Private Pilot, USA. "For me, IL-2 is a very impressive flight simulator. It brings the feeling of aerial combat very close to real life, as opposed to other sims I've played. It is almost frightening how real the graphics and the flight models are. I also admire how one can now experience everything in front of the computer, from air combat to bomber escort. I almost feel like I'm an active fighter pilot with the German Luftwaffe again. For me, IL-2 represents the most realistic flight simulator ever made, mostly because of the German fighters and the feeling of air combat." Georg Adam, Lieutenant in the German Luftwaffe, WWII. "Every WWII computer flight simulator I've seen or flown has been more game than simulator. Il-2 is the first one that looks, feels and sounds like the real thing.I've never seen a flight simulator that made you feel like you were really a ground attack/fighter pilot till I flew IL-2. Now when my Grandsons ask what I did in WWII I'll just sit them down in front of the computer and let them see for themselves." LT. Chuck Walters. P-47 pilot E.T.O 1943/44 1 1 GENERAL FEATURES: 1. Fly 31 types of Russian, German and American aircraft. See them in different camouflage and paint schemes for different times of the year. 2. Fly as pilot or rear gunner. 3. Choose between realistic and simple flight models with many adjustments to various realism settings. 4. See 40 other types of aircraft engaged in large-scale air battles (with camouflage paint schemes changing from summer to winter). 5. Engage in air-to-air and air-to-ground battles. 6. Destroy any ground object, such as buildings, bridges, airfields, etc. 7. Play quick missions using full mission parameter settings. 8. Play different types of single missions. 9. Play campaign missions and track your career (with ranks and awards). 10.Fight against intelligent AI opponents. 11.Play two different multiplayer modes: dog-fighting or cooperative missions across a LAN or the Internet with dedicated servers for online play. 12.Multiplay: up to 32 players in dogfight and 16 players in cooperative missions. Use custom paint schemes, squadron nose art, numbering on wings and national markings for each single plane. 13.Record a flight track of your flights and edit these tracks. Then play and enjoy your track files or send them to others (the Internet sim community can use these to confirm their online wins/kills). 14.Use network and Internet voice communications for multiplayer sessions. 15.Build new missions and scenarios with an easy-to-use mission builder. Create missions for single or multiplayer sessions. 16.Play new scenarios designed by other players. 17.Use new plane sets and new scenarios from free and/or commercial add-ons, designed by original developers after the release of the sim. 18.See aircraft and ground unit graphics of an exceptionally high quality. 19.See massive air and ground battles between German and Russian airplanes and tanks. 20.See realistic dynamic damage modeling. 21.See realistic 3D environments, including terrain, sky, unique clouds and weather conditions. 22.See realistic smoke, explosions, fire and other special effects. 23.Hear absorbing radio exchanges. 24.Compatible with a wide variety of 3D sound cards or drivers (Aureal 3D 3.0 or EAX 1.0, EAX 2.0). CONTENTS EDITORIAL NOTES GENERAL FEATURES INSTALLATION HARDWARE SETTINGS TUTORIAL BEFORE YOU START PILOT ROSTER CONTROLS VIEW OBJECTS PLAY TRACK TRAINING SINGLE PLAYER PILOT CAREER QUICK MISSION BUILDER MULTIPLAY FULL MISSION BUILDER GAME GLOSSARY List of Reference and Recommended Literature CREDITS SPECIAL THANKS TECHNICAL SUPPORT 1 3 4 4 14 40 41 42 43 44 45 45 46 63 65 70 81 83 84 86 87 2 3 Minimum system requirements: PII 400, 128 Mb RAM, 3D Accelerator. Recommended system: PIII 600 or faster, 256 Mb RAM, 32-bit 3D accelerator with 32 Mb RAM or higher. Overall quality will depend directly on the user's processor speed and 3D graphics accelerator. VIDEO 1. Driver - Driver and video mode setup. These settings are similar to the internal Il-2 Video Modes dialog. See the corresponding section concerning in-game menus below for a description. 2 INSTALLATION 1. Insert the IL-2 CD in your CD-ROM drive. The Autorun menu should start automatically. If you disabled Autorun for your CD-ROM, you may need to run the Install procedure manually (using the Windows Explorer) from the CD. 2. Left-click the "Install" button on the displayed Autorun menu. 3. Follow the installation program's instructions to complete the setup. In case of any problems, the installation will stop and notify you of the nature of the matter. You can also remove (uninstall) the game from your hard drive either from the Autorun menu, or by clicking the Start button, and selecting Programs / Ubi Soft / IL-2 Sturmovik / Uninstall. 3 HARDWARE SETTINGS Once the installation is complete, the Setup program starts automatically. The program enables you to select the correct settings for your video driver, video card, sound and input devices. In order to do this, you need to know at least the basic hardware types of the devices installed on your PC. 2. Video - Video driver adjustment. Used to adjust the game for correct operation with the appropriate driver. OpenGL/DirectX settings are defined separately. It is recommended that the latest video card drivers be installed. If you should have any problems, check your driver settings in Windows. These can be found in Control Panel/Display Properties/Advanced. If the game locks up or if the screen refreshes very slowly, check that other 3D applications or games (OpenGL/DirectX) start up and function properly. We advise against overclocking your video card or processor, or using non-standard settings for them. Otherwise, uninterrupted game functioning is not guaranteed! Settings ­ Drop-down menu for video card selection and setup. Special options in the Settings menu for detailed video driver adjustment. Safe - operating mode with minimum demand on the driver (the lowest quality and speed). Default - operating mode with average demand on the driver. Custom - detailed adjustment (at your own risk). 4 5 Texture quality - Texture resolution (see below). Texture mipmap filter - Quality of texture filtering. Texture Compression - Saves on memory considerably (the highest quality is obtained with S3TC). Detailed land textures - Use highresolution textures for landscapes (large amount of video memory and texture compression required). Use Alpha / Use Index - Use additional texture formats. Polygon Stipple - Emulate shadow transparency in the absence of a Stencil Buffer. Dither - Controls dither mode for 16-bit modes. Use Clamped Sprite - Cuts down the number of polygons on sprite objects and effects. Draw Land by Triangles - Displays landscapes with simple triangles. Use Vertex Arrays - Reproduces geometry via vertex arrays. Disable API Extensions - Forbids the use of video driver extensions. Multitexture - For multitextures. Combine - Improved texture combining. Secondary Color - Used for fog and lighting. Texture Anisotropic Extensions - enables anisotropic texture filtering. Texture Compress ARB Extension - enables S3TC compression. 3. Video Modes - Choosing video modes Driver - Choosing between DirectX8/OpenGL drivers. Choose the driver that best suits your video card in terms of rendering speed and quality. Resolution - Choosing the screen resolution and color depth. Low resolution, e.g. 800x600x16 is recommended for earlier video cards, 1024x768x32 and higher should only be used on newer cards. This setting has the greatest effect on quality and frame rate. Windowed/Full Screen - Switches the main game display between windowed or full screen mode. Only full-screen mode is currently recommended. Attempt Stencil Buffer - Utilize stencil buffer. The Stencil Buffer is used to switch over to translucent shadows, etc. It mostly works in 32-bit modes. It usually produces a dramatic drop in the frame rate on a number of older video cards.Recommended for GF3. Apply - Apply new settings and return to the previous menu. Back - Return to the previous menu. 4. Video Settings ­ Graphic Settings. This dialog box is used to define quality and efficiency. The result of the settings depends on the video settings in the IL2 Setup (i.e., maximum quality is achieved with maximum video settings and when your video card supports a maximum number of options). Simple ­ Move to simplified settings Very Low/Low/Medium/ High/ Excellent Settings ­ Choose between overall quality: minimum to maximum. Apply ­ Apply new settings. Back ­ Return to previous menu. Custom ­ Go to detailed settings. Texture Quality ­ Texture resolution. Influences the amount of memory taken up by textures and the game in general. You can also use texture compression to reduce the memory used. Visibility Distance ­ Visibility distance for objects. Objects Lighting ­ Quality of object lighting. Objects Detail ­ Detail of object geometry. Landscape Lighting ­ Landscape lighting and shadows from objects. Landscape Detail ­ Landscape detail (forest/trees/terrain/geometry). Cloud Detail ­ Cloud visualization distance (their complete shutoff can be blocked in network play). 