Somebody should be getting paid for this work.
 

If I knew how to do a poll, I would.

I realize that DT's contract with MG says thet they MAY NOT get paid for the work that they do.

But, if you could send some money to somebody (Either DT or MG) for the 4.09, 4.10, 4.10.1, 4.11 patches, would you?

I've paid full retail for every version of IL2 that MG has produced... not because I need the "latest and greatest" the instant it's available. This software is very cheap relative to most softaware that I use. I figure it's worth paying MG up front, and not waiting for their titles to show up in the bargain-bin. I've gotten my money's worth out of their work.

But, I would pay a little bit more for DT's patches. ;-)

Cloyd

Yes I would.
But: They will, and cannot, accept any money(due to their contract, iirc).

yes, but it be nice to put that money towards IL-2 Cliffs od Dover.

I would pay some money to help team daidalos, even if i dont pay for the patches directly. Ok, they are enthusiasts, but they must have tools to work, eg: if a computer gets broken they must pay with their money...
I am not rich, (far from that), but i would gladdly contribute if they had a paypall account.

If we can't send money to Team Daidalos, that doesn't necessarily mean we can't help pay for new content. The Pe-8 was an external effort, sponsored to some considerable extent by contributions, which paid for professional 3D modelling. This is a little problematic of course, in that putting funds up in the early stages is risky, and it does require a lot of trust. And then, we'd have to agree on what was to be modelled. Obviously, TD would have to be involved to some extent too - not least in ensuring that the project conformed to official limits etc. I'd like to hear how TD feel about this though - was the Pe-8 project a good precedent?

Yes, a very good example. :)

Browsing around the IL-2 communities around the world I have discovered the following Czech site (Thanks Google Translate!) where they are fundraising for HE-177.

The thread is a bit messy but if I got it correctly, the external model is already in works/payed for and if they are satisfied with the result, there might be another round of fundraising for cockpit(s) to make it actually flyable.

A flyable He-177 would be interesting, if a little esoteric in terms of historical significance - but then again, given some of the weirdness that has been modelled previously, not that esoteric. If the Czech site is actually trying to fund a flyable He-177, and it is a genuine candidate for inclusion as an official model, we should probably be letting others know about it, so they can chip in. Firstly though, we'll need to make sure what they are doing. Anyone speak fluent Czech?

And would be good to know if it is being built under the requirements of D Team, so it can go to oficial patch...

Yes, that's the way I understand it. External model conforming to TD requirements will be delivered the Czech guys. If they decide to pass it to TD and TD accepts, we might get it as an AI plane (after TD adds the programming part - FM & DM).