IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad News

Dear friends,

Today we would like to tell you more about the upcoming update 5.106, which is currently in beta testing. It will bring not only new aircraft you already know about - two new WWI aircraft for Flying Circus Vol. III (the Albatros D.II and the Nieuport 17) and the armed C-47 sibling, the Li-2 Collector Plane - but also new career mode missions and historical campaign updates.

There will be many improvements to the Career Mode missions in this release. Of course, the arrival of the Li-2 means that the VVS will get cargo delivery and airborne operations missions on the Eastern Front, including the new mission of dropping supplies over enemy-held territory at night. Since the Li-2 was also used as an ad hoc bomber, the pilots of the Li-2 will receive bombing missions as well. This actually depends on the regiment you are serving in - GVF (Civilian Air Fleet) pilots will get more transport missions, while DD (Long Range) regiments will be tasked with bombing missions more frequently. Opponents flying 'Auntie Ju' Ju-52s will get slightly more fighter escorts for Stalingrad missions. IL-2, U-2VS, Bf 109 E-7 and Ju-87 (II./St.G 1) pilots may be assigned to artillery spotting missions: those serving in 811 ShAP may even get something unusual - spotting small ship guns.

Your comrades on the western front will not be forgotten: New Intruder missions will be added for the Mosquito, Tempest, Typhoon, and Me 410 (various variants including lone and night attacks). Pilots of the 401st FS will see more escort missions available to them during the defense of Bastogne and Operation Varsity, as well as RAAF pilots of No. 453 Squadron during the days of Market Garden. Spitfire XIVe photo reconnaissance missions are also varied. You may be tasked with reconnaissance of an enemy-controlled port, an airfield, part of the front line, or a specific target.

There are also fixes such as correct target acquisition by ground spotters. Wingmen can now climb better with a bomb load. Allied escort aircraft in Normandy career missions will appear from the direction of England.

Historical campaigns that many of you love will also get attention - Hell Hawks and Ten Days of Autumn campaigns will be updated with tactical numbers for all aircraft, mission script corrections, and in the case of "Ten Days" will even have 30-100% more aircraft and vehicles thanks to the fact that an average Simmer PC has become more powerful. P-47D-28s will get the 386th, 387th and 388th FS liveries. These are in addition to the existing liveries. Several other campaigns will be updated as well.

Hopefully, sooner rather than later, the update will arrive this month. In the meantime, we hope you'll enjoy the new calendar. It shows this American-Russian gunship in action (FullHD version, 4K version).

Dear Friends,

Summer is almost over and many team members are on their way back from vacation. During the year, the IL-2 team has grown at a record pace - 17 talented professionals have joined us. These programmers, artists, and other specialists have now finished their training, settled into the project, and are working full-time on all kinds of neat stuff, both announced and yet to be announced. You may know the only person who left due to family reasons - Kurt, our former Community Manager. (Fortunately, he is doing well and we wish him all the best). Please bear with us - even though it may seem like things are quiet from the outside, there is still a lot of work going on. Of course, all of the team members, old and new, are getting paid for more than just being really nice people.

Today we want to show you the screenshots of the new planes that were taken today - they are in beta testing right now.

The next two planes in Flying Circus Volume III are already in the air. Meet the legendary Nieuport 17...


and Albatros D.II.


The Soviet cousin of the C-47, the Li-2, is slowly but surely making its way there as well. This time there is a bit of winter action here.


The upcoming 5.106 update will bring even more improvements. There will be new Career Mode missions (including an Intruder mission, a deep strike into enemy territory), updated campaigns, and more.

See you in the skies!

Dear Friends,

Another update, 5.105, is available now. Today we have released the first two Flying Circus Vol.III aircraft - the Halberstadt D.II and Nieuport 11 early Great War fighters.

The emergence of the Nieuport 11 at the front finally put an end to the devastating superiority of the Fokker monoplanes, which for a time had become known as the "Fokker Scourge." During the Battle of Verdun in February 1916, Nieuport 11s inflicted heavy damage on the enemy's air forces, which forced the German High Command to review the tactics of combat aircraft. Many famous aces of WWI (including Georges Guynemer) had their first major successes flying the Bébé.