6 6 7 SOUND SETUP Once the installation is completed, a separate IL2Setup configuration program will start up. You can also use this program for a more detailed adjustment of hardware settings (at your own risk). The easiest way to adjust the sound is to choose from existing configurations. Please choose your sound card from the list. If it does not figure in the list, follow the instructions below: If your card supports 3D sound hardware acceleration or you are unsure about it, choose Minimal or Maximal settings. If your card does not support 3D sound hardware acceleration or you experience sound-related problems, choose No hardware acceleration in accordance with the OS you are using. If you want to adjust all the settings yourself, choose Custom settings. The options in this dialog box reuse those in the game's sound menu (see below) with the exception of: Disable hardware voice manager - select this option if you have an accelerated sound card and the sound occasionally fades away and disappears. Disable streams - select this option if there are gaps in the sound. However, you will not be able to use the network telephone or listen to music. Disable statics - select this option if the sound effects are out of sync with the image. Audio input - devices used for the input of signals from the network telephone mike. DirectX required. "None" switches the telephone off. Enable full duplex - this option should be selected. MAIN IN-GAME SETTINGS Adjusted in the Sound Setup->Audio menu. This menu is used to adjust the main sound settings. "Sound engine" switch If you have a sound card based on Aureal Vortex chips, use Aureal3D. In all other cases, use DirectX. To switch off the sound, use Disable sound. Caution! If you have switched on the A3D mode and your card uses a chip other than Aureal, the game will most probably hang up. "Enable hardware" switch If your sound card has hardware acceleration, flick the switch on. This enhances the sound quality considerably and reduces CPU load. If there is no acceleration, the position of the switch is irrelevant. Should any sound-related problems occur, the switch must be turned off. "Playback channels" switch If your sound card has no hardware acceleration or if the hardware acceleration has been switched off with the Enable Hardware switch, the parameter has a great effect on the CPU load. Use the Default or 16 values. We recommend that you use value 8 for Windows 2000 and NT. "Speakers type" and "Reverse stereo" switches Specify the type of audio device you are using: headphones, desktop speakers or system 5.1 (surround). If the stereo channels seem to be reversed, use the Reverse Stereo switch. Advanced Menu This menu is used to adjust additional settings. The Audio quality and 3D rendering performance settings determine the ratio of sound quality to the rate of CPU load; the other settings affect the sound. The Audio quality and 3D Rendering performance switches affect the sound quality and for the most part the CPU load. The optimal Audio quality value is 22kHz. 8 9 The value of the 3D Rendering performance only applies if your sound card has no hardware acceleration or if the hardware acceleration has been switched off with the Enable Hardware switch. In this case, CPU operation is fast when the switch is at the Minimum position; CPU operation is correspondingly slow if the switch is at Maximum. It is recommended that you use the Default or Minimum values. The Distance attenuation regulator sets the rate at which the sound volume decreases, if the distance to its source is increased. The Environmental acoustics switch enables the use of EAX or A3D virtual acoustics interfaces, if they are supported by your sound card. The Volumetric sounds switch activates 3D sound sources using Sensaura technology (it should be mentioned that with the current Sensaura driver version - 2101 - this technology does not work very well). The Realistic occlusions switch determines whether the obstacles (for example the hull of the aircraft) will reduce the sound volume. If it is switched on and you are inside the aircraft, it becomes more difficult to distinguish the sounds from the outside. If your card supports EAX or A3D, you should flick the Environmental acoustics switch on. You can use the other two switches at your discretion. Adjusting sound volume Sound volume is adjusted using the corresponding controls in the Sound Setup->General menu: Master volume - general level of volume for all sources. Objects volume - relative effects volume. Music volume - relative music volume. Voice volume - relative volume of voice messages and network telephone. Music playback Music in the game is activated via the Play music switch in the Sound Setup->General menu. The music volume is adjusted using the Music Volume control in the General menu. Whether the music is to be switched on or off in a given gameplay episode is defined in Sound Setup->Music menu. Play take-off tracks - play music during take-off. Play in-flight tracks - play music in flight. Play crash tracks - play music when damaged. You can add music files at your own discretion via Samples/Music/directory. The music should be in Windows WAVE-file, MPEG 1.3 format. The files for playback are chosen at random. Network voice communication is activated using the Voice Communications switch in the Network menu. It starts working when you subsequently enter the next LAN or Internet game. The volume is adjusted using the Voice volume switch in the Sound Setup->General menu. The channel for communication is chosen in the chat window. Only players using the same channel can hear each other. If you enter "." (dot) in the text box window, a list of channels will appear at the bottom of the screen. You can use this list to select the working channel by pressing the UP and DOWN arrows or by entering its number. The list gives the channel number and name. The number of players switched on to the channel is indicated in brackets. The current working channel is highlighted in a different color, and has a "*" symbol. 10 11 If you are experiencing problems of any kind related to network voice communication, make sure the following settings are chosen in the separate il2setup.exe program, Sound Setup section: "Advanced" group Disable streams - deselected. Disable static - deselected. "Radio chatter" group Audio input - "DirectX". Enable full duplex - selected. If the game does not run well with active voice comms, these can be switched off by choosing Audio input -> None in the il2setup. Adjusting the sound in Windows DirectX sound settings in Windows can be found in the Control Panel->Sounds and Multimedia->Audio dialog box. Sounds and Multimedia may simply be called Sounds in some versions of Windows To adjust the sound hardware acceleration, choose Sound Playback->Advanced (see below). If you have several sound devices installed (for example, a chip on the motherboard and a separate card), choose the one you prefer in the Preferred devices list and select the Use only preferred devices option. In addition to this dialog box, your sound card may have additional adjustment options. Choose the Hardware acceleration->Full position of the switch in the Performance dialog box. If this creates problems with the sound, select Basic acceleration or, as a last resort, Emulation only. Troubleshooting No sound. Make sure the sound is not switched off in the Sound Setup->Audio menu. Make sure the volume is not muted in the Sound Setup->General menu. No music. Make sure the volume is not muted in the Sound Setup->General menu and that the music is selected in the menu. Make sure, using the il2setup program, that the Disable Streams option on the Sound page is not switched on (to see all the components on the page, you should install Settings->Custom). No network voice comms You can hear messages of other players in Windows NT4.0, but you cannot talk yourself in most cases. This does not hold for Windows 2000. Make sure your telephone is switched on (see above). Go through all the options in the No music paragraph. JOYSTICK SETUP The game generally supports a vast range of basic joysticks by different manufacturers. Select Use Joystick in the setup program. Press the Properties button and make sure that the Joystick drivers have been installed and work correctly with your Joystick. If the setup program detected your joystick's Force Feedback feature and displays it, you can enable or disable this feature. Read about other features and the control settings in the CONTROLS section of this manual. Choose the sound device you are using in the Speakers dialog box. 12 13 4 TUTORIAL If you are already familiar with the basics of flight ­ either from real life experience, or from playing other sims, you can skip this chapter completely. However, don't subsequently complain that you haven't been informed about something particularly crucial! And as for the rest of you, just read on to find out what this flying business is all about! 