content_paste 747 was a civil flight sim created for the Atom computer, running in 12K of RAM ( !!!) in 1981. To give you an idea, 12k is about the size of a small web page these days. Or a few pages of text.
content_paste"This sim may look primitive today , but bear in mind the the CPU speeds in 1989 were 8MHz, computers had 640k of RAM and there was no dedicated video hardware.
To put it in perspective, a standard PC only 10 years later ran at 3,000 MHz with 1,000,000 k of RAM and a video card that is probably more powerful than the host PC!."
content_paste1942 The Pacific Air War was a World War II air and sea combat simulation from MicroProse -- you could regard it as the spiritual predecessor to the wonderful European Air War. It allowed you to fly in WWII for the US Navy or the Imperial Japanese Navy (an update also gave access to USAAF planes such as the P-40, P-38, and P-51).
content_pasteReleased in 1987, this sim must have been one of the first to support head to head play via a modem. For it's time it looked outstanding with 3 dimensional polygon choppers and scenery.
content_paste"No. 303 Fighter Squadron was formed in Britain in July 1940 comprised of polish and other nations pilots. It fought alongside other RAF units in the Battle of Britain. The 303 Squdadron was well-known for its bravado, fearless attitude, precision and professionalism. During the WWII, they were one of the most effective units of Royal Air Force."
content_pasteA-10 Cuba by Eric "Hellcats" Parker is a fluid and exciting sim which ran well on modest PC's. This sim was one of that rare breed which begged to be flown! The handling from taxiing to landing is pure flight sim joy! The wealth of detail, smoothness and sense of speed added up to an addictive experience The handling from taxiing to landing is pure flight sim joy!
content_pasteThis sim may look primitive today , but bear in mind the the CPU speeds in 1989 were 8MHz, computers had 640k of RAM and there was no dedicated video hardware.
To put it in perspective, a standard PC only 10 years later ran at 3,000 MHz with 1,000,000 k of RAM and a video card that is probably more powerful than the host PC!.
content_pasteThe Flight Sim Museum sadly remembers Jane's A-10 Warthog, the best sim that never took flight. A-10 Warthog was the greatest sim that never took flight. The crack team at Janes Combat Simulations had the rug pulled out from under their feet just before the 'Hog flew. Sim fans worldwide were bitterly disappointed when, in July 1999, Jane's announced the cancellation of the project. All we are left with are these tantalising glimpses of what may have been.
content_pasteRob "Bomber" Henderson remembers: "A320 AIRBUS by Thallion : This was bar far the most complex civilian flight sim I flew on the Amiga. It was developed in conjunction with the airline LUFTHANSA of Germany. The sim came with a huge manual, a massive "notepad" containing Jeppessen airfield approach charts for almost every controlled airfield in Central Europe, and 4 high level navigation charts, and a massive poster of a real A320 cockpit."
content_pasteRob "Bomber" Henderson remembers: "A320 AIRBUS by Thallion : This was bar far the most complex civilian flight sim I flew on the Amiga. It was developed in conjunction with the airline LUFTHANSA of Germany. The sim came with a huge manual, a massive "notepad" containing Jeppessen airfield approach charts for almost every controlled airfield in Central Europe, and 4 high level navigation charts, and a massive poster of a real A320 cockpit."
content_pasteA320 Pilot in Command was published by Just Flight in 2002. It added the A-320 Airbus to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 and a much more extensive avionics suite.
content_pasteHigh paced and great looking aerial action which could be a modern 'Strike Commander' if it supported HOTAS and TrackIR. It no doubt serves console players well but excludes itself from the running for those coming from the sim end of the field because of these issues. Bizarrely though, Bandai-Namco did a deal to support a specific Ace Combat model joystick from Thrustmaster. This left me looking forlornly at my top-of -the-range Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS and TRP rudder pedals and wondering why I couldn't join the party?
content_pasteIt also contained maps and a multimedia reference on Early Aviation pioneers. I have Aces: The Complete Collector's Edition. Except for A-10 Tank Killer 2: Silent Thunder, these sims all run in DOS.
content_pastePart of the most complex and popular World War II sim series of the early 1990s. It had detailed cockpits, different for each aircraft type and some of the most detailed ground objects seen at that time in a VGA sim.
content_pasteAdvanced Tactical Fighters was the sequel to Marine Fighters, and third in the series. It introduced stealth and vectored thrust aircraft. I remember the first time sat in my hom-buil cockpit and booted it up on my 486 DX-66. I leapt into the Grumman X-31 and headed for the clouds. For a while I was convinced there was something wrong with the program because this aircraft just seemed too fast!
content_paste"... last game in the AeroWings series, and was also considered the best: quality graphics, very detailed and animated 3D plane models, over 60 planes to fly (including Mig 29, SU27, Mirage2000, Harrier, A10, Tornado, etc.), challenging missions and new original features like the "scramble" mode - a random interception mission where a player must take off, intercept an unknown intruder plane, take pictures to identify it, then return to the base and land to finish the mission. " - Wikipedia
content_pasteAeroFighters Assault was developed by Paradigm Entertainment and published by Video System Co. Ltd. for the Nintendo in 1997. It was released in Japan as Sonic Wings Assault.
content_pasteA cross platform sim with gorgeous graphics and a fluid flight model. The sim ran totally fluidly on my i7 and Nvidia 1060 graphics card. Helicopter flight modelling seems well supported. A great variety of aircraft are provided in the standard fleet. The interface and load times are a marvel to behold (they are fast!). My only question remains as to the flight planning, which I found quite obscure. I'll return to that.
content_pasteThe PC port of this game didn't look as good as the arcade machines, but bear in mind that these were the days of 386 25 Mhz processors and 2 MEG RAM! Although this was definitely an arcade game rather than a sim, it is worth a mention because it had a pretty good moving cockpit in the arcades and probably got many people interested the flight sim genre. Anyway the fact remains that if you tell someone that you're into Flight Simulators there is a pretty good chance they'll say "Oh, yeah, you mean like: Afterburner!". It is an iconic game.
content_paste Air Combat Classics is a collection of absolute classic flight sims from LucasArts released in 1993. It contained: Battlehawks 1942 | Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe | Their Finest Hour (Battle of Britain).
content_pasteAir Combat Yugeki-oh II was developed by SystemSoft for the NEC PC-9801 series of PC's in Japan. The player is a mercenary pilot working for the Asian Pacific Economic Network (APEN).
content_pasteArcade flight sim: Become immersed in the exploits of famous aircraft carriers. Choose the side you want to play on: the US Navy or the Imperial Japanese Navy.'
content_paste"Air Manager is an application which allows you to create your own 2D flight simulator panels. You can run it on the same computer as your flight simulator, or on a seperate computer.
