In our continuing series about airfields that were built during World War 2, today we at HiTech Creations, makers of Aces High, will be taking a look at the State of Ohio!  We do this because as the makers of the number one World War 2 Flight Simulator we are interested in all things involving World War II.  By adding to our knowledge we are able to make our game more realistic with each new version.  When we do that we make Aces High the most exciting flight sim game on the market.  We have been at the top for thirteen years now so what we are doing must be working.

Without further delay, here are the airfields that were built in Ohio after the onset of the war.l

• Bricker APT; now Wood Country Airport
• Lockbourne AAB; now Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base and Rickenbacker International Airport
• Eastern Flight Training Center; now Kenton County Airport
• Eastern Flight Training Center; now Cincinnati International Airport
• Lunken APT; now Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airpot
• Cleveland MAP; now Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
• Patterson Field AAF; now Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
• Dayton AAF; now Dayton International Airport
• Clinton County AAF; now Airborne Airpark

All across the nation, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, states sprang into action, hastily building airfields and constructing buildings to house the flight crews who would be in training. This was a massive effort that spanned our nation and it is remarkable how much was accomplished in such a short period of time.  Within one year of Pearl Harbor most airfields had been constructed and were operational and within two years the nation’s defense contracts were the number one industry in the country and third largest in the world.  That, my friends, is Yankee ingenuity at its best.

At each of these airfields flight crews and pilots were trained quickly and efficiently and then sent off to Europe and the Pacific to do battle for our country.

And here we are, seventy years later, writing about that massive effort and doing everything in our power to make the most life-like flight sim game that we can.  We know that combat flight simulator players expect thrills.  They expect tough decisions and they expect their aircraft and ground vehicles to have accurate skins and appearance.  That’s what we give them here at Aces High and that’s why they keep coming back year after year.

Strap on your helmet and fly the skies of Aces High.

The weekend is here and that means three new special events for you flight sim gamers to participate in.  Start it off on Friday, June 8^th, when we have two events, a King Of The Hill and a Friday Squad Operation.

Sunday brings us to Frame 2 of our SEC and as you know that means the Battle of Kursk.

If you haven’t played any of our special events then you are really missing out on a huge part of the excitement at Aces High.  Join someone else’s squad or form your own and then do battle with the best combat flight simulators in the world.

What would a week at Aces High be if there wasn’t a full schedule of Special Events?  Take a look at these two and then sign up now so you can compete against the best combat flight sim players in the world.

Today, the 12^th, we have an AHXARL going on. That’s an Aces High Xtreme Air Racing League to the un-initiated and you won’t want to miss it.  On the 13^th we are having another Snapshot being offered.

Sign up alone or get a group of friends and form a squadron.  You really need to partake in these special events to get the full experience of Aces High.

Today let’s turn our Aces High attention to the Black Hills state of South Dakota and see what they were up to during World War 2.  As you know if you have been following along, while the War was being fought in Europe and the Pacific there was a vast war effort happening in the States.  Within two years of Pearl Harbor the United States had a larger Defense budget than the rest of the word combined and production had quadrupled.  It is safe to say that once the Sleeping Giant was awakened that it did not waste any time getting involved in a full war effort.

Many states had airfields built immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor.  It was recognized very quickly that fields were needed to train pilots and flight crews and rather than ship the trainees from every state in the country to a centralized location it was decided to build airfields in most states to quicken the training process.

Here is a list of the airfields constructed in South Dakota during the war.

• Mitchell AAF/MAP; it is now the Mitchell Municipal Airport
• Pierre AAF; now the Pierre Regional Airport
• Rapid city AAB; changed to Rapid City Air Field in 1947; Weaver Air Force Base in 1948; rapid city Air Force Base from 1948-1953; finally Ellsworth Air Force Base presently.
• Sioux Falls AAF; now the Joe Foss Field Air National Guard Station
• Watertown AAF; now the Watertown Regional Airport
• Aberdeen AAF; now the Aberdeen Regional Airport

What is most interesting is that almost every single one of these airfields across the nation were converted in peace time to civil airfields so that the investment made in 1941 still pays dividends today.  What may have been a considerable investment initially has now become the gift that keeps on giving.

If you travel by any of these airfields you are quite likely to see some of the original buildings still standing, a living testament if you will to those very important first years of the war when the status of the world hung in the balance.

Do you want a combat flight simulator to be realistic?  Do you want the best in graphics and do you want simulations that make you feel like you are in the cockpit of a fighter plane?  Aces High is all that and more and part of the reason is because we, the makers of this exciting flight sim game, are avid World War 2 buffs.  We have devoted thousands of hours getting our game just right and that is because we are dedicated to all things related to World War II.