1. Flying Essentials At this stage in history we are all used to the sight of planes soaring above us. But do you actually know how aircraft manage to get up in the air and stay there? Well, if you're not entirely sure about the answer to that one, there's no need to panic - we won't be smothering you with a load of old formulas from physics classes, which by now you've probably forgotten anyway. What you should know, however, is that the interaction of a number of forces has a key part to play in the whole wonderful business of flying. These forces are as follows: Thrust ­ the force that pulls an aircraft forward. Drag ­ the resistance of the environment that has to be overcome by thrust, before a body can engage in any sort of movement (sound familiar at all?). Gravity ­ the force which would just love to keep every single object on this earth (plane or no plane!) fixed very firmly to the ground; and, finally, Lift ­ This is generated when the air pushes the plane upwards because of the specially formed wings. If a plane has enough thrust, it can overcome drag and start moving. Once sufficient speed has been attained, enough lift will build up at the wings to defy gravity and allow the plane to take off. Simple, isn't it? In reality things are a little more complex than that, but we'll leave it there for the moment. 2. A Plane's Axes of Movement Unlike ground vehicles, a plane can move in an extra direction, or, if you prefer, an up and down dimension. It can even be argued that a plane can move in TWO extra directions, even though both types of movement concern the same direction. These additional movements are pitch and roll ­ more on them later. Movement along a plane's three different axes are made possible via special flight control surfaces, which a pilot operates via the stick and the rudder pedals. There are different names for the various movement options, and you should make sure that you take careful note of these, as they are extremely important for making sense of the chapters that follow. Movements around the plane's roll axis are carried out with the so-called ailerons. They cause the plane to revolve around the direction where its nose is pointing, and allow it to perform turns. This movement is known as `rolling' (not to be confused with the `taxiing' the plane on the ground). To move the plane around the roll axis, the pilot moves the stick in the desired turn direction, which can be either left or right. Turning movements around the yaw axis are known as `yawing' and are carried out with the rudder. A plane responds tio this exactly like a car responds to the steering wheel. Even more like a car, a plane is also steered via the rudder when it is on the ground; on modern planes the rudder is connected to the steerable landing gear, for example. Left rudder allows the plane to be `yawed' (turned) to the left, and, logically enough, right rudder enables yawing to the right. 14 15 3. Basic Flying Maneuvers Takeoff Now that you know which instruments are really important (please take a look at the reference card - the main indicators are Altimeter, Climb, Artificial Horizon, Turn, Course), you could start thinking about getting your plane into the air! And while you're at it you can ponder over the fact that the planes of this era were, for the most part, equipped with a small wheel at the rear - the tail wheel. Unfortunately, this meant that the plane's nose was raised in front of your cockpit, and therefore these planes had a very poor view (if any!) of the ground in front when taxiing and in the first part of take off. Try to compensate for this by looking out of the side of the cockpit and using the edge of the runway for orientation. And there's no point in moaning either - that's just how it's done, ok! Of course, you could always make things nice and simple and switch to one of the external views using either the F2 or the F7 keys. Once you have lined up on the runway you should proceed as follows: extend the flaps to Takeoff level (F key twice). Start to accelerate slowly and check the tachometer to see whether or not the engine is reacting to your movements on the throttle. Now push the throttle lever all the way forward. As your aircraft gains speed, you may have to compensate for the engine's torque by gently applying the rudder. Make sure you keep a close eye on the turn indicator during this process! To begin with, you should keep the stick held towards you in order to exert pressure on the tail wheel and thus prevent a premature takeoff. Once you have attained sufficient speed, press on the stick slightly so as to lift the tail wheel off the ground. Don't press too hard or the propeller may touch the ground (if you are flying the P-39 Airacobra, forget everything we said about the tail wheel: the P-39 already had the tricycle landing gear which is standard nowadays). The aircraft should now build up speed quickly. Once you have reached an adequate speed, draw back the stick gently. Make sure you don't pull too strongly and do not try to make a sharp turn straight away. This could result in the plane stalling and you will not have enough space beneath you to put this right in time. First retract the landing gear (G key) and then the flaps (V). Monitor your speed closely, and do not pull your nose too sharply right away. Let your airspeed get at least above 180-200 km/h, then start climbing and make sure that you keep gaining speed and altitude. Once you have reached your desired height, throttle back so as not to overburden the engine and adopt a level flight attitude. Many congratulations - you're flying! Movements around the pitch axis allow the plane to ascend or descend. This is known as `pitching'. You pull the stick back to pitch the plane upwards, and push the stick forward to carry out a downward pitching movement. Positive and Negative G-Forces G-forces start to take their toll as soon as you start to carry out maneuvers at high speed and with quick direction changes. The `G' stands for gravitational and `1G' is the basic force of attraction exerted by the earth. If you fly a tight high-speed turn, the drag involved means that your body cannot keep up with the rapid movement, and you will be forced into the other direction by a multiple of the force of attraction. If the level of G-forces becomes excessive, you can even experience a blackout, which will eventually lead to loss of consciousness. Trained jet pilots can put up with 9G for short periods of time with special equipment, but it's not exactly their idea of fun! You can experience the effects of negative G-forces if you force your aircraft downwards at high speed out of level flight. You will be practically lifted out of your seat and will be weightless for a short while. If you take things too far, you will have a (literal!) rush of blood to the head and become rather red in the face, to say the least. Your body can deal with positive G-forces better than with negative ones. When playing IL-2, if your screen goes black in mid-flight, this probably has nothing to do with your graphics card, but with the effects of excessively high positive G-forces. G-forces can be turned off in the "Difficulty/Realism' menu. 16 17 Climbing To get the aircraft to climb, simply increase the throttle! You will start moving more quickly and thanks to the increased flow speed of the air moving over the wings, more lift is generated. The more impatient flight simmers amongst you may be tempted to simply pull the stick back. The more you pull, the steeper the plane will climb upwards. A glance at the airspeed indicator will suffice to confirm that you are losing speed at the same time. Lower the nose a little so as not to slow down too much, but make sure that it remains above the horizon. If you are lucky enough to be sitting in a luxury cockpit, you may find an artificial horizon with which you can control your angle of ascent. An incline of about 20° generally represents a good compromise between your climb rate and your airspeed. Stalling If you get carried away with pulling back the stick, your speed will ultimately drop to an unacceptable level: the airflow over the wings will reduce and you will soon find your plane lacking the necessary lift to keep you in the air. You have stalled the aircraft, gravity has regained its grip on you and the next stop will be a rather premature reunion with mother earth. In a situation like this, though, panicking is the very last thing you should do: simply center the stick and let the plane go. Don't carry out any steering operations at all - these are pointless in a situation like this anyway. The nose should be pointing down towards the ground and the aircraft will be dropping rapidly in much the same direction. As this happens, the plane will regain speed, causing the control surfaces to react again. Once you have reached sufficient airspeed, bring the plane out of its fall and return it to level flight. Do try this maneuver out, as you will probably find that you stall at inconvenient moments (like in the heat of battle, for example) and so a certain amount of practice in a non-critical situation will pay off. But do please make sure that you always have a sufficient