Hello everybody,

 

since 2.012 release, more than a half of Battle of Kuban content is available in Early Access already. We have three aircraft left to release (P-39L-1, A-20B, Yak-7B series 36) and two game modes (Career and Coop), but since the 2.012, we're positive they will be ready on time. Career mode is almost finished from a technical point of view and it is being filled with data. The main guy who works on it is Victor =FB=ViKs Sechnoy, he has a vast experience and we're sure you'll like the result. At the moment, Victor is working on mission contents - we'll try to keep all the best things you may have enjoyed in BoS and BoM dynamic campaign and Rise of Flight career while adding new things that will improve the diversity of tactical situations and mission tasks. Jason and his team of enthusiasts have nearly finished the work on the career texts while our old friend Dmitry =choybolsan= Kulikov finished drawing the squadron emblems and banners. We still have a lot to do before the end of the year, but the momentum we gained as a team makes us sure we will be successful.

 

The physical models of the three remaining aircraft are in the making for some time already; Yak-7B 3D model is nearly finished and we'll be able to show you its screenshots next week. The exterior model of A-20B has been finished some time ago (its screenshots are in the Dev Diary #158), but its cockpits take much time to make. Today we'll show you the WIP screenshots of the real symbol of the Battle of Kuban, the fighter on which Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin, one of the most successful Allied aces and the highest scoring pilot flying any American fighter design in history, became famous: Bell P-39 Airacobra. This aircraft brings two new American weapons into our project arsenal: 7.62mm Browning M2 .30 and 37mm Browning M4 autocannon. These graphs show how close to the reference data we were able to recreate the ballistics of their AP rounds:

 

 

 

M2 .30 machine gun has good fire rate (1350 shots per minute) and muzzle speed (845 meters per second), close to German MG 17. However, there will be an option in the game to remove 7.62 guns, their ammo and the rear armor plate that protected the oil reservoir, reducing the total weight of the aircraft by 200 kilograