Fly The (un)Friendly Skies - Other Places To Get Into Fights

[ODonovan]

I was PMing back and forth with Kizmet, and he suggested I let you guys know about some other groups who like to get into their fair share of trouble in the virtual skies of WWII. Here goes!

352nd Virtual Fighter Group - The Bluenosed Bastards of Bodney - LINK

The 352nd is, to my knowledge, the only virtual unit to be incorporated (adopted) into the actual fraternal organization of the unit to which they pay homage. They are full members of the 352nd Fighter Group Association and VFG members have attended conventions and reunions with the real-life Bluenosers. They've even set up their computers and let the real pilots take to the virtual sky. The website I linked to is for the group which plays a highly modified version of IL-2 Sturmovik - Forgotten Battles, which includes their very own England to Europe cross-channel map. There are/were 352nd groups in a few other games, but I believe this is the largest and most active, having celebrated their FIFTEENTH(!) anniversary, a few months ago. They fly on full realism settings at all times, mostly in their blue-nosed P-51s...



...but they occasionally fly bombers. When they do, they fly their yellow-tailed B-17s.




The Blackbirds - LINK

The Blackbirds is a dedicated virtual bomber squadron. You can tell them by their blue and black diamond livery with the initials BB.



They fly IL-2 Sturmovik - 1946.

Speaking of 1946...that is EASILY the most popular game on the online flight sim server host site, HyperLobby. - LINK

If the unit is looking for a fight...some missions/campaigns, and some adventure in the sky, this is one of the best places to find it. Another is the Storm of War server site - LINK


DISCLAIMER: I am still a total NoOb. As I was telling Kizmet, I don't have much time to learn to fly, currently. When I do, I hope to apply to join the 352nd. I've been fairly active on their forum, however. Deacon, Persecutor, and the rest of the guys are THE best. I have little first-hand knowledge of the Blackbirds other than the fact the 352nd has flown with the Blackbirds and the 352nd's members speak highly of them.

In closing, here's some eye candy.

Wirtualna Wojna (Virtual War) - a 2012 Polish HBO special, starring (in part) the 352nd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKLV4rpxfuE


352nd VFG Hall of Honor (1 of 3) - The other two parts are available as links from the first
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ptgsVa2JT8


Trapper Memorial - In memory of a lost comrade, Ed "Trapper" Remus - Contains members of the 352nd, Blackbirds, AKA WarDogs, as well as a couple special guests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKmwOEHz5tw



S!

-Irish

[Sniper62]

thats pretty cool! we, as a squad, havnt really ventured very far from WWIIOL. We have played War Thunder, but that fell short of supplying a proper bombing game. IL2 has been around for a long time but I thought it was always restricted to small multiplayer games...what type of missions do these guys fly?

[ODonovan]

I think you can get up to 64 players on an IL-2 server. They either fly unit vs. unit with other groups or unit vs. AI. There are fighter sweeps, bomber escorts, bombing missions...pretty much whatever there was in the war. The 352nd likes to recreate historical missions, as well.



-Irish