amount of space between your plane and the ground before you embark on a training session... Spins If you are really unlucky, you may find that your plane doesn't just stall, but also goes into a spin. Spinning means (amongst other things) that your plane keeps rotating uncontrollably around its roll axis. A spin occurs when a stall has affected only one wing, in an excessively tight turn for example. Rescuing a plane that has gone into a spin is considerably more difficult than righting an aircraft that has merely stalled, and sometimes this is simply not possible. The first thing you have to establish is the direction in which the plane is rotating around the roll axis. If you can't identify this, you should have no reservations about switching to an external view via F2 or F7. Once you have determined the direction of the spin, you can try your luck and have a go at the rescue operation. Move the stick into a neutral position. Under no circumstances should you operate the ailerons, that's to say by moving the stick to one side or the other - this would only make the spin worse! Instead you should step on the rudder in the opposite direction to the one in which the plane is spinning. After that it's just a question of waiting until the plane stops spinning. If you can't see any improvement, your best bet is just to try again. If the plane has actually stopped spinning then your battle is almost over: all you have to do then is to wait until the plane has picked up sufficient speed for the control surfaces to start reacting again. Then you can put an end to the dive and return to normality! Well, it's certainly worked before.... We hope that you will notice to your dismay just how much height you have lost. If you do happen to fall into a spin at low altitude, time really is of the essence and you should bail out without further ado (CTRL + E). Then again, you may find that the maneuver described above doesn't actually achieve anything. In some cases you may even have fallen into a flat spin, a particularly unpleasant variety in which you find yourself spinning around your yaw axis. Rescuing an aircraft which has fallen into a flat spin is very nearly impossible, and abandoning the plane to its fate via CTRL + E is by far your best option. Level Flight Sounds wonderfully simple, doesn't it? Which is true for the most part, at least once you have grasped the basics of this skill. Level flight involves flying straight ahead without changing altitude, with all the forces which act upon the plane in balance. This balance means that the plane can fly in a straight line more or less of its own accord, without too much intervention from the pilot. Ok, we said this is relatively simple, but that doesn't mean that an aircraft can just adopt this mode without any help on your part! Depending on the load on board (weapons, fuel, personnel etc.) the plane's center of gravity changes, which in turn has an effect on the flight attitude. You can, and indeed should, counter these factors by adjusting your aircraft's trimming. This involves fine-tuning the control surfaces to enable a constant, balanced flight attitude. If your plane is dipping to the left slightly, for example, this is not necessarily due to any movement of the stick. Instead, trim the plane to make it lean to the right by holding down the `CTRL' key and pressing the right arrow key until you have fully countered the lean to the left. If, on the other hand, the plane is inclining upwards, you can try to counter this tendency by simply easing off the gas slightly. Less thrust = less speed = less lift - remember? If that doesn't work, trim your plane by using the CTRL and down arrow keys to make it slightly nose-heavy. Feel free to experiment a little with the trimming and do make sure that you are familiar with the key commands involved (chapter 6). 18 19 Turns To turn the aircraft, you first have to bank it around the roll axis - in the direction in which you wish to turn, logically enough. To do this, gently move the stick in your chosen direction until you have reached an angle of about 20 - 25°. And that's enough for the moment. The plane will describe a gentle curve, moving the nose down slightly in doing so. You should therefore gently move the stick back so as not to lose too much height. Gently use the rudder and keep a very close eye on the turn indicator: if you want to become a really good pilot, your operation of the rudder should cause the ball in the indicator's spirit level to move as little as possible, remaining in the center of the display. This sort of a turn is known as a coordinated turn: the plane is not forced to one side but follows the radius of the curve without lurching to the side. And do bear in mind that although your stick may return to a central position of its own accord, in order to return to level flight you will have to steer it into the opposite direction yourself. Controlled Descent `You always get down eventually,' so the saying goes. Which is true enough in itself, but you have to remember that there are all sorts of ways of getting your feet, and your plane, firmly back on the ground, some of which are a good deal safer than others. If you just point your plane's nose at the ground, you will gain speed - an awful lot of speed. You will certainly be traveling too fast for the majority of planes from the Second World War period. On your way down you are likely to feel a little bit shaky, and then it won't be long at all until the first parts are doing their own flying around you. Try explaining that particular strategy to your mechanic if you are still able to! You should always ensure that you prepare for your descent and landing carefully. The first thing you should do is to decelerate. The plane will embark on a gentle descent due to the reduction in thrust resulting from its lower speed. Check this by taking a look at your rate of climb indicator. Then press the stick forward slightly, all the time keeping the airspeed indicator in view. Depending on the type of plane you are flying, there is a varying range of speeds which can be flown safely at this stage. If you are flying too fast, simply reduce your angle of descent and gently pull the stick towards you. If your cockpit has an artificial horizon, check your flight attitude if you're not totally sure that you can rely on your instincts. You can also try flying broad descending curves, as you automatically slow down when banking. You should always watch your speed very carefully during this procedure, or you could run the risk of stalling. There is one handy trick which can help you to lose altitude without speeding up: gently roll the plane to one side and at the same time counter this movement with the rudder so that you don't actually turn. This will mean that you are flying at a slant, but this will be useful in your descent. This maneuver is known as a `slip' or `side-slip', and was invented by WW1 pilots to compensate for the fact that their planes were a good deal more fragile than the ones you will meet in IL-2 Sturmovik. If you and your plane are of a robust constitution, you can use the so-called `Split-S figure' explained in section 5.4.3. This will expose you to high levels of G-forces, so don't say you haven't been warned! If you need to get down to the ground fast, like in case of crash-landing after battle damage, chop your throttle to idle and drop full flaps. Point your nose downwards, which will take more strength than usual as the flaps will generate excessive lift. Keep your nose down to still allow for your airspeed to drop. Once at speeds below 300 km/h, drop your gear ­ then level out as close to the ground as you can and continue flying forward at a very shallow angle until you touch down. 4. Key Air Combat Maneuvers If you have studiously digested the previous sections and taken the advice contained there to heart, you should be in a good position to perform clean takeoffs and landings and to squeeze in a few nice, coordinated turns in between. All this is, of course, admirable, and we are extremely proud of you! But we trust that you won't be too crestfallen when we tell you that these skills alone are not enough to make you into a flying ace. It may be of some comfort to hear that you are not alone in this regard. Many of the world's most famous aces had to put in many a long hour of practice, learning from their mistakes all along before they were able to acquire the talents which set them apart from less successful or merely average pilots. And then there are just some things which can probably never be learnt; abilities which you either have or have not got. For more on this topic, take a look at section 5.5. Don't start turning the pages just yet, though ­ first of all we're going to introduce you to the key maneuvers of air combat. 