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 8th, 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.
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.
Welcome to June and the new month means sixteen new Special Events being held on Aces High, the online combat flight simulator that makes you feel like you are sitting in the cockpit doing battle during WW2.
On the 5th we will have another of our very popular Aces High XTreme Air Racing League events. On the 6th we have a double header for you with This Day In History honoring D-Day and also we have a Snapshots event. Double your pleasure and double your fun with the flight sim game Aces High.
We have a couple changes to mention for our next version. We have updated our Ju 87D-3 with a new skin and we are also introducing the Ju 87G-2 tank buster. Both have great skins thanks to our ever-faithful volunteer staff and we think you will enjoy these changes.
Why do we bother? We are already the best World War 2 Flight Simulator on the market. Why do we keep making changes and variations? Simply because we want to remain number one and also our job is to provide the best flight sim experience for our faithful customers.
If you snooze you lose and we ain’t snoozing at Aces High!
Let us continue our look at the airfields that were built in California during World War II. As we explained earlier in the first part of this series, the work at home during the war was every bit as important as the work the soldiers did in Europe and the Pacific. Flight crews and pilots underwent extensive training to prepare them for the battles that would be waged and available flight fields were needed. As you will see from this article California was heavily invested in this effort.
At Aces High we are interested in all things having to do with World War 2. Maybe that is one reason why we remain the most popular combat flight simulator on the market. Now, on to California.
- Chico AAF; now Chico Municipal Airport
- Sacramento MAP; now Sacramento Executive Airport
- Daggett MAP; now Barstow-Daggett Airport
- Hamilton Field AAF; now Hamilton Air Force Base
- Lemoore AAF; now non-flying agricultural use
- Porterville AAF; now Porterville Municipal Airport
- March Field; now March Air Reserve Base
- Shavers Summitt AAF; now sub base of March Field
- Merced AAF; now West Coast Training Center
- Castle Air force Base; now Castle Airport
- Ontario AAF; now LA/Ontario International Airport
- Oroville AAF; now Oroville Municipal Airport
- Santa Maria AAF; now Santa Maria Airpot
- Estrella AAF; now Paso Robles Municipal Airport
- 493d Army Air Force Base; now Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport
And of course there are more but that will do it for today. California is a big state. Remember, back in 1941 California was still fairly undeveloped with lots of wide-open spaces, the perfect place to build airfields and conduct test flights and training. East of the mountains in particular the area was desolate and under-populated and as such was the perfect setting for training.
Anyone studying WWII will soon learn, as we have at HiTech Creations, that the war effort at home was massive. Once Pearl Harbor happened it took about a year for the full might of the United States industrial effort to be in full swing.
We love this stuff. Our World War 2 Flight Simulator is as close as you will come to flying in the cockpit of a WW2 fighter plane and that’s because we have dedicated ourselves to making the best replica we can with our flight sim game. Strap on your helmet and fly the skies of Aces High. You won’t be disappointed.