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A History of Military Flight Simulations on the PC
by Len "Viking 1" Hjalmarson The Growth Years: 1990 - 1996 In the same year Microsoft released Microsoft Flight Simulator 4. This was a true flight simulator, since it modeled the forces of flight as well as aircraft avionics. The game itself looked good at the time, and spawned many add-ons. Many flight sim fans got their start in the genre with Microsoft Flight Simulator 4. One area that still needed serious improvement was sound. Sound hardware was not keeping pace with the software, though I believe I had my first Sound Blaster around 1989. Up to this time there was no real standard, so compatibility was hit and miss. This as well as memory requirements and processor limitations meant that digitized sound had not yet appeared in flight sims. The engine sounds in the Cessna in Microsoft Flight Simulator were more like a buzz saw than an aircraft engine, and the rate changed while the tone varied little. 1989 also saw the release of a classic, LucasFilm Game’s Their Finest Hour (Battle of Britain). George Lucas was a WWII buff, and this interest inspired the famous Star Wars dogfight scenes. Incredibly, even this game still fit within the 640K limits imposed by DOS. But Their Finest Hour (Battle of Britain) sported the first ever dynamic campaign system. Designed by Lawrence Holland and programmed by Holland and Lincroft, the game was years ahead of its time. Even the manual was unusual.. spiral bound, and with a great deal of historical detail included, with many quotations and pictures from WWII. |
This article is copyright ThrustMaster and Leonard Hjalmarson. It may not be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without permission. In August, 1990 the Gulf War erupted. John Major came to Downing Street in the same year, and military flight simulations exploded, with at least eleven PC titles. The classics included Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, and Air Warrior .Email MiGMan with your experiences or any information related to this sim. |
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