haha.
I tried out the demo and its great. I still have to get used to all the controls, but this is quite enjoyable fellas.

What do I use to aim my bombs at a ground target? Do I use the gunsight?

Depends on the plane you are using. Some planes have bombsights, but most don't. You just have to use the force.

... Stay on Target....
Ok, thanks.

I must admit many of the things I have been reading here goes over my head. I'll try my best to comprehend all this lingo. Its cool that I can pan around a fighter, they planes are beautiful!

I'm still trying to get my head round some parts of this game. Its all about how far down the rabbit hole you want to fall. Just try and keep your hobby cheap unlike myself who's wife is wondering why her husband needs Trackir 4, throttle, pedales and joystick!

The original demo from 8 years ago ??? That came out when people where still flying CS2 and MSFS2000. You are in for a pleasant surprise when you get the 1946 DVD. Things have moved ahead a lot since then.

Well first learn to take-off and land... and do it fairly well. A great starter plane is the Hurricane. Its a good teacher of basic flight and gunnery (great sight coupled w/ some fun guns :-) ). After some time time in that, try out the 109(40'-43'). The 109 should teach you the basics of air combat. You can't outturn a spit, but you can out-run and and out-climb it. Get above him and dive down, shoot, and zoom up. Rinse an' Repeat :cool:. Done correctly this is called Boom n' Zoom, however done incorrectly and they call it "a ram" :rolleyes:.

There's a feller named "Dart" that has some nifty videos on ground attack amongst other things: http://www.darts-page.com/

I'd advise not getting used to the La-5FN, La-7. You get better by getting shot down (you do, really!), and you don't get shot down often in them things. Get into a bomber once in a while too, this sim needs more mudmovers. ;)

Oh and if your taking potshots at friendlys in the QMB, goto your radio (tab I think), goto 9. Frequency, then switch it to enemy. You won't be hearing those annoying screams any more (especially the Germans... Russians made the Germans sound like frightened children! :-P)

Good advice from everyone here. One I would like to put some emphasis on is the convergence range for your guns. You set it at the "arming" screen before takeoff. Many prefer to set it at about 200 meters, but there are many "schools". The important thing is that a "clean" shot straight behind your enemys tail is NOT easy in IL2. There is no "hitbox" so the bullets really need to hit those thin wings or the narrow fuselage. With the wrong convergence you will almost never hit and get frustrated (you will in the first 20 hours of gameplay, but long time veterans have problems with the convergence too so don't give up). It is often easier to hit with a bit of deflection (not straight from behind). The really juicy targets are slowly climbing planes that you hit slight from above. Much more plane to hit... By the way, the number next to the plane ("0.23" etc) is the range in meters (230 meters when it says .23).

Here are some articles about convergence an IL2 aerial gunnery:

http://www.combatsim.com/memb123/htm/2002/02/a2a2/

http://www.simhq.com/_air10/air_312a.html

Ground attacks may also be a bit hard in the beginning (many crashes into the ground near the target ;)). Here's an article about that:

http://www.simhq.com/_air10/air_307g.html

EDIT: The tool called IL2 compare is really good to compare the performance of different planes in IL2. Does a Spitfire Mk Vb really turn better than a Me 109 G2 at 360 km/h? Which is the better climbing aircraft of the FW 190 A8 and the P47 D-10? Really good to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the different aircraft... Just like Bobb4 I would recommend the 109 in the beginning. Its rather midrange in twitchiness etc... It was the first fighter for the olde ones here as it was in the original demo, so I may be biased ;)

Link to download IL2 compare:

http://war.by-airforce.com/downloads...pare-4.07.html

Good luck! /Mazex

Screw that! Quit lyin' to the boy. Those peripherals are REQUIRED for proper enjoyment of this sim.

The long suffering missus LOL, I reckon there must be some sort of support group somewhere for sim widows :)
I've taken it to the next level and just started flying lessons at £180 a pop twice a month....that raised some eyebrows round my gaff..let me tell you :)

The thing that surprised me when I finally learnt to fly real time was how much closer to real aircraft IL2 was then MSFS .. even though MSFS is supposedly GA planes like Cessnas and IL2 features old warbirds :)

Anyway as I have always said, why drive over a bridge when you can fly under it upside down. Good luck with it !! Make sure you do some spin training !!!!