IL-2 CLOD Blitz Desert Wings DLC

[MengJiao]

A great theatre and I wish them well. Clod was almost the most amazing air combat system ever. This could make it realise it's potential.
My only caveat is that now I have "tank crew" for il2 BOS I am guessing we will never get a western desert tank module because of the two different engines.

  Yeah...I don't think there is going to be a CLOD Tobruk tank driving thing.

  But here is a Tomahawk off Bardia:

[Father Ted]

I bought CLOD a while back. 

I really love the subject so I was inclined to be fairly forgiving. 

But the game ran so badly compared to Il2 BOS that I gave up in disgust and put in for a refund.

That experience has made me reluctant to try another one of this group's products.

Well, if you did want to try it, you'd have to re-buy CloD, because Tobruk is DLC for the base game

[MengJiao]

  Yeah...I don't think there is going to be a CLOD Tobruk tank driving thing.

  But the Hurricane IIc is pretty fun to fly.  4 20mm guns.  Its the only plane in the game so far that I have managed to hit anything with and the hits were impressive:  A 109 completely blew up (First time I've seen that in CLOD BLITZ) but I was far enough back to not get damaged.  Then I hit a Franco-Italian Dewitt 520 and a big piece fell off and hit my oil cooler.  I had oil all over the canopy.  I headed for the desert but the engine quit and
 I bailed out into the Mediterranean.  Here's the Dewitt after I hit it:

[Father Ted]

  But the Hurricane IIc is pretty fun to fly.  4 20mm guns.  Its the only plane in the game so far that I have managed to hit anything with and the hits were impressive:  A 109 completely blew up (First time I've seen that in CLOD BLITZ) but I was far enough back to not get damaged.  Then I hit a Franco-Italian Dewitt 520 and a big piece fell off and hit my oil cooler.  I had oil all over the canopy.  I headed for the desert but the engine quit and
 I bailed out into the Mediterranean.  Here's the Dewitt after I hit it:

The IIc was my ride in IL2 1946.  Something about the sight-picture and the power of those 20mm allowed me to "snipe" at EA - instead of hosing the target with tracer, I could usually (=osometimes) just tap the gun button to effect a kill.

[MengJiao]

  But the Hurricane IIc is pretty fun to fly.  4 20mm guns.  Its the only plane in the game so far that I have managed to hit anything with and the hits were impressive:  A 109 completely blew up (First time I've seen that in CLOD BLITZ) but I was far enough back to not get damaged.  Then I hit a Franco-Italian Dewitt 520 and a big piece fell off and hit my oil cooler.  I had oil all over the canopy.  I headed for the desert but the engine quit and
 I bailed out into the Mediterranean.  Here's the Dewitt after I hit it:

The IIc was my ride in IL2 1946.  Something about the sight-picture and the power of those 20mm allowed me to "snipe" at EA - instead of hosing the target with tracer, I could usually (=osometimes) just tap the gun button to effect a kill.

  I've been trying to fly the Tomahawk, but it is so much faster (and shaky) in a dive that I have a hard time lining up the guns.  The Hurricane IIc is a surprising plane -- fighter-bomber and Intruder and (at least in CLOD Tobruk) an okay fighter plane and a deadly gun platform.

[Destraex]

Damage model was always very good in CLOD. Awesome shot!
Why the Italian and French markings? I assume you applied the skin?

[MengJiao]

Damage model was always very good in CLOD. Awesome shot!
Why the Italian and French markings? I assume you applied the skin?

  Oh yeah, I tried that skin while trying to get a Vichy flavor.  If you just pick "French" the plane goes to the Allied side so to skip a step (that I haven't tried) I started the Dewitt as Italian and added French markings.  On the other hand or meanwhile in reality,  while the Luftwaffe was flying through Lebanon and Syria to support the Iraqi rebellion, their planes were crudely painted (without really obscuring the German identifiers) with markings suggesting they were not Luftwaffe aircraft...so a quasi-Vichy-Dewitt with Italian markings is not so strange especially since in June 1941 in Lebanon and Syria, Allied pilots assumed they were usually dealing with Italian planes though in fact they shot down or destroyed on the ground many more French and German aircraft (especially at Palmyra, an important refueling stop for the Luftwaffe going to Iraq).

[MengJiao]

  I've been trying to fly the Tomahawk, but it is so much faster (and shaky) in a dive that I have a hard time lining up the guns.  The Hurricane IIc is a surprising plane -- fighter-bomber and Intruder and (at least in CLOD Tobruk) an okay fighter plane and a deadly gun platform.

   More flights in the Tomahawk II -- hit a 109 and got damaged by flying debris.  Oil on the canopy again.  But its a fun plane to fly:

[MengJiao]

  Fiat G50:

[Gusington]

I love that plane. How is it to fly?

[Sir Slash]

They had very little in the way of armament, correct?

[MengJiao]

They had very little in the way of armament, correct?

  Wikipedia says 2 50 cal in the nose and a 33 to one kill ratio in the Finnish Air Force (presumably in 1939-41), so not too bad.

[MengJiao]

I love that plane. How is it to fly?

   It's pretty fun.  Very Seat-of-the-pants like all those early war manoeuver fighters.  You feel very acrobatic and then you notice (as many an early-war manoeuver pilot must have) that things are not really going so well.  The 50 cal. are shooting through interrupter gear and so are not shooting very fast and when you get onto a Hurricane's tail, it can just pull away.  And then you notice all of your fellow-Fiat Freccio (Arrows -- according to Wikipedia) are just already down (the eight 30 Brownings on a Hurricane wreck a Fiat very quickly).  On the other hand, you can do some damage to Wellingtons pretty fast yourself.  So...okay against early war bombers...not so good against serious (if primitive) fighters like the Hurricane.

One unexpected thing that CLOD Tobruk makes you do is ...you really start to think the Hurricane is a pretty reasonable fighter/ fighterbomber.

[MengJiao]

They had very little in the way of armament, correct?

  Wikipedia says 2 50 cal in the nose and a 33 to one kill ratio in the Finnish Air Force (presumably in 1939-41), so not too bad.

  The Tomahawk II also has 2 50 cal in the nose (plus two 30 cal on each wing), but the Tomahawk seems to cause a lot more devastation with its guns:

[Sir Slash]

Nice pics Meng.