It will automatically connect to your X-plane, FSX or Prepar3d flight simulator on your local network."
content_pasteSimilar in style to the 2000 sim Crimson Skies, Air Power was a sim set in a fictitious land and set your colourful planes against zeppelins and other nasties!
content_pasteThese themed add-ons from Just Flight always had compelling box art. I bought a spare copy just to sit on the bookshelf! The package contained 29 aircraft, scenery and missions for Microsoft Flight Sim 2002 and Microsoft Combat Flight Sim. I found it to be great value and it provided me with many hours of fun.
content_pasteAir Strike USA was published by Digital Integration and released on on the PC in 1985. Really an arcade game rather than a flight simulator it is mainly of interest because the Publisher / Design Team Digital Integration went on to produce some of the finest PC Flight Sims ever to grace screens worldwide. From humble origins grew one of the giants in air combat sim development.
content_paste"Don't be misled by its title and the illustration of twin Tornado ADVs soaring across the cover of Psygnosis' latest battle-in-a-box. Air Support is not a screaming, seat-of-the-pants combat flight simulator, It's more like a tedious, and less enjoyable version of their own previous release Armour-Geddon."
content_pasteAir Warrior was introduced to the gaming public as a free - public domain - piece of software which could be downloaded and played in practice mode at home. You then logged on to a dedicated server in your city via modem and played in a virtual war.
content_paste"In my opinion this is what made Flight simming really interesting - designing visually accurate (in a relative sense, or at least for the time) aircraft, that flew close to what the real planes did. And if they didn't, you tweaked it until it did. If this had not happened, I don't believe that the hobby would have gone to where it is today. " - Thomas Long.
content_pasteWho as a child didn't use their plastic model aircraft to stage furious dogfights? Airfix Dogfighter recreates that simple and joyful world!
content_pasteARMA may be described as a military | physics | AI sandbox. It supports air, land and sea operations as infantry and in all sorts of vehicles and has a massive user base.
content_paste"Combat gameplay in a massive military sandbox. Deploying a wide variety of single- and multiplayer content, over 20 vehicles and 40 weapons, and limitless opportunities for content creation"
content_paste"'Arma 3 Helicopters, the second premium DLC for Arma 3, features the highly detailed CH-67 Huron and Mi-290 Taru heavy-lift helicopters, a Sling Loading showcase scenario, and four exclusive helicopter Time Trial challenges. The DLC is complemented by a major free platform update for Arma 3, which lands the new Support MP mode, sling loading, RotorLib, firing from vehicles, and more."
content_pasteATAC (Advanced Tactical Air Command) puts you in the position of group leader of a mixed squadron of F-22's and AH-64's deployed to Colombia by the United States. It required you to plan and fly the missions, thus adding a tactical depth rarely seen in flight sims to that time.
content_pasteLars Gramkow Nielsen reported " From what I've been able to make out, it was supposed to be released after Falcon 3.0, as the second of the Electronic Battlefield Series sims - of which Falcon 3.0 was the first. "
MiGMan's industry sources reported that the main problem was the low altitude rendering of terrain by the graphics engine.
content_paste"As the busy operator of a hangar and runway in the heart of a region like the Serengeti, there are countless ways to earn a living. As an ‘old school’ bush pilot, you must undertake challenging jobs to make the lives of both tourists and locals a lot easier. Fight bush fires, transport goods, find missing people & items, serve as a first responder & wildlife preservationist, or simply take some snapshots of archaeological finds."
content_pasteA classic marque which deserves a rich sim environment in which to stretch it's legs, Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2 merely muzzles it. The developer acknowledges this and I concur that the Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 version looks like the way to go for full Vulcan enjoyment.
content_pasteB-17 The Mighty Eighth is a single or multiplayer simulation of the B17 Flying Fortress Bomber. You can also fly the escort fighter planes or Luftwaffe interceptors. The design, and some of the team members originate from the classic 1992 sim from Microprose "B17 Flying Fortress.
content_pasteBack to Baghdad was an F-16 simulation set in the Gulf War (1991) . It was a DOS sim with claims to high fidelity of flight model and weapons systems modelling and was priced about 30% higher than other PC sims at the time. The publishers Military Simulations Inc. went on to specialise in military sims and released no more products for the home market. It was unique in that it supported a second monitor for the radar display - and this while running in DOS !
content_pasteExpectations were high at Xmas 2000. Rowan, the makers of 'Flight of the Intruder' Operation Overlord, Navy Strike and more recently the smash hit 'MiG Alley', released a simulation of the 6 weeks that altered history, when the Royal Air Force fended off the might of the Luftwaffe.
content_pasteThe product is presented as a tribute to the BOBMF and a high standard of production is apparent throughout, from the full colour manual to the recreation of RAF Coningsby and the individual aircraft of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
content_paste"Action game that drops players into massive air, sea, and undersea battles from Pearl Harbor to Midway. Players command massive fleet attacks and take direct, real-time, control of every plane, battleship, and submarine in the battle."
content_pasteAdds many aircraft and physics based flight models to 'Beseiged'. "The game allows players to build outlandish medieval siege engines to pit against castles or armies." It has also been used to create flight sim experiences.
content_pasteIn 1992 16 bit processors had just arrived and we were plunged into an exciting world of flying polygons! The weapons were destructive to any object, no matter what the device or target. I have witnessed a Forger get hit AFTER launching from a carrier by a Mk83 slick released by a B-1B Lancer." Pretty good for a sim that came on ONE floppy disk - 720K !
content_pasteFirst impressions (1998): "Black Knight Marine Strike Fighter SE was distributed as a shareware demo in 1995 with some functions disabled. The graphics were VGA (300 x 200). The publisher was FormGen. The flight recorder played back your flight from various angles. It runs very fast on a 486 and is worth a look at as an introduction to jet combat sims."
