Messerschmitt Me262

The Me262 Captain Brown has described in his classic Wings of the Luftwaffe as "the most formidable warplane" of WW2. It had a high Mach number at which it could be fought - at a speed at which its propellor-driven contemporaries were diving out of control. Investigation showed it to be 'pretty well on the mark' according to Captain Brown who amassed between 50-60hrs on this type in the period following WW2. A mysterious red light that blinked on and off in the cockpit was not a Mach warning light but a pitot head icing warning light - accurate speed readings a necessity in the fast Me262.

Gloster J8A (Gladiator)

The Aces Expansion Pack features the J8 Swedish version of the Gloster Gladiator which has a cockpit equipped with metric dials and comes with skis for winter missions. Captain Brown put the Gladiator through its paces and, executing some low-level aerobatics and loops, showed he had not lost any of the 'Right Stuff' over the years. "It's a bit sensitive on the elevators - but then so was the real thing - so just about right," he said.


Conclusion

How realistic can a PC simulator be? "The core of any simulation," said Captain Brown, "is in capturing the harmony of controls of aircraft. Of course, any simulator cannot replicate things 100% but in most of the aircraft tested, it is of the order 80% or so. I found in general the default joystick settings tended to be oversensitive. With my recommended settings it will give people a real feeling of how they actually flew. The flight models in Il-2:FB are done very well. But you need time to cope with this.
"In summary, Il-2:FB offers people the tremendous possibility of experiencing some of the thrills of flying warbirds. The feeling they will get is one of realism - that's how it was. If they apply themselves to this they could get quite skilful and fly these aircraft to their limits - but they will have to realise these limits. In combat, you always hope your opponent is a novice who has just graduated from flying school but it doesn't always work out like that!"
Thus for owners of Il-2:FB the Aces Expansion Pack represents great value in adding 29 new aircraft, some never simulated before, to an already outstanding product.
The final comment we can leave to Captain Brown: "Its wide spectrum of missions and aircraft make it an infinitely interesting game - but a game with a deadly realism, showing you what could happen if you mishandle your aircraft or are outflown by your enemy."

Captain Brown's Settings

Want to get the most realistic Il-2:FB experience possible? After testing, Captain Brown managed to help define what he considers the most realistic joystick sensitivity settings. If you have a copy of Il-2:FB and would like to emulate this go into Hardware setup, then 'Input' then 'Controls' - when you will find a range of sliders. Adjust these to:

Pitch 0, 1, 3, 7, 9, 14, 18, 23, 27, 33
Roll 0, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 12, 17
Yaw 0, 0, 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 11, 14, 16

Bringing these down to the values listed in the different axes should make for a much more realistic and true-to-life experience - in what is already a highly realistic warbird sim. Experienced Il-2 flyers may find that these seem to make the aircraft feel more sluggish and less responsive, but these settings will hake take-off and landings easier, as well as manoeuvres requiring small corrections like lining up behind an enemy aircraft or precision dive bombing. It also has to be remembered that vintage warbirds are considerably less agile than modern jet fighters - so that a 'slow roll' seen performed at airshows is very often a WW2 aircraft's max rate of roll - rather than the twinkling roll rate an F-16 might have. These settings bring the handling of aircraft in Il-2:FB more in line with Captain Brown's experience of the real thing and, of course, users can tweak these settings to their heart's content, perhaps adding more sensitivity at 100% deflection so that in extreme dogfights there is still full control authority there at the end of the scale.