20 21 4.1. Offensive Maneuvers ".you have to get up to a distance of about 70 meters from the target before you can open fire. A big mistake which is often made lies in losing speed when you move up to shoot at the last minute. This doesn't work - the distance simply gets bigger and bigger and you can even lose touch with the target completely. If you shoot from too great a distance away, you just let the enemy know where you are because of the trail your shots leave, and the enemy can frequently get away. Another frequent error lies in gaining ground on the enemy too quickly and then not being able to brake in time, which means that you end up in front of the target. John Cunningham, R.A.F. night fighter pilot. Quote from: Sims, Edward H.: Fighter Tactics And Strategy 1914 ­ 1970. If you will permit us to make a very broad generalization, air combat maneuvers can be divided into two categories: offensive and defensive maneuvers. An offensive maneuver, in a one on one air battle (also known as a dogfight), for instance, focuses on shooting down the enemy as quickly as possible. This generally involves taking an opposing pilot completely by surprise (the ideal situation!) or outmaneuvering him to such a degree that you a) get into a good firing position and b) stay out of trouble as much as you can. As is often the case, theory is considerably easier than practice here. But with a little of the latter you should be able to achieve a certain amount of success before too long. Hammerhead This maneuver was known as "Immelmann" in WW-I, named so after a famous German ace Max Immelmann. Whether he was really the first pilot to carry out this maneuver is open to question, but what is beyond doubt is that he could perform it to perfection. However, since then the terms changed and Immelman in WW-II is something completely different. A typical hammerhead involves flying the plane straight up in the sky until shortly before a stall, then using full rudder to carry out a 180° turn about the yaw axis and subsequently going into a dive. The point of this piece of aerial acrobatics is to enable you to tuck yourself in behind an aircraft which was flying in the opposite direction to you before you carried out the maneuver. To execute it to perfection you will need good timing and a good reserve of speed to be able to carry out the steep climb at the beginning. Make sure you are flying at an adequate speed to begin with. If need be, lower the plane's nose to pick up a little extra speed. Gently but firmly, pull your plane around so that it is climbing straight up. Don't lose sight of your airspeed indicator! Before you lose too much speed and therefore stall, step on the rudder pedals. Do we really need to mention that you should by now have decided which way you're planning to turn? Good, we knew that wouldn't be necessary. Then turn the plane through 180° so that the nose is pointing down to the ground, gently using the ailerons as you do so. Pay careful attention to your course indicator or a compass ­ if everything has gone according to plan you should now be pointing in exactly the opposite direction from the one in which you started. At the same time you should also pick up speed. Recover the plane from the dive once you have reached your desired altitude. In combat situations you should aim to end up slightly beneath the enemy aircraft, thus putting you out of the range of any gunners on board and with any luck you won't be detected by enemy pilots. Immelmann These days the term `Immelmann' is generally used to refer to a maneuver also known as a `half-loop'. This also involves trying to change the plane's direction by 180 degrees in as little time as possible, but the pilot achieves this in a different way, flying an upwards half loop instead of the maneuver described above. Before you begin an Immelmann, you should again make sure that you are traveling at sufficient speed, as you will need to be moving fast to accomplish the maneuver that follows. Keep the wings nice and level, pull back on the stick and move your plane upwards. While you are climbing you should roll to one side slightly ­ again, you choose which side. Keep pulling back on the stick until your plane is flying in the opposite direction to the one in which you started. While you're doing this you should keep a close eye on the course indicator or the compass. Using the ailerons, turn the plane around the roll axis until you are flying in a normal flight attitude once again. You will now have gained altitude and will gradually be picking up speed again, flying in the opposite direction to the one in which you started. 22 23 Loop This well-known maneuver is perhaps the least useful of all in combat ­ at least that's probably the answer you would get if you could still ask Manfred von Richthofen, the famous `Red Baron', for his esteemed opinion of looping. Some pilots, however, just cannot get enough of this tactic. There are indeed good reasons not to carry out this maneuver during an air battle, particularly because it takes a good deal of time and also requires sufficient speed and altitude to complete a loop fully. However, you should certainly be acquainted with this particular trick, if only so that you know how to react should an opponent in front of you decide to try it out himself. Sufficient speed is essential before you can think about attempting a loop. If required, lower your plane's nose a little to gain speed. Pull the plane up into the sky with its wings level. Keep the stick pulled towards you and just wait until you are traveling in your original direction again. That's it ­ it's as simple as that! Oh yes, to be on the safe side and make sure that you describe as good a loop as you can, you may find the following trick useful: look out of the cockpit to one side and keep your eye on the wing tip. If you get everything right, the tip will describe a perfect circle. Then again, beauty alone doesn't count for all that much up in the sky...but it won't be long before you find that out for yourself anyway! Yo-Yos 1: High and Low Yo-Yos "The Yo-Yo is very difficult to explain. It was first perfected by the well-known Chinese fighter pilot Yo-Yo Noritake, He also found it difficult to explain, being quite devoid of English" Squadron Leader K.G. Holland, RAF Quote from L. Shaw's "Fighter Tactics". . These flying configurations may well have amusing names, but the idea behind them is deadly serious. They are offensive maneuvers which are geared towards the fact that in air combat it is only very rarely the case that you will be up against an equivalent opponent in terms of identical performance data. To put it simply, never expect to be able to just fly behind your adversary and thus automatically find yourself in a good firing position. He could well have a much more easily maneuverable, quicker plane. Or it could be the other way round and the (apparent) advantages could be on your side, which unfortunately doesn't necessarily make things easier. If you perform a yo-yo maneuver correctly, you can manage to sneak in behind the enemy directly despite the difference in speed or turn performance. And that in itself is very often half the battle! A low yo-yo is a suitable option if the opponent flying in front of you is quicker than you are, as it may enable you to catch up with him and attack him. Gain speed by allowing your plane to descend. This also takes you underneath your adversary, whose view of you will then be impaired or even obscured completely. Once you have been able to get close enough and the enemy is almost directly above you, pull your aircraft right up. You should have enough surplus speed to be able to get into a firing position before your plane slows down too much and perhaps even stalls. Yo-yos 2: High and Low Yo-yos: Banking A yo-yo maneuver can also be deployed during banking in order to stay behind an adversary whose plane is more maneuverable than yours. Again, the trick here lies in using space as efficiently as you can in order to make up for any comparative disadvantages which your plane may have. 24 25 Pursue an adversary flying ahead of you and turn at the same time as he does. But instead of trying to follow him directly, pull back on the stick, thus lifting you above your target for a moment. Watch out though: you will probably lose sight of him temporarily. Now roll your plane into a slightly tighter turn, thus moving yourself more sharply into the radius of your opponent's turn. When he has turned a bit further, you will be able to use your height advantage to pounce on him from above and should land right behind him ­ if you've got all your sums right, that is! Follow the opponent ahead of you into the turn, and push forward on the stick to make your plane descend. Cut back on the throttle so as not to gain too much speed. Then fly a longer distance before cutting into your enemy's tighter turn radius. Pull back on the stick as you are doing this, lifting your plane straight up. With a little practice you should land right behind your enemy and thus in a good firing position. The thing is, there's no real difference between low and high yo-yos that can be easily explained. Both can be used in the same situation, often with the exact same end result. In both you dive and climb, just in different order. It can be argued that you turn better in a high yo-yo as your plane spends more time at lower speeds ­ but this is all a matter of individual plane's characteristics. The truth is, turns are almost never perfectly horizontal in combat. If their opponent is climbing, pilots tend to counter with high yo-yos. If an opponent is diving or is generally below, a low yo-yo is recommended. 