MiGMan
content_pasteBushTripInjector is an add-on for creating Bush Trips in Microsoft Flightsimulator. Create fantastic Bush Trips in high quality with BushTripInjector. It allows you to create them without having any knowledge about xml files, programming or other advanced IT skills. And because no SDK or other development environment is needed.
content_pasteBuzz Aldrin's Race Into Space offers twenty different approaches to the moon. Do you follow history or do you cut your own path to glory? Will the United States land on the moon first? Or will the Russians continue to dominate space and plant the red flag on lunar soil first?
content_paste"Enjoy a career as a virtual cargo pilot - feel the pressure as you fight bad weather, with the Black Box watching your every move." - pub info.
content_pasteOne of the earliest and most addictive real time strategy games, it also had a flight simulation element. A classic sim in it's time which integrated many of the elements of addictive gameplay.
content_pasteFlight Instruction, Formation flying, Aerobatics, Pylon racing, this sim had it all! Despite the clunky looking graphics by today's standards, Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Trainer was an ambitious attempt to teach the basics of flight on a personal computer. Edward Lerner developed and programmed it to showcase 14 different flyable aircraft. This exhibit contains AUDIO content.
content_pasteChuck Yeager's Air Combat was for many people their first exposure to PC flight simulation of any kind and the beginning of a life-long hobby. The sim is a historical fulcrum between the living history embodied in Chuck Yeager and the younger generation trying to understand the experience of air combat in three wars and codify that.
content_pasteThis was the first game to really factor in morale for your troops, which added a lot of uncertainty to the gameplay. The whole series is undemanding on hardware and an ideal choice for whiling away time on a laptop.
content_paste"The best-selling Comanche series returns with this fast-paced action game that places you at the controls of a Comanche RAH-66 helicopter."
content_pasteAdded: new campaigns, new missions, mission design tool, weather effects and a campaign designed exclusively for NovaLogic by a former U.S. Army Team Comanche member to the 1997 release Comanche 3.
content_paste"This was a late addition to the long line of flight sims for the Amiga, and it was also one of the best. The whole sim was based on the 1991 Gulf War ( Desert Storm ) and you could take to the skies in either the mighty Grumman F-14A Tomcat or the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornet. "
content_paste 2016 simulation of the AV-8B Harrier. This sim could pick up where SVGA Harrier Assault (1992) left off in 1992, with a flyable AV-8B Harrier and a dynamic campaign!
content_paste"It’s the 4th of June, 1942, and Japanese bombs are raining down on Midway – and you. This lethal assault is a prelude to an invasion whose success gives the enemy control over the Pacific. You are one of the American airmen who hold the outcome of this decisive battle in their hands."
content_paste"As the Luftwaffe launches its aerial offensive, the outnumbered Royal Air Force is scrambling to bring into combat new planes that will ensure victory over a stronger foe. Will they succeed? It’s up to you, and your Hurricane or Spitfire."
content_pasteThe Command and Conquer series from Westwood Studios was a ground breaking innovater in the 1990s which brought real-time drama to the concept of table-top gaming. And obviated the need to read the rules and carry 16-sided dice!
content_pasteI thoroughly enjoyed blasting my way through Red Alert 2. The Westwood team gets better and better. They know their market and have produced a well balanced and FUN game.
content_pasteThis collection was published by Microprose in 1997. It contains four of Microprose's best DOS combat flight sims: 1942: Pacific Air War, Falcon 3.0, Fleet Defender and Gunship 2000.
content_paste Set in a parallel universe in 1937, the game sets up a world where the USA is divided into small nations and Air Power rules the day. Jordan Weisner has combined elements of the swashbuckling 1930's pulp fiction hero with, in his words "Air Combat with everything taken out except the fun!".
content_pasteThe Dam Busters opens the bomb bay door to a new experience in - Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2 - that of the bomber pilot. You need a different mindset than when flying the fighters - accurate station keeping is everything on the final bomb run.
content_pasteSuccessor to Flanker 1.5, Su-27 2.0, LOMAC and others, this sim continues the mission of presenting a high quality combat flight sim environment. " DCS is a true "sandbox" simulation that is also designed to cover multiple time periods of interest such as WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, Gulf War and others."
content_pasteDCSFlightpanels primary use is for using Saitek/Logitech panels and Stream Deck in DCS World.
Together with DCS-BIOS you can manage every control for the aircraft and use the Radio Panel to operate cockpit radio equipment and also show data from the aircraft in the Multipanel & Backlit Panel. Using DCSFlightpanels as a key emulator it can be used in almost any game like Elite Dangerous, War Thunder, Flaming Cliff Series, IL-2.
content_paste EF 2000 first saw the light of day (a gloomy Scandinavian day at that! ) in 1995. It's roots lay in F-29 Retaliator and TFX but it went much, much further, breaking new ground in combat flight fidelity. From engine start, sorry, I mean TWO engine starts, you knew this was a new kind of flight sim experience. Taxiing quickened the pulse as the Eurofighter bobbed and bounced on its suspension. Sunlight glinted through the canopy, wheel brakes on, engine spooled up and the beast was straining at the leash.
"Brakes off and the tyres rumble, 120 knots and the dragon leaps into the air."
