“A major ground offensive had begun the day before along the Western Front from the northwest edge of the Hurtgen Forest up through Eschweiler, Germany. The weather was terrible with low hanging clouds and light rain, but sixteen planes of the squadron took off with each plane loaded with two 500 pound bombs and a 150 gallon belly tank.
Reaching the target area, the planes had to come in under the overcast at 4,500 feet. Everything was dark and foreboding as flashes of big guns on the ground and the flak exploded in the air. Light from the exploding shells were reflecting off of the clouds as the dive bombing commenced.
One member of the squadron dived to strafe a German vehicle but couldn’t pull up quickly enough and crashed into the countryside. Finally, when the run was completed, all remaining planes turned for home on a wing and a prayer.”
Personal accounts like the one above from actual combat veterans are very revealing. The bravery and instincts of the men who flew combat missions are the stuff of legends and few of us who have never experienced that kind of action can even begin to comprehend what it must have been like. The closest we may ever come is when we step into our own 3-D cockpit and fly the skies in an online flight simulation game.
Superior graphics and ever-changing features on flight simulation games give gamers some semblance of what it must have been like to fly the skies over Europe or the Pacific during World War 2. Always expecting the unexpected, constantly keeping vigil of all directions while flying your bomber or jet fighter over enemy skies, the WWII pilot needed to juggle several balls at once always aware that if one ball is dropped it could mean the end. With online flight simulation games like Aces High a player can go it alone or fly in a squadron and know that hundreds of other players are waiting out there to engage in combat. Many choices of arenas await, hundreds of planes, ground vehicles and boats can be chosen for support, and online assistance is available to help you navigate your way through the game. You can even customize your plane for a personal touch and enter special scenarios and events to test your skill against the best simulation pilots out there. It really is like flying over France in 1942 or flying a bombing run over the Pacific against the best pilots the Japanese have to offer.
