World War II

Dam Busters opened 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. In the bomber accurate station keeping is everything on the final run.

Promo video supplied by Ubisoft.

Promo video supplied by Ubisoft.

Promo video supplied by Ubisoft.

In this case a picture or two is worth a thousand words. This is some of the best fun I've had in 42 years of computer flight simming!

After a few missions in the Hurricane they put me in a Spitfire. Perhaps not the wisest of moves...

Something about the lighting and rendering in this sim just blows my mind -- although European Air War is very "painterly" (as you said in the museum, like flying in a Robert Taylor painting), Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 2 is approaching photo-realism.

Video promoting the "Firepower" demo, includes the Messerschmidt 410-B. Includes interesting insight into the processes of developing these sims and interviews with B-17 pilots.

This promo video for 'Firepower', a 2003 add on to Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 3, also gives us an excellent overview of the host sim's graphics.

Although not entirely representative of the graphics in-game, this video gives a good sense of the sort of action the sim seeks to engender.

Charles H. Cook flew a B-24D named "Cookie" with the 90th Bombardment Group in the southwest Pacific in 1942-1943. At that time, Allied forces were greatly outnumbered, and Japanese invasion of New Guinea and Australia was a very real threat. Bruce Irving has interviewed Charlie Cook and composed this valuable record of his aviation career. The entire article is also available for free download.

Bill McGuire wrote: ""This book tells the story of the 8th Air Force mission to Friedrichshafen, Germany of March 18, 1944, in which the 392nd BG lost 14 Liberators. Specifically, it is also about my Navigator dad's final hours, and how I first came to learn the details in the mid-1990s, secure his files, interview surviving vets and visit his old base in England, his burial place at St. Avold, France and the crash site in southwestern Germany (for his plane and two additional heavies.) "

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a detailed treatment (626 pages!) of the air war in the Pacific.