- an ode to EF 2000 - MiGMan, 1999
content_pasteEnemy Engaged: Apache vs. Havoc had arguably the most successful modelling of dynamic battle environments ever seen on a PC in the 1990's. It featured not one, but two of the premier Helicopter Gunships, created in stunning detail and placed in dynamic combat environments. The world of EECvH is so dynamic and interesting that it invites you to get in there and look around, beyond the attraction of flying missions. It really set a gold standard for this kind of sim environment that has still not been matched some 20 years later.
content_pasteIt was early April 2000... and two of the world's most fearsome helicopter gunships landed on home PCs worldwide. One of the best pieces of news to me was that 'Enemy Engaged: Comanche vs Hokum' is backward-compatible with Enemy Engaged - Apache vs Havoc, meaning you still have access to the campaigns and flyable helos from AvH. That of course is if you have AvH installed - if you don't, and you have a PC 300 Mhz or faster and a 3D graphics card, then run out and get it!
content_paste15 new missions and enhanced weather effects enhance the sim - but the real value lies in the inclusion of the original Eurofighter Typhoon and the excellent strategy guide in the package.
content_pasteWith this flight sim classic Microprose continued their tradition of creating sims which you could live in for months or even years, never getting bored. European Air War recreated the epic west European air battles which helped change the course of World History 1939 - 1945. Every aspect of this sim was superb, from the graphics and sounds to the atmospheric interfaces.
content_pasteF-117A Stealth Fighter has been referred to as "the mother of all sims" due to the many innovations it presented and the atmospheric way the sim is presented. It set standards of game-play which have probably never been exceeded.The sim was a major enhancement and re-release of F-19 (1988) by Sid Meier. F-117A runs very well on a 386 and is a "thinking person's sim" emphasising tactical thinking over reflexes.
content_pasteThe opening scenes to this 1990 flight sim from Activision are an accurate time capsule! The PC hardware of the day was only capable of displaying a limited number of polygons and colours, and the sound made good use of the latest sound card technology. Note that in the game you could also fly in cockpit view.
content_pasteF-15 by Janes had to be the strike fighter sim of the Millenium! Although it does have a formidable Air to Air capability in terms of Radar and ordnance, the F-15E is about half way down the ladder in manoeuverability... not a dogfight machine! But for fans of the Strike Aircraft community... F-111, A-6 Intruder, Tornado... 1998 was hog heaven!
content_pasteIn 1989 F-15 Strike Eagle II had one of the richest and most interactive sim environments ever seen.The world was full of activity from enemy fighters and ships. Who can forget "Director Mode", which let you sit back and watch as the sim followed the action. Pour a cup of coffee, grab a donut and watch the action unfold!
content_pasteF-15 Strike Eagle III was a ground breaking simulation of the premier Strike Fighter and one of Microprose's greatest achievements. It was also one of the few sims that enabled two people to fly in the same aircraft over a network, in this case as pilot and Weapons Systems Operator.
content_pasteThe simple graphics of this sim belie the amount of information it presented to the pilot in real time, a milestone achievement for flight sims of the era. I first played it in the 1980's on an Atari ST. I used to fly on instruments most of the time and play with the comprehensive information available on the 3 Multi-Function Displays. It was the first flight sim with a dynamic battlefield.
content_pasteF-19 Stealth Fighter was the first version of the wildly successful release "F-117A Stealth Fighter". The smoothly profiled aircraft you can see on the box was based on aerospace industry observer's best guesses about what the mysterious 'Stealth Fighter' actually looked like. Bear in mind that the F-117 was flying in secrecy for about 10 years before the general public got a look at it! Quite a remarkable achievement. The Atari version had digitised sounds, I distinctly remember the "click" of the recon camera. The manual was probably the largest and most informative we had ever seen for a flight sim. Playing this sim on my Atari ST prompted me to get back into scale modelling, so I went out and bought a 1/72 scale F-117 model, which although more accurate in general shape than the F-19 guesses, still wasn't quite right, being too short and stubby.
content_paste"F-22 Total Air War 2.0 (TAW 2.0) is a total conversion of F-22 Total Air War (TAW), which also includes the campaigns from F-22 Air Dominance Fighter (ADF) and the Red Sea Operations (RSO) expansion disc. TAW 2.0 is the follow-on to Total Air War 2008. The goal of TAW 2.0 is to provide a simulation experience that equals or surpasses your fond memories with the original ADF and TAW. TAW 2.0 is self contained. You do not require the original F-22 ADF or F-22 TAW to play."
content_pasteLand the Space Shuttle on your iPhone or Android device. Great fun. FlyingSinger put me on to this 10 years ago and I'm still enjoying doing a dead stick landing in the world's most expensive glider!
content_pasteGraphic Simulation's F/A-18 3.0 sim set new standards of fidelity and was playable on an average PC! It was actually released on Mac first, unusual for flight sim nowadays but back then Mac's had better graphics capabilities than PC's.
content_pasteKorea was one of the most realistic flight sims around 1n 1997 and it ran very well on a modest (Pentium) system. Royal Australian Air Force pilots regard this sim as a very accurate portrayal of the Hornet flight model. The flight model was one of the most fluid around and energy management in a dogfight became a desperate necessity! This sim was worth buying just for the in-game training tutorials. The Hornet was conceived from the word go as a dual-role aircraft, hence the designation F/A-18, which means Fighter-Attack. It was meant to supplement the role of the F-14 Tomcat, providing shorter range Air defense and to totally replace the A-7 Corsair and A-6 Intruder.
This sim reflects the dual role with an incredible array of Air-to-Ground weapons and systems.
content_pasteThis sim demanded your full attention. It detected you were not giving full attention... and then turned around and bit you hard! The computers did their best to fly the plane where you pointed it, but couldn't rescue you from gross errors of judgement like my full loops at low altitude! From a hard-core point of view I like this... it forced you to correct sloppy habits and get into the checklist mentality.. getting into a "landing state of mind" when landing... not dwelling on the fantastic dogfight you just had / didn't have. This indeed is the essence of creating an immersive sim!
content_pasteFalcon was created for the Atari ST, IBM PC and Commodore Amiga and Apple Mac by Gilman Louie's Spectrum Holobyte team in 1987. In Falcon you piloted the F-16A Falcon on 12 preset missions. Falcon was my initiation into hard-core simming and like many others, I've only looked back since to check six.
content_pasteAn iconic flight simulator, Falcon 3.0 pushed the boundaries of air combat sims. It had all the features anyone could dream of at the time and the gameplay was riveting, with dynamically generated missions. It was also demanding on hardware, needing a 486 with a maths co-processor to run the "High-Fidelity Flight Model".