Most of the pilots were impressed by Halberstadt D.II's better performance compared to the older Fokker monoplanes, especially its better climb and speed and very quick, easy, and responsive controls which gave it good maneuverability in the hands of experienced German pilots.

Our friends LuftManu and Avimimus have teamed up to prepare interesting videos of these birds that give a nice overview.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Another update, 5.105, is available now. Today we have released the first two Flying Circus Vol.III aircraft - the Halberstadt D.II and Nieuport 11 early Great War fighters.

The release of this update commences the Early Access program for Flying Circus Vol.III - if you consider acquiring it eventually, these new aircraft are only a few mouse clicks away right now.

Of course, there are other improvements and fixes in the update change log:

5.105

1. Halberstadt D.II is available via the Flying Circus Vol. III Early Access program;
   
2. Nieuport 11 is available via the Flying Circus Vol. III Early Access program;
   
3. Photo recon missions on the Arado Ar 234 jet are added to Bodenplatte Career mode timeframe (Sonderkommando Sperling);
   
4. Fw 190 A-3, A-5, A-6, and A-8 external textures and paint schemes improved (Martin =ICDP= Catney);
   
5. Certain Spitfire Mk.IXe, P-47D-22, and P-47D-28 paint schemes corrected (Martin =ICDP= Catney);
   
6. Sky Nomads campaign updated: difficulty level is lowered a bit in the first mission, the text is corrected, Spanish and French translations added thanks to enthusiasts E69_Cananas and DN308;
   
7. Issues with a line drawing order on the map that could result in a wrong-looking mission route on the map have been corrected;
   
8. Original ShVAK gun sounds are restored due to popular demand - the new sounds will be reworked to better fit in the overall acoustic concept;
   
9. A couple of bugs in Normandy and Rhineland Career missions that could result in the player flight not traveling to the next waypoint have been found and fixed;
   
10. Issues in the transport aircraft missions that could prevent them from meeting their escorts have been found and fixed;
    
11. AI pilots will more efficiently wait for their lagging-behind wingmen and pursue enemy aircraft while being far from the rest of the flight.
    

The work on the next update has already started - according to the plan, it will bring the Li-2 and possibly other new previously announced aircraft. Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy the new aircraft and, most importantly, the remaining third of the summer days! Make every one of them count. ;)

See you in the skies!

Dear Friends,
The release of the next update draws closer and we have some new screens to share.

Soviet paratroopers are training in airborne operations using the new Li-2.

Their comrades in Winter uniform are preparing and will join them soon.

Halberstadt D.II is in the final testing stage.

Just like as Nieuport 11 - these two will be the first Flying Circus Vol.III aircraft to appear on your sim rigs.

Meanwhile, we have started a screenshot event - if you have Battle of Normandy (BTW, while the Summer Sale on Steam has ended, you still have a couple of days of discounts left on our website till July 16th) you can participate. Make a nice screenshot of Normandy landings and submit it in our special Discord channel or forum thread before Thursday, July 20 at, 1900 UTC. The winner will receive a code for the collector plane of his or her choosing.

See you in the skies!

Dear Friends,
As the summer goes on, the work continues. One of the collector planes in development, Li-2, is nearing its release. Here are some of the WIP shots we wanted to share with you (no airborne operations shots yet - the paratroopers will learn how to jump from it next week).


As you can see, unlike its unarmed mother C-47, this one was like a gunship wannabe - it had turrets AND a forward firing machine gun - who knows when it might come in handy, right?! An armed transport aircraft with paratroopers and cargo inside - how much more versatile can you get? Well, add the bomb carrying capability to this mix as well and you get a machine that ticks nearly all the boxes you ever wanted.


Usually going the 'jack of all trades' way means sacrificing something in every trade, but USSR needed versatile aircraft. While Western Allies during the war had a plenty of long range fighters to cover bombers and especially unarmed transport aircraft and had air superiority most of the time, Soviet resources were always not enough.


You may notice a lot of other differences to C-47 - different instruments and cargo doors for instance. Even the engines were different, Soviet built.

We hope to release this interesting aircraft later this month or in early August.

IL-2 Sturmovik Team