A final message from Luthier

[Halfen]

I remember getting a floppy disc in the mail from the Empire Rowan fellows so I could get Flying Corps to work on my machine. The Smack.dll file I could get on my own from EAW.
I remember going onto the internet without a firewall.
I remember looking for an old analog joystick on the internet so I could play FC in dos.

That is when I stumbled upon the IL-2 Shturmovik work in progress.
Imagine a flight sim being developed with a 200mhz cpu as a minimum requirement!
The excitement in those days about flight sims was remarkable.
I remember the SimArena and Dogfighter sites.
I remember seeing Luthier post on SimHQ in those days.
The guy was part of the Golden Age of flight sims.
Hoping that whatever his endeavors, that we do hear from him again.
Best Wishes Luthier, Harold

[nachtritter]

Ilya “Luthier” Shevchenko,
I have been a quiet reader of this site and others for as many years as I have enthusiastically followed the development of flight simulation since the beginning of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator, MSCFS2 (WWII Pacific Theater), MSCFS3 (Battle for Europe), Jane's WWII Fighters, Microprose's Gunship, Jane's Attack Squadron, Rowan's Battle of Britain, the Microsoft Flight Simulator series (2002, 2004, X, etc), the evolution of the Lock On (and Flaming Cliffs and Black Shark) series, the emergence of the DCS series, (... you get the idea), and, of course, IL-2 Sturmovik: WWII Combat Simulation and every one of its impressive add-ons (Forgotten Battles, ACE Expansion Pack, Pacific Fighters) and most importantly of all, the community contributions that brought tremendous talent from around the world together to create maps and terrain and aircraft and take simulation to a whole new level. But, there has never been a flight simulator like Cliffs of Dover! I, along with many others waited for years as this was under development and I, along with many others were a little frustrated that it did not roll out as smoothly as we had hoped (some more than others it would seem from quietly reading the posts on this site over the years), but having flown many types of real military combat aircraft and having "flown" several generations of professional "combat" flight simulators, never has anyone come close to producing what Cliffs of Dover brings to the home computer. You, Oleg and the rest of the team deserve the flight simulation community's respect and praise for raising the bar for flight simulation to a whole new level. This program is nothing short of Awesome! And it is just a little sad, notwithstanding our understanding of the business side of the equation, that we will not see more development of this unparallelled flight simulator or that the code will not be provided to the community for it to take it to even further levels, as was done with IL2-1946.

Before I return to my normal status as quiet observer on this site, I wish to thank you so much for bringing your dreams of a totally immersive and accurate WWII flight simulation to a reality which can now be shared by enthusiasts around the world!

Ilya “Luthier” Shevchenko, Well Done! I hope you walk away extremely proud of your accomplishments and I hope you will continue to share your tremendous skill and passion with the flight simulation community around the world in the years to come!

Spasiba

Наилучшие пожелания

[jamesdietz]

What he said ( above) doubled!

[Bartoszcze]

I thought that you and your team will now start working with 777 on the next il-2 over the eastern front? Isn't that true anymore?

[Buster_Dee]

Only modelers I think.

[tomandre81]

R.i.p

[Hymppa]

i have been playing IL2 series from the beginning, still remember my jaw hitting the floor when playing demo for the first time.
I just want to say thank you for this great experience (As an air force kid we dreamed about something like this when playing around with airfix models....)
All the best for the future, i hope i can still play IL2 series in old folks home....

[dali]

admit, you were sacked

[Continu0]

Originally Posted by dali

admit, you were sacked

Thanks, sensitive capitain obvious...

[Flying Pencil]

Blue skies ahead,

and we will keep the hangar open for you when you come back.