4.2 Attacks on Ground Targets Right, that's enough about dogfights. In IL-2 Sturmovik, attacks on ground targets play a particularly important role, and the rules for this type of combat are somewhat different. Attacking ground targets is all about trying to score a direct hit in as few attempts as possible whilst remaining in one piece. As you can no doubt imagine, the enemy won't exactly welcome your attacks with open arms, and being able to counter his defenses is of prime importance. Bombing from High Altitudes To try and escape fire from ground objects such as tanks, artillery and flak, you can opt to release your bombs from high altitudes. This strategy certainly helps to protect you, but is, unfortunately, relatively imprecise, requiring a high degree of skill and practice to be truly successful. What makes dropping bombs from such great heights so difficult is the speed which also has to be considered: your bombs won't just drop to the ground in a straight line, but will cover a certain distance in flight depending on the speed at which you were flying when they were released. Large bombers have a bombardier to direct the bombs and release them, but in an IL-2, for instance, you have to take on these duties yourself. Why not try this out for yourself? Once you have identified a target , fly towards it at high altitude. As you're making your way towards your goal, you may wish to switch to an external view using the F2 or F7 keys. To hit the target you will have to release the bombs a long way before the point at which you actually fly over it. Have fun practicing! Dive-Bombing To improve the accuracy of bombing missions, dive-bombing tactics were developed after the First World War. The idea behind this strategy is to plunge down on to the target in nearly a straight line, so that there is almost no horizontal distance between the target and the plane when the bomb is released. This release technique was developed by the US Air Force and adopted by the German Luftwaffe, which ultimately led to the development of notorious aircraft such as the Junkers Ju-87 and Ju-88, which were specially adapted for this type of bombing. But that's another story... 26 27 To release a bomb in a dive maneuver, approach your target at an adequate altitude. Once you are almost directly above the target, embark on a sharp descent (a dive) and speed towards your target as directly as you can. You are vertically above your target if it remains in the center of your sights and simply seems to rotate even when you are moving your ailerons. As for when you actually release the bomb, you should ensure that you give yourself enough time to fly to safety. Be prepared for defensive fire and take care, as by no means every pilot (nor every plane, for that matter) can withstand such high speeds for long. It is a good idea to use anything you can to slow your plane down during a dive attack ­ flaps, dive brakes, anything you may be equipped with. Don't forget to idle your engine when diving, too! Pick out a target and get it into view. Try to fly as quickly as possible to make yourself as hard a target for enemy fire as you can. Unfortunately you can't swerve or dodge around that much, as your weapons are simply not modern enough to seek the target themselves. When choosing the moment to drop the bombs, bear in mind the distance which they will travel after being released. Then climb up and away from the target without delay to avoid falling victim to your own bomb. Now focus on continually changing your height and direction to make it as difficult as you can for the enemy to shoot you down. An IL-2 is, admittedly, well armored, but is by no means indestructible! Switch to an external view to take a look at the effects of your handiwork or fly a course which enables you to look out of one side of the cockpit down to where your bombs landed. Don't be at all surprised if the first attempt was a failure ­ you will almost certainly have to make a few practice runs before you score a direct hit. Rocket Attacks on Ground Targets Almost all versions of the IL-2 are equipped with suspension rails for unguided rockets as standard. What unguided means in practice is that, as we saw above with bombing tactics, you have to direct the plane towards the target directly if you want to achieve a hit with your rockets. And, of course, in doing this you provide the enemy's ground forces with another wonderful opportunity to get in some target practice. So when mounting rocket attacks you should again try to move as quickly as you can with an approach at low or medium altitude. Train your sights on the target and release the rockets from an appropriate distance (not too far away). Bear in mind that your rockets are positioned to the left and right of you underneath the wings and that they will not necessarily land right in the center of your sights. Once you have fired off the rockets or the rocket salvos, start climbing again and turn away, swerving and changing your altitude as much as you can so as to escape enemy fire. Using On-Board Weapons The IL-2 has impressive canon and machine gun capabilities fitted as standard, and so does the German FW-190. But the Messerschmitt Bf-109 can also be equipped with powerful additional weapons (which can also affect the plane's mobility). Attacking ground targets with on-board weapons is basically very similar to using unguided rockets. Set your sights on the target and fly towards it at high speed. Given that the shots from your on-board weapons are not nearly as destructive as rockets, for example, you will probably have to land a number of hits to destroy or perhaps even just damage a target. Take a very close look at what sort of target you have in mind. You can possibly finish off a truck or a locomotive with just a few hits on target, but if you have set your sights on a heavy tank, you will have to be pretty accurate with your aim and score a direct hit! The colored tracer bullets can help you with your aim ­ adjust the direction you choose accordingly. In later models of the IL-2 the machine guns were, curiously enough, only included for the purpose of making targeting easier for the far more effective machine cannons! If you move the rudder slightly to the left or right while firing and turn gently around the yaw axis, you will manage to spread out your shots more effectively and raise your chances of a hit. 28 29 Deflection Shooting If you try to shoot at a moving target, you will probably notice the following: let's say that you approach a truck - which is traveling in front of you - from behind and slightly to the side. You've got him right in the center of your sights and press the trigger, but you still don't hit the target. The reason for this is simple ­ even though your bullets are extremely quick, they still have a certain distance to travel before they arrive at their destination. They will actually hit the place that you have lined up for them, but by the time they make impact the truck will have traveled a little further itself ­ to cut a long story short: you missed! Of course, you may actually end up hitting the target, but if this is the case then you have probably aimed at a particularly slow specimen of the truck species! The bottom line is that you should always consider the distance which the target is likely to cover before the bullets arrive and bear this in mind when taking aim. So it is wise not to train your sights on the target itself, but on a point slightly in front of it. To summarize, the faster the target is moving, the further you have to aim in front of it. This is known as deflection shooting. As you can imagine, this is by no means a technique specially developed for attacking ground targets. In truth, you're not likely to score many hits at all in any sort of battle if you don't start putting these principles into practice. Even top aces can be driven to despair by this fact, if that's any consolation. But once you have grasped the underlying principle, a little practice should help you to put this technique to good use. 4.3. Defensive Maneuvers "...by the way, did you know that the Russian Rata could outmaneuver the Me 109?" Joseph Jacobs, Commander of the Jasta7 in Flanders in the First World War. Quote from: Sims, Edward H.: Fighter Tactics And Strategy 1914 ­ 1970. Break Quite apart from the fact that it's always better to avoid getting into risky situations in the first place, any self-respecting pilot should be able to carry out this maneuver in his or her sleep. Fortunately it is really quite simple to perform, as a break is basically just a very tight turn. Use this maneuver if you've got the sneaky feeling (or if you're absolutely sure, for that matter) that the enemy is right behind you. To perform this maneuver, roll your plane through 90 degrees to whichever side