content_pasteFighter Pilot was the first combat flight simulation from the British developer Digital Integration. The game earned the distinction of being the first attempt at simulating the undoubtedly complex F-15 Eagle interceptor. Not a very impressive attempt by today’s standards, but in 1983 the coding was fairly complex and the result quite respectable. There were a number of successive versions created for several platforms over a period of a few years, which makes it harder to determine the release date of the original, but it was probably in 1983.
content_pasteFighters Anthology brought the DOS sims US Navy Fighters, Marine Fighters, Advanced Tactical Fighters, NATO Fighters and the Windows sim USNF '97 into one collection under Windows. It gave you over 100 different aircraft types to fly! It was the culmination of an ambitious series which bought hours of fun to flight sim fans the world over. A great introductory sim series. It was extremely ambitious in scope and I for one spent many hundreds of hours in the virtual skies of this series. The method of presenting flight information in user defined windows still hasn't been improved on 10 years since the series started. The reference CD is worth the price alone.
content_paste" This is a real-time flight and landing simulator for a small plane similar to a Cessna. You're approaching the air strip, and must use your instruments and the view from your cockpit to land safely. You control pitch (angle with the ground), yaw (angle about the plane's vertical axis), and power with your joystick. You may choose flying conditions and decide whether or not to use your instruments. Overall, this is an excellent and convincing simulation." - courtes of Digital Antic Project .
content_pasteFleet Defender, released in 1994 by Microprose, was the most thorough treatment of Carrier Fleet Defense ever seen to that date on a personal computer. The graphics were VGA 320 x 200 and based on the F15 Strike Eagle III graphics engine. This sim gets about as much detail as it's possible to get out of VGA.
content_pasteFlight Commander 2 (FC2) is not really a flight simulator at all ... but rather a turn-based, tactical, jet-age air combat war game. So what is FC2 doing in the Flight Sim Museum? It's here because it shares many of the elements of combat flight simulators, and appeals to many of the same people who enjoy flight sims.
content_paste"The FlightGear Flight Simulator project is a free, open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight sim development project. Source code for the entire project is available and licensed under the GNU General Public License. The FlightGear project is working to create a sophisticated flight simulator framework for the development and pursuit of interesting flight simulator ideas. We are developing a solid, basic sim that can be expanded and improved upon by anyone interested in contributing. "
content_pasteFlight of the Intruder, released in 1991, is one of the classic combat flight sims of all time! It was developed by two teams, one in the USA and one in the UK. Flyable aircraft were the A-6 Intruder, F-4 Phantom, MiG-21 - this was the first time I got to fly a MiG-21! I remember flying head-to-head against my brother - he in the F-4 Phantom and myself in the MiG-21. Somehow he could always tell which aircraft was piloted by me despite my best efforts to send in the drones first! Until Falcon 3.0 was released, Flight of the Intruder led the pack in features. I remember getting FOTI for the Atari ST, sometime after I came across Falcon, and being amazed at the depth of the simulation, especially the mission planning options.
content_pasteFlight Sim Toolkit was a unique concept, putting creative power in the hands of the flight sim enthusiast. Please contact me if you have videos of the series in action.
content_pasteFlight Simulator 1 was one of the first flight sims released for personal computers. A whole generation of flight sim fans were hooked for life on the wire frame graphics and the "dogfighting" in the Sopwith Camel. The graphical splendour rested mainly in the mind of the player - but it was a beginning! This was my very first exposure to flying on a personal computer and I was hooked!
content_pasteMichael Woodley reported: "At the time, there were three 6502 versions of FSII. There was one for the Apple II, one for the Commodore 64 and one for the Atari 800. When the the Atari ST and Amiga were introduced (which ran the Motorolla 68000 processor), new versions were released for those machines, for the Tandy and for the MacIntosh through Microsoft. The versions of FSII for the 6502 processor DID have solid filled graphics not just wireframe."
content_pasteA detailed civil flight sim which needs a fairly powerful machine to run at full graphic settings and should see a lot of expansion with added scenery packs.
content_paste"Air-combat action game based on the true events of America’s secret volunteer squadrons that defended China against Japan in the China-Burma-India theatre of World War 2."
content_pasteAllows you to use TrackIR in some games which don't have TrackIR support. "FreePIE (Programmable Input Emulator) is a application for bridging and emulating input devices."
content_pasteIn Gunship there were no external views available, just a cockpit with a bedazzling array of engine sensors and weapons displays. Engine start left, Engine start right then drop the clutch to start the rotors spinning. Collective up and the rotor blades bite savagely into the air. With a leap and whoops, you're airborne! 1987 had never been more exciting!
content_pasteOne of the last great sims from Microprose, this reprised their 1988 and 1991 AH-64 Apache simulations and took full advantage of the relatively new technology of 3D graphics acceleration.
content_pasteGunship 2000 was an Apache Gunship sim released in 1991 by Microprose. As usual with their products, a strong sense of atmosphere was maintained by seamless menu screens and music. You could also fly the A H-1 Cobra, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, MD 530MG, UH-60 Blackhawk, RAH-66 Comanche and AH-64B Apache Longbow. 1998: "If you only have a 386 and want some exciting chopper action then get this!"
content_paste"You'll never get closer to the real thing. Your only other option would be to join the Air Force". So sayeth the box blurb from Microprose's 1992 Harrier Jump Jet sim. In the early 90's PC's had finally come into their own as games machines, with Sound Cards and powerful CPU's of the 386 variety! Harrier Jump Jet pushed the machines of the day with it's smooth rolling terrain. Those were the days! A 270 page manual printed on glossy stock and well bound in a size ideal for throne room reading. As well as heaps of tables detailing air-to-ground weapon effectiveness there was diagram after diagram on air combat manoeuvres. Not to mention the 3 full - colour maps!
content_pasteHarrier Jump Jet 2002 adds 20 aircraft including Harriers, Skyhawks, Mirage and Pucara to Microsoft Combat and Civil flight sims. It also contains a 20 mission campaign for Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 1 and 2. The lack of 3 essential elements in the Harrier dogfight - VIFFING, IR and Radar guided missiles and appropriate countermeasures makes you wonder why bother trying to recreate this scenario? Having said that, I nonetheless had a lot of fun with this package. This sxhibit serves as a good snapshot of the state of graphics in 2001 within the world of Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002.
