This video nicely summarizes the effects of combat flight simulation in my simmer life...

Started early with SWOTL in the late nineties, then CFS 1, 2 and even CFS3, a few other WW3 sims, and finally in 2013, DCS World, followed by IL-2 then War Thunder and recently Aces of Thunder.

Of them all the one that I liked the most and ended up turning me into an addict was War Thunder, and one of theses days I will probably reinstall it :-)

And I never tried VR !!!

Combat Flying Changed How I See GA Flying - YouTube

Edited June 6Jun 6 by jcomm

After years of flying combat sims and even flying as a member of a virtual WW II fighter squadron (virtual VMF-124), I "retired" to civilian flight sims. It is a different world, stress is mostly caused by weather, terrain, AI aircraft proximity, and the ever present danger of a crash to the desktop. I actually find GA sim flying to be relaxing, but I still sometimes get a hankering for high-g maneuvers.

Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. I have a favorite story from that game.

When I was in the 6th grade, the school library had a book on the Me-163 Komet rocket powered interceptor. My best friend and I loved it.

When I got SWOTL, I got my chance to fly it.

Even with just 8 minutes of fuel, you could do a lot. I was able to do several passes on the B-17 enemy aircraft, then glide back to base when out of fuel.

One time I flew back to base and just sat at the end of the runway and watched. My wingman came in too high, bounced off the end of the runway and blew up. RIP, Hans.

Sometimes it's the littlest things that make the biggest memories.

Hook

1 hour ago, LHookins said:

Sometimes it's the littlest things that make the biggest memories.

Yes! I loved SWOTL also, being able to try out those different aircraft. When I was in grade school, my favorite TV show was “Twelve O’clock High” and SWOTL allowed me to “participate” in that action.

5 hours ago, stans said:

After years of flying combat sims and even flying as a member of a virtual WW II fighter squadron (virtual VMF-124), I "retired" to civilian flight sims.

Same here. In the end I realised I got more of a kick out of formation flying than 'kersplosions and when 2020 came out I decided to become a pacifist😃.

I have to say I'm amazed that Jcomm likes War Thunder.

To replicate WT's flight model; take one large cardboard box, cut a couple of holes in it. Sit in the box, put your arms through the holes.

Flap....

14 hours ago, jcomm said:

Of them all, the one that I liked the most and ended up turning me into an addict was War Thunder, and one of theses days I will probably reinstall it :-)

If I feel the occasional need to blow stuff up in a fighter, I go to......

While I enjoy BMS and IL2, recently I addicted to Tiny Combat Arena, try to grind though the arena is kinda mixed with boring and fun...

On 6/5/2026 at 9:46 PM, jcomm said:

This video nicely summarizes the effects of combat flight simulation in my simmer life...

Started early with SWOTL in the late nineties, then CFS 1, 2 and even CFS3, a few other WW3 sims, and finally in 2013, DCS World, followed by IL-2 then War Thunder and recently Aces of Thunder.

Of them all the one that I liked the most and ended up turning me into an addict was War Thunder, and one of theses days I will probably reinstall it :-)

And I never tried VR !!!

Combat Flying Changed How I See GA Flying - YouTube

Interesting video, and the guy is right: combat and civ simming balance each other out quite nicely.

Indeed, flying such diametrically opposed types of sims is probably the reason I’m never too sussed about sim and/or addon issues. I’ve always got something else to do! 😎🤙

Stealth Fighter v1 and LHX Attack Chopper were my intros to “flight simulation” back in 1990!

Physics weren’t much back then - if you were damaged and lost engines, you could gain surplus energy in a dive to climb HIGHER than you started(!). So you could legit dead stick back to base over hundreds of miles even if you started at low altitude 🤣

I stuck around long enough to play SWOTL and Stealth v2, then dipped out of gaming entirely until MS CFS. Then out of gaming entirely again until my kid wanted to learn to fly airliners in 2017.

Once I saw how good simming had gotten, I was hooked myself.

Also found War Thunder, which was how I passed the time on a bunch of business trips since you don’t need a joystick. GREAT multiplayer experience. Not fantastic at IRL individual aircraft physics, but the physics that it has are “real-ish” (e.g., Spitfires are turn fighters and 109’s are energy fighters). Interesting thing is that you can apply IRL air combat tactics to succeed, and indeed, you MUST apply them to have any hope of advancing.

I.e., a great War Thunder player will do much better in IL2 or DCS than a Civ simmer will because they understand combat physics better. In contrast, knowing how to expertly fly an A2A warbird won’t get you anywhere…

IL2 Battle of X has been a great way to sample dozens of warbirds across Allies and Axis in the ETO. Great at multiplayer, very good flight & combat models, while aircraft controls and systems are standardized and simplified. Necessary to avoid years of study for all those aircraft!

I’m REALLY looking forward to the imminent IL2 Korea release. From all appearances, the physics realism has been ratcheted up quite a few levels, and the graphics are gorgeous.

DCS World is definitely the sweet spot for me for air combat. Study level aircraft, systems and weapons (within unclassified limits), THE BEST carrier aviation experience available, and a great multi-player AND multi-crew environment.

But no doubt about it, I’d be VERY sad not to have the great and highly realistic civ sims for IRL practice and digital globe trotting 😁👍

Edited Wednesday at 05:45 AM4 days by UrgentSiesta

Well, I was on trip, so, didn't come revisiting this thread, but thanks for your posts guys!

You mentioned other combat sims I also used, and there were a few more whose name I don´t recall. One was, so I believe, the percursor of IL-2 Sturmovik original combat flight simulator.

Regarding the accuracy of WT and now Aces of Thunder FMs, indeed they cen't be compared in detail to DCS or IL2 GB, but the simulator mode of WT, and the FM of AOT are good caricatures of the represented aircraft, with some of it's flight characteristics acceptably reproduced.

I had fun with this:

We let AI review Airfix Dogfighter and THIS is what happened...

Damon Slye of Dynamix brought out Red Baron. The largest online fan forum for flight simulation at that time was Compuserve. One of the main posters there was Tucker Hatfield. Who later created Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator. And then went on to handle driver development and user support for Thrustmaster controllers.

I belonged to an online IL2 group called 242 Squadron, who used to fly on the now-defunct Hyperlobby server, and used to meet up at Duxford's Flying Legends. ( Much beer drunk in the Eagle in Cambridge on the Saturday night ). However, I was never very good at it, and much prefer the civil aviation and non-combat military aspects of MSFS.