you choose and pull the stick towards you. You can also gently use the rudder and cut back the throttle to make the turn even tighter. If your plane is particularly maneuverable, this may well be enough to shake off your pursuer, as he will have to be at the controls of an even more nimble aircraft to get himself into a good shooting position. But be prepared to carry out a series of maneuvers to shake off your would-be assailant, as one simple break alone is generally not enough. Only the most suicidal pilot would perform a series of breaks in alternating directions. Rolling from one direction to the other may take a few seconds, during which your plane will be flying almost straight and level ­ enough for the attacker to regain any positional advantage he may have lost during your first break turn. Barrel Roll You can use this maneuver to help you confuse an enemy who is following you by flying in a tight spiral. If he wants to score a hit against you, your pursuer will have to follow you in this maneuver, otherwise he will fly past you or above you. A barrel roll may enable you to tuck in behind him and turn the tables! Move the stick to whichever side you choose and pull back on it slightly. Your plane will start flying a long, narrow spiral. Keep following this route until your opponent flies past you. Of course, that's what we hope he'll do. If he manages to stick on your tail you'll have to think of another defensive maneuver to help you get rid of all that unwanted attention. Try using full rudder, in the same or opposite direction, during a barrel roll to make it even more unpredictable. Now that you've read so much about all the lovely damage you can do, it's about time we told you that you're likely to find yourself in at least as many situations in IL-2 Sturmovik in which the enemy has got his sights trained on you! All is not lost, however - read on to find out how you can get yourself out of the tightest of corners and maybe even turn things to your advantage! 30 31 Dive For this maneuver, it pays to have a thorough knowledge of your own and, if possible, also your opponent's machine. Let's say you're flying a Messerschmitt Bf-109 and you come under attack from a MiG-3 which is in hot pursuit of you ... Placing all your trust in your own plane's robust stability and the correspondingly fragile nature of the Soviet pursuer, you simply point your aircraft's nose straight down towards the ground. You will pick up an awful lot of speed, as will your enemy if he decides to stick with you. You will be able to put up with this for quite some time before you really start to suffer, whereas your adversary will probably start to feel the effects much more quickly. If he has any sense he will abandon his attack completely or hang around for a better opportunity. Which means that you're in the clear...for the moment, anyway. The Split-S The Split-S is a downwards half-loop. This means that you gain speed while losing height. Ideally, of course, you will have plenty of altitude before attempting this maneuver, which also involves you adjusting your course by 180 degrees. Quickly roll to one side until you are upside down and then pull back hard on the stick. Once you have completed a half loop you will have attained enough speed to make an attempt at flying away from the enemy. We hope you appreciate that these are merely the most basic defensive maneuvers and that none of them offer a fail-safe method of saving your skin. But if you practice them and acquire a certain amount of proficiency in their execution, you will give yourself a good chance of holding your own in airborne combat. You should also try to combine several maneuvers, flying a Split-S straight after a break, for instance. Have a go at confusing your enemy or enticing him into a maneuver from which he will find it difficult to escape by using your aircraft's special characteristics to your advantage. Look and learn: watch your opponents in action and take note of their strategies for getting out of trouble. In additional we strongly recommend you read the Introduction to Combat Air Tactics below. It doesn't matter whether if you're a new pilot who has never pressed a gun trigger on a plane, or a seasoned ace with many kills in another flight simulator. If you follow these tips, you will achieve much better results in combat. Introduction to Combat Air Tactics A fighter pilot's goal is rather simple, and can be expressed by this short phrase: To find enemy planes and to destroy them before they can do any damage However, once you look deeper into air combat, you will realize that it's not that simple. The short phrase above actually assumes four things: 1. 2. 3. 4. You notice the enemy in time You can get into firing range The enemy is destroyed by your gunfire You live to tell about it Each one of these tasks is a very complicated matter on it's own, and all of them combined together make success in air combat a questionable matter, at best. Now let's look at each one of them in a little more detail. Finding the Enemy This is difficult, as your only instrument in finding the enemy is your own eyes. You have to be on a constant lookout for enemy planes, from the moment you take off to the moment you land. "...we found ourselves in position behind and above the enemy. We split the schwarm up into two groups of two and dived down to attack. We shot through the fighters and then started to make life unpleasant for the schlachtflieger. I attacked the plane which was flying furthest to the left, moved in quickly and opened fire from 70 to 100 meters. I managed to score quite a few hits, but my shots just cannoned off the IL-2. Its heavily-armored body was even able to withstand 2cm cannon projectiles!" Erich Hartmann Quote from: Jäger, Manfred (1995), Erich Hartmann ­ The Most Successful Fighter Pilot in the World, Motorbuch. 32 33 If you are going against enemy bombers, you must trade off surprise for speed. What good is coming in unnoticed when you gave the enemy time to drop bombs on their primary objective? If you are thinking of attacking enemy fighters, or other planes that present no immediate danger to friendly forces, you can take your time and position yourself for attack as you please. Destroying your Target This is the most difficult part of air combat. Even the most qualified marksmen can miss a fixed target, lying on a ground with a scoped rifle. Now imagine firing at a small maneuvering target hundreds of meters away, while both you and a target are flying at 400 kilometers per hour. It's not impossible, but this is very hard. Many young pilots return from their first missions with empty ammo stores, but never claim a kill. Only constant practice, and utmost confidence can help you score your first combat kill. Getting Out The success of this task largely depends on how well you fared in the previous three. If you missed some enemy targets in the first stage, you risk getting shot out of the sky by an unseen opponent. If you came in clumsily and ended up in a middle of enemy formation, you're as good as dead. And, well, if you missed your target when you fired at it ­ you have one more angry pilot to run away from. Summary: There is no skill more important to a pilot than gunnery. All the aerobatic wonder moves in the world are of no use if you can't get a kill when the time comes. All that matters in combat is being able to get in quickly, shoot, and get out even more quickly. If you can't destroy your target, you're no good as a fighter pilot. Always look for the enemy! Most pilots shot down never saw their victor! Whether you're by yourself or with a hundred others, never stop looking around! Protect your Mates! Whatever you do, destruction of enemy aircraft is always secondary to protecting friends. No enemy target is as important as the life of your mate! Destroying your Target There are two main segments within this task: maneuvering for the kill, and actually shooting the enemy down. Maneuvering for the kill has been a subject of a great many thick books; we cannot possibly explain it in sufficient detail within this manual. However, the main principles remain simple: you must bear your guns on your target long enough to allow for it's total destruction. Remember, in actual combat, everything goes and you should never hesitate to act on your hunch, however unconventional it may be. All tactics were invented by the pilots in the heat of the dogfight. A fighter pilot who does everything by the book becomes predictable, and therefore vulnerable. Fight using your brains, and always improvise! Aerial Gunnery There are many factors that work against you when you fire. First of all, your bullets don't fly in a perfect straight line. Your plane is shaking in the air, your guns recoil and twist, Earth's gravity pulls the bullets toward the ground, and the thick air slows them down. All of those things combine to create something called "bullet dispersion". A bullet stream from one machine gun at 50 meters will fit into an area fifty times as small as the same bullet stream at 500 meters. This makes long range fire extremely