content_paste"Become an emergency pilot and test your skills to their limits, as you sit in the cockpit of an emergency helicopter, across more than 40 challenging missions. Choose from 8 models of 'copter, each varying in size, ability and specs."
content_pasteThe makers of Tornado sent the sim world a Helicopter Gunship sim with a difference! It's big, it's mean looking, it's heavily armoured and carries a huge swag of ordnance... its the Mi-24 Hind Gunship!
content_pasteOne of the more unique products I've seen in terms of presentation. This product is housed in a ring binder (232 x 200 x 42 mm) with about 40 single and double sided pages of documentation.
content_pasteiF-16 by Digital Integration (1997) iF-16 was developed by Digital Integration and published by Interactive Magic in 1997. The fact that this sim was also released as F-16 Fighting Falconhad me confused for quite a while!
content_pasteThe sensation of speed at low level is the best yet in a flight sim. I enjoyed whizzing past excellent ground textures, individual trees, small stands of trees and whole forests of trees, vast cities (Moscow alone has 500,000 buildings in the sim), flying through clouds, fog, rain and snow, and all with a smooth frame rated with no s-s-stuttering at all on the test system. All this would be an impressive achievement for a civil flight sim, to create a world in such detail and still enjoy a sedate and fluid sensation of flight. But IL-2 is a combat sim and once you add multiple aircraft manoeuvering vigorously, tanks, trucks and ships, bombers, anti-aircraft fire you would expect the sim performance to take a severe hit. Not so. Without a doubt the most outstanding World War 2 flight sim of the 2000's.
content_paste"Rebirth of Honor" (ROH) is a campaign expansion for the computer flight simulation ‘IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles’ with the ‘Ace Expansion Pack’ (FB+AEP). It runs also under ‘Forgotten Battles’ + ‘Ace Expansion Pack’ + Pacific Fighters merged install. (FB+AEP+PF) and under
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946."
content_paste"Il-2 1946 includes all of the original IL-2 series content: IL-2 Sturmovik™: Forgotten Battles, Ace Expansion Pack, Pacific Fighters™ and alternate histry campaigns of year 1946. What was years ago began as a one-aircraft study sim is now an astonishing anthology, with a whopping 229 flyable aircraft and over 300 aircraft total! The game has been updated to the latest version 4.12.2. This community made update includes widescreen support with correct FOV, many new planes, maps and scenarios." - Steam
content_pasteAn action filled and gloriously good looking Battle of Britain sim, 7 years in the making and based on 2010's 'IL-2: Cliffs of Dover'. At this point I only have about 6 hours in this sim, which puts me 3 missions into the RAF campaign. The MiGPit Mk.VI is running it like a dream at 3840 x 2160, and if the frame rates hold up in more complex missions I can only give this my highest recommendation to anybody hankering after intense BOB action!
content_paste"2 campaigns: Luftwaffen- campaign “Greif” and russian campaign ‘Red Banner’. Extremely detailed ‘world’ on the maps Kurland, Moskow, Leningrad and Murmansk. 300 Missions, over 700 very high quality plane skins, over 200 pilot skins. Over 75 hours of immersion."
content_paste"" ‘Wings over Jungles’ is a campaign pack containing four separate campaigns.
The campaign ’Monkey’ (US3) where you take the roll of a WWII US Navy Fighter pilot flying from aircraft carriers.
The campaign ’Angel’ (US4) in which you are flying for the US Marine Corps as a dive bomber and later as a fighter pilot.
The campaign ’Kyuden’ (IJ3) which lets you fly as a Japanese Navy fighter pilot from aircraft carriers.
The campaign ’Katana’ (IJ4) which leads you as a Japanese Navy fighter pilot to various assignments.
Wings over Jungles (WOJ) is the second of a series of campaign addons for the flight simulator PACIFIC FIGHTERS (PF). it will also be playable under IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles + Ace Expansion Pack + Pacific Fighters merged install. (Version 3.0+) (FB+AEP+PF) and under IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946. ""
content_paste" Wings over Waves (WOW) is the first of a series of campaign addons for the flight simulator PACIFIC FIGHTERS (Version 3.0+) (PF). It will also be playable under IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles + Ace Expansion Pack + Pacific Fighters merged install. (Version 2.0+) (FB+AEP+PF) and under IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946."
content_pasteIncoming was developed by Rage Games and published by Xicat Interactive in 1998. It is an arcade style game which looked spectacular in 3DFX. The Harrier featured prominently throughout.
content_pasteMy first impression of this sim was coloured by the fact I was flying it on my new 85" monitor, ca. 2020. Anything and everything looks great on an 85" monitor. The narrative driven campaign and a great sense of speed were definitely points in it's favour. On returning to the sim in 2022 I found the difficulty of getting my HOTAS to work properly very frustrating. And then came a sense of missed potential. If EA/Janes had literally rebooted the mission content of the USNF Fighters - Fighters Anthology sims into this game engine they would have had a blockbuster. Instead we are left with arcade style scenarios and unlimited fictitious weapons. What a missed opportunity!
content_paste"As far as I know, this was the only computer simulation based on the Lightning aircraft. Had it been fully developed much earlier, it might have been a useful training aid for the RAF. It could have helped ground radar operators and controllers appreciate the pilots problems, etc."
content_pasteJetFighter III, released in 1997 was probably the last of the great DOS Combat Flight Sims. It was one of the first to support the 3DFX chipset and portrayed very detailed terrain... but still ran at a playable speed! The Navigation and Weapon systems were simple in operation so you could concentrate on turnin' and burnin'.
content_paste"This 1997 Flight sim let you fly the F-35 years before it was ready".
""Let me just rewind, this is a long time ago," laughs Rune Spaans, who's speaking to me over Skype from his home in Oslo, Norway. It's been two decades since Rune was lead designer on the first ever game about the then-mysterious Lockheed Martin F-35 (then designated the X-35), and its Joint Strike Fighter program competitor the Boeing X-32." - read on
content_pasteRemap your joysticks and game controllers. Doesn't always work in a sim, but brilliant for the desktop environment. I remapped an old Logitech game pad so I could cut (Ctrl-X), copy (Ctrl-C), paste (Ctrl-V), save (Ctrl-S), close window (Ctrl-W) and Delete (Delete !!!) etc in windows apps with one touch.
content_pasteKorean Combat Pilot recreates aerial encounters during the Korean conflict 1950 - 51. There are two campaigns, I flew the North Korean Campaign in the year 2000. TIPSelect unlimited fuel in the menu to avoid problems with warping and with your wingman's fuel supply.
content_pasteLago's F-16 Falcon Collection gives you the choice of several different variants including a few 2 seaters (D model) and some of the most recognisable and colourful paint schemes.
content_pastePossibly the most useful utility the flight sim community has ever seen, Little Navmap brings flight planning, real time navigation and much more to the most popular flight sims.
content_pasteMACE(Modern Air Combat Environment)is a physics-based, full spectrum Computer Generated/Semi-Automated Forces (CGF/SAF) application with a large and user-extensible order of battle, capable of many-on-many simulation yet having very high fidelity at the engagement level.
content_pasteMarine Fighters was an add-on pack to US Navy Fighters. It added 4 new player aircraft and a campaign set in the Kurile Islands. Marine Fighters was an add-on pack to US Navy Fighters. It added 4 new player aircraft and a campaign set in the Kurile Islands.
content_paste"Microsoft's first foray into combat flight sims is a class act. This sim combines the famous attention to detail seen in Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 with photo-realistic scenery generation and challenging missions.
The missions are full of action and the photo-realistic scenery adds to the adrenaline rush whether you're in a dogfight at 5,000 feet or strafing a train at 50 feet! By designing an open architecture sim Microsoft have encouraged 3rd party developers and there are already custom aircraft and missions proliferating on the net.
content_pasteSequel to Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (1998). Set in the Pacific Theatre WWII, it significantly upgraded the graphics and fidelity of the series.
content_pasteThe third in the series from Microsoft, the sim raised the bar again with a detailed and fast low altitude environment suitable for ground attack missions, and a dynamic campaign. On September 18th 2002 I interviewed Scott Lee, product manager from Microsoft's Aces Studio, and checked out the beta version of Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 3.
content_pasteThe sequel to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000, this sim added interactive ATC, dynamic 'auto-gen' scenery, terrain mesh mapped for the entire planet and all with much smoother frame rates than it's predecessor.
content_pasteAlso titled "A Century of Flight""or FS-9, the sim recreates important historical aircraft and flights, as well as modelling the entire globe, 20,000 airports and flight tuition. Without a doubt the most sophisticated flight simulation on the market in the first decade of the 21st century.
content_pasteAfter a 14 year hiatus Microsoft re-envisioned their flagship IP. A combination of Bing satellite mapping, cloud storage, Azure cloud computing, photogrammetry, atmospheric physics modelling and many other bespoke software technologies have delivered a quantum leap in the flight sim experience. The next decade looks to be the best yet for flight sim fans!
content_pasteMiG Alley is a simulation of Air Combat operation in the Korean War June 1950 to January 1951. MiG Alley achieved very close to a perfect blend of action and graphical realism as a simulation of the air war in the Korean conflict. In November 2001 Rowan released the source code, so expect the sim to keep developing in the hands of dedicated fans.
content_pasteIn 1990 the MiG-29 had only just been revealed to the west at the Farnborough Airshow. It seemed to be a sexy mystery machine which could perform spectacular manoeuvers such as the "tailslide" and "cobra". Despite only having 6 missions, this sim bought countless hours of fun to flight sim fans on multiple platforms.
content_pasteAdd-on to Falcon 3.0 which enabled you to fly head to head MiG-29 vs. F-16 as well as containing full campaigns for the MiG-29. A good snapshot of 3-D modelling in the early 1990s.
content_pasteMartin Schweiger's "Orbiter" is a freeware space flight simulator for the PC that is fun, powerful, realistic, expandable, and educational. Based on the real science and math of orbital mechanics and atmospheric flight, it features a first-person astronaut's perspective and beautiful 3D graphics. Orbiter's developer, Dr. Martin Schweiger, has created an amazing virtual world of real and fictional spacecraft, space stations, planets, and moons. It includes a variety of spacecraft, space stations, and sample scenarios or missions.
content_pastePro Pilot was a civil aviation sim released in 1997 by Sierra. I bought a copy in 2000. In 2001 I finally got around to trying it out for the museum and scanned the box contents, admired the manual and checklists then realised there was no CDROM in the box! .. no wonder it was on sale! You win some, you lose some.
content_pasteProflight was one of the first flight sims I saw on a personal computer. I had bought an Atari ST to arrange and print music for my string quartet and included in the package was a demo of this amazingly fluid sim, running at 600 x 400 pixels (in monochrome).
content_pasteAn action-sim-lite which satisfies the need to turn and burn! Just don't expect to land... or take off. But that's par for the course with this genre. HOTAS are easy to configure, this should be a role model to other developers in the combat-sim-light space. If TrackIR was supported natively it would be perfect in that regard. Project Wingman does what it sets out to do, providing a console oriented shooter with heaps of eye candy and a massive quantity of ordnance!
content_paste"Pilot legendary aircraft of the early years of aviation, French Spad 13, German Albatros D.Va and Russian built Nieuport 17, in the free-to-play Rise of Flight United! " - Steam
content_paste25 flyable aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator 98, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 and a campaign set in 1940 for Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator (1998)
content_paste"... we hunched around an old IRIS 2400 Turbo playing this amazing flight simulator game from Silicon Graphics, Inc.". Modern personal computers in the 90's (were) now as powerful as graphics workstations of the 80's."
content_pasteSoftware which extracts and displays data from flight sims on Android panels. It is also very popular in the car racing and trucking sim communities.
content_paste"BUILD AIRPLANES. You have the tools you'll need to bring any airplane to life. Snap parts together to build your airplane's body. Place engines to add thrust. Design and attach wings and then strap yourself into the cockpit and see how it flies." - Steam
content_pasteA dead simple, responsive boilerplate. You should use Skeleton if you're embarking on a smaller project or just don't feel like you need all the utility of larger frameworks. Skeleton only styles a handful of standard HTML elements and includes a grid, but that's often more than enough to get started. In fact, this site is built on Skeleton and has ~200 lines of custom CSS (half of which is the docking navigation).
