Airfix Dogfighter Preview

When I was a kid, my major hobby was assembling airplane models. After years of experience, I started noticing differences of models by various manufacturers. A couple of companies became my main choice: Esci, Italeri and Airfix. Of course, Airfix (www.airfix.com) was a combination of an average product and low price, so the majority of my models were their products. Then came the choice of paint, of which I preferred Humbrol (which later bought Airfix), and less often Testors. Since I usually chose WWII models, Airfix proved worthy challenge of my modeling skills. Their decals were most realistic, and the most interesting series was the WWII aces. The model represented and actual airplane of a WWII ace, together with the air victory insignias under the cockpit. Airfix is, by the way, a London company established in 1939 by Nicholas Kove. The company had its ups and downs, especially financial-wise. Their range of products includes models of aircraft, ships, figurines, tanks & combat vehicles, trains, and cars. I used model planes for what they were intended, unlike many other kids that played with them, or brutally destroyed them with explosive devices (such as firecrackers). Such display of brutish childhood behavior is probably something that the developers of the Swedish software company Paradox Entertainment indulged in. They managed to create an interesting dogfight experience with Airfix models.

Destroying Mama's China...Yes!

Through the broken window, and off into freedom...

The game story is as follows: all airplane models come alive when parents of the boy, who is their owner, isn't at home, creating absolute chaos in the house. The models are divided in two sides, Axis & Allies, and are all of WWII origin. Although the airplanes are made in the image of actual ones, their performances and physical models are far from the real aircraft. Each has four basic statistics: control, speed, fuel and armor. Based on that, the models perform as their "real" counterparts would. The Stuka is slow and it can take a lot of damage, Hellcat engine is much louder, the Messerschmitt is fast and so on. Of course, you will fight only aircraft, but there will be turrets, fortresses, tanks, armored vehicles, AA cannon, U995 Submarine and the HMS Belfast. The models in the game are graphically well done, and they actually look like genuine airplanes. The choice of planes in the game is:

F6F-3 Hellcat
The design of the Hellcat began as a development of the F4F Wildcat. Within months they were in mass production and playing a major role for the Allies in winning the air war in the Pacific. The Hellcat was produced in huge numbers; deliveries between 1942 and 1945 were in excess of 12,000. The sheer amount of these war-winning aircraft destroyed more than 6,000 hostile aircraft (4947 by USN Carrier Squadrons, 209 by land based USMC units and the rest by Allied Hellcat Squadrons).

Hawker Typhoon Ib
Designed to Air Ministry Specification, the first Typhoon flew on February 24, 1940, and entered service in 1941. Powered by a 2,180 h.p. Napier Sabre 11A engine, this single seat fighter and ground attack aircraft was capable of a maximum speed of 345 m.p.h. (555 km/h) at sea level.

P-51D Mustang
First flown in October 1940, deliveries to the RAF began in 1942 but the relatively low-altitude rating of the Allison engine relegated the aircraft to the low-level reconnaissance role. At the suggestion of the British, the aircraft was re-engined with the famous Rolls Royce Merlin, and it was quickly realized that this unique combination formed a most potent warplane.

Douglas Dauntless
Probably one of the most famous of all U.S. Naval Aircraft to serve in the Second World War, the Dauntless was already obsolescent when the USA entered the war, but continued in action until the final victory. The SBD-3 version is an aircraft of VSB-8, which flew from USS Hornet in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.

Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane was one of the most famous RAF fighters of World War II. It fought the forces in the battle of France in 1940, and later gained distinction in the Battle of Britain where a total of 36 squadrons operated the type.

Northrop P-61 Black Widow
The Black Widow was the first U.S. aircraft to be designed from the beginning as a night fighter and was the standard front line night fighter by the end of the Second World War. Design work commenced in 1940 at the time of the night bombing which followed the Battle of Britain and many of the lessons learnt at that time were incorporated by Northrop.