difficult. Keep in mind that bullets lose power over distance. Using the same example, a bullet at 50 meters can puncture light to medium armor, but at 500 meters it may even bounce off human skin. 34 35 Most targets you encounter will be armored. Some planes have armor strong enough to reflect any bullets or shells you fire; your ammunition will harmlessly bounce off your target without doing any damage. However, no airplane has the same thick armor all over. Even the heaviest armored airplane has some weak spots, where just a few hits are often enough to bring it down. Gunnery Practice Suggestions Set up flights of friendly bombers in the Quick Mission Builder. The larger your target, the better. The Pe-8 from the Soviet side is a great gunnery target, and the He-111 or Ju-52 make great German targets. Slow the game down with the [ key when you're getting ready to fire. This is very helpful in learning to aim and maneuver. After you find yourself hitting your targets easily in the exercise above, set up the same large targets as Hostile. Try shooting them down as they take defensive actions and fire back at you. Only after you're sure to destroy an enemy bomber, should you try to go against fighters. It takes a great deal of skill, patience and determination to shoot down an enemy fighter. Review the track of your flight afterwards. Analyze your performance, find mistakes and correct them in your next mission. Know your Enemy's Weak Spots Learn about the capabilities of all enemy planes: blind spots, defensive fire arcs, and performance relative to your aircraft. Only by smartly positioning yourself to set your strengths against enemy's weaknesses can you be most effective in combat. When you Think you're too Close ­ Get Even Closer! Bullet dispersion and power loss mean that long-range shots are ineffective, unless you're very lucky. Press the trigger only when sure to hit your target with every bullet in the burst! Since that is only possible from point-blank range, open fire when your target fills your whole windscreen. Practice! I wish that following these principles could guarantee you a kill every time you press the trigger. Unfortunately, it isn't so. Prepare to miss a lot. Only by dedication and taking a steady, structured approach to training can you become a true ace. As we said above, it's impossible to cover all aspects of aerial combat in a book, however large it may be. We will not attempt to do that; rather, we'll show some common situations and try to illustrate the most fundamental principles of fighter vs. fighter combat. We will only cover 1 vs. 1 scenarios here. Multiple aircraft engagements are extremely complicated, and success in them is directly based on your ability to win 1 vs. 1 engagements. The most important thing to a pilot is his airspeed. If you're slow, you can't maneuver well and you can't escape enemy attacks. The worst position for a fighter is low and slow, chugging along at tree-top level. When you're there, your only hope is that luck will be on your side. So, at all times during an engagement, climb! This should become your strongest instinct, to gain altitude whenever you have a chance. Stay above your opponent, and you will hold the initiative. We will assume the most common scenario: both you and the enemy notice each other at the same time from a distance, and are going straight for each other's throats. Correctly approaching during this stage is key in your future success or failure. No amount of skill can guarantee you a kill in a pure head-on pass, and we would not recommend leaving this to your luck. Committing to a head-on attack is like tossing a coin in the air to determine who gets shot down. However, you can largely increase your odds even before the initial pass is completed. Look at this diagram, illustrating the importance of separation between your flight paths. In case 1, the two fighters approach head-on, and both choose to turn left. It will be at least two full turns before one can possibly get his guns on his target. In the second case, the fighters pass each other at exactly one turn circle diameter. This brings them on each other's tails very rapidly. 36 37 We therefore recommend the following approach path: fly straight towards your enemy. When you're about three or four firing ranges away, quickly break away until you're almost in range, and then turn back on a path parallel to your enemy's. Of course, the flight path separation does not only need to be horizontal; it can be in altitude as well, or both. You can increase your odds even better by executing something called a lead turn. Unlike in the first diagram above, a lead turn has you turning before you pass your opponent. If executed correctly, this can get you on your opponent's tail in as little as half a turn circle. After the first pass, everything's up to your and your opponent's skill! Know your plane's capabilities, and respect your adversary. If your plane turns better than the enemy, follow him in a turn and try to catch up with him as soon as you can. Everything goes: chop your throttle, drop your flaps, even your gear! If your plane is faster than the enemy, climb away from him to where he can't follow you, and then dive down with your guns blazing! Speed is life. There is no more important principle in combat than this one. Your first burst should be your only burst. "Spray and pray", will only amuse your opponent. Make every shot count! Always Watch Out! Where there's one enemy, there's always more nearby! When you're lining up on that perfect pass, look behind you and check for your target's wingman! Do you think you're getting there? Great ­ it's not all that complicated, is it? What to Do in the Case of Damage "The anti-aircraft guns fired at us fiercely from all directions, and suddenly I felt our aircraft hit. My left foot slipped down into an empty space below me, the bottom of the cockpit had been shot away. I felt something hot streaming down my left arm and leg ­ I was wounded. Blinded by the searchlights, I could discern nothing in the cockpit. I could feel moisture spraying inside the cockpit; the fuel tank had been hit. I was completely disorientated; the sky and earth were indistinguishable to my vision. But far in the distance I could see the sparkle of our regimental runway floodlight, and it helped restore my orientation. An air wave lifted us, and I managed to glide back over the river to the neutral zone, where I landed the aircraft in darkness." Nina Raspopova, 46th guards bomber regiment. in: Noggle, Anne (1994): A Dance With Death. Texas A&M University Press. Sooner or later, it's bound to happen ­ unless, of course, you've activated the invincibility option in the Difficulty settings menu ­ you will be hit by enemy fire, by flak, machine guns or canons and your plane will be damaged. You will notice that maybe the steering isn't really working properly, that the engine sounds strange or maybe you'll even see black marks on the armor plating in front of you. There is quite a high probability that that really is your oil. At any moment, your engine could stop, burst into flames or even explode. What can you do? Well, that depends... The first thing you should do is to get a clear idea of how serious the damage actually is and who it was who perpetrated this awful deed. It goes without saying that this analysis has to take place quickly, as an enemy fighter may be right behind you and moving itself into position. If this is the case then you have, unfortunately, already made the serious mistake of not paying attention! Try to escape your pursuer with defensive maneuvers if the damage to your plane allows. Perhaps you can swerve your way out of danger or even shoot your opponent down. Whatever action you take, you should make certain that you pay close attention to your instruments, in particular to the displays for oil pressure, engine temperature and coolant. What do these displays tell you? Is the engine temperature rising? If so, the engine could give up the ghost at any moment. Hopefully you are still flying at an adequate height. Cut back on the throttle to take the pressure off the engine a little and make a flat descent in order to maintain speed. It won't do any harm to keep an eye out for a suitable place to make an emergency landing or to make preparations for bailing out. Pull out all the stops in trying to get back to base. Good luck! If the plane can only be controlled with difficulty, this suggests a hit in the hydraulics system or possibly that the wires of the steering mechanisms have been damaged. The control surfaces themselves may also be damaged. Try setting course for your home airfield ­ you can forget about combat for the time being, but you might just make it back to base. Steer carefully, because if you end up stalling you may not be in a position to do anything about it. "I bailed out with a parachute on two occasions, once during training, and I made fourteen emergency landings, but not once was I hit by an enemy fighter in battle." Erich Hartmann Quote from: Sims, Edward H.: Fighter Tactics And Strategy 1914 ­ 1970. 38 39