content_pasteSimulation Panel Advanced Drivers: neXt Generation
SPAD.neXt was started as a replacement software for Saitek (now Logitech) panels. Now many other hardware devices are supported.
content_pasteStrike Commander was a revolutionary flight sim and one of the all-time best selling. The strong story line and role-playing elements meant that it's appeal extended far beyond that market segment whose main interest lay in the simulation aspects.
content_paste"Strike Fighters 2 Complete Edition is a collection of the entire Strike Fighters 2 series (over $400+ value!) including 5 games, 2 expansion packs, and 29 DLCs all in one single, easy-to-install package!"
content_pasteExpansion for Strike Fighters 2: Israel. Adds flyable Mystere IVA, Meteor F.8, and P-51D Mustang to a historical campaign set in the 1956 Suez Crisis.
content_paste"Hypothetical campaign is set in the 1956 Cold War Europe - what if the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 lead to a full scale invasion of West Germany?"
content_paste"Intense air combat experience in the skies over Middle East during three major historical conflicts - 1967 Six-Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, and 1982 Lebanon."
content_paste"1979 hypothetical "Cold War gone Hot" scenario - what if the Soviet Union had decided to invade West Germany in 1979? Join the US Navy and USS Nimitz Carrier Battle Group sent to reinforce the Iceland defense, protect the carrier from Soviet long-range bombers, and strike the Kiev battle group of the Soviet Northern Fleet!"
content_paste"Join the United States Air Force, Navy or Marines, and fly historical missions from the Rolling Thunder campaign of 1964-68 and the hard-hitting Linebacker I and II campaigns of 1972."
content_pasteSu-27 Flanker was designed by a team of Russian programmers to run on 386 and low end 486 machines. The project was taken on by SSI and revised to SVGA graphics resolution. The Russian designers didn't have access to the faster PC's, and as a result their code was very efficient and it ran very smoothly despite being state of the art! The sim recreates the Crimean peninsula in great detail and pits you, in the Su-27 Flanker, against the latest Russian and NATO aircraft, armour, ships and SAMs. All control surfaces move during flight and the attention to detail is extraordinary!
content_paste"Climb into the cockpit of a military attack helicopter and take on five life or death scenarios, or make your own missions in the included level editor!" - Steam
content_pasteThis was the first SVGA sim, which meant that instead of VGA graphics of 320 x 200 pixels, we now had 640 x 400. The visuals were similar to what we had previously only seen in military simulators and were rendered in a beautiful set of pastel colours. SVGA Harrier had immense replay value as the campaign never played the same twice, and it was entirely up to you as to how you won the ground war. Or didn't. SVGA Harrier had immense replay value as the campaign never played the same twice, and it was entirely up to you as to how you won the ground war. Or didn't. This was the first sim I connected to MiGMan's home-built cockpit, and I spend night after night flying it, in the dark and with a flight suit, helmet and nomex gloves!
content_pasteProgramming software for the Thrustmaster hardware. You can use the well designed Graphic User Interface (G.U.I.) or plunge into advanced scripting.
content_pasteTake on Helicopters is a civil helo sim with campaign built in the ARMA 2 engine. This sim was released in 2011 and still looks great 10 years later. The fluid feel of the flight dynamics and the immersive campaign put it into my list of all time favourites. I can only hope that Bohemia Interactive release more titles like this, they don't need to update the engine - just give us more great stories to fly through!
content_pasteTeam Apache was a fun chopper sim which gave a real adrenaline rush as you flew nap-of-the-earth, (hopefully) avoiding enemy fire and pounding enemy locations with rockets. It was one of the earliest 3DFX sims and looked gorgeous. Brian Walker, a US Army helicopter pilot, was involved with the development.
content_pasteTFX is an acronym for 'Tactical Fighter Experimental'. When you look at the graphics available in the other early combat flight sims it is easy to see why TFX caused so much excitement on it's release. The flight model could be adjusted from 'arcade' to 'military' and play modes ranged from arcade levels to the "UN Commander" mode. As UN Commander you planned missions, selected the aircraft and flew the Eurofighter, F22 or F117 Stealth Fighter.The later versions run straight from CD Rom and in a DOS box under Windows '98. It will run very smoothly on a '486 and is strongly recommended for beginners.
content_pasteTop Gun: Fire at Will was a light sim based on the movie starring Tom Cruise. It was originally released in 1995 then again in the Microprose "Powerplus" series in 1998. The sim introduces the player to basic concepts of Air Combat with plenty of commentary and advice coming from your back-seater and instructors.
content_pasteOne of the all-time classic flight sims. The training missions covered every aspect of operating the Tornado and you were wise to work your way through them... this sim gave you more opportunities to "buy the farm" than most! Player aircraft were Tornado IDS (Interdiction/Strike) and Tornado ADV (Air Defense Variant).
content_pasteTotal Air War (TAW) is an aptly-named product. More than a combat flight simulator, it offers a strategic component based on modern air warfare theories first applied in the 1991 Gulf War.
content_pasteThis sim was the successor to the wildly popular Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat and started a series that ran to the end of the 1990’s.
Get an overview of the series in the Fighters Anthology exhibit. The combat focussed gameplay was enhanced by the atmospheric and user friendly interface. The ability to tweak most aspects of the sim from the graphics to mission waypoints and loadouts made you feel in control without overwhelming you with detail.
It still remains a model of good interface design. The first mission of the Ukraine campaign remains for many fans a reminder of just how atmospheric a sim can be. Check out the videos, showing the entire first mission from briefings, through mission planning, arming, carrier takeoff in the F-14, intercept and carrier landing.
content_paste"War Thunder is the most comprehensive free-to-play, cross-platform, MMO military game dedicated to aviation, armoured vehicles, from the early 20th century to the most advanced modern combat units. " - Steam
content_pasteLike most Janes sims this one pushed the PC hardware available at the time of it's release (1998) to the limits. A year and a half down the track it ran very well on the average new machine - provided you had a 3D accelerator fitted of course!
/pics/logo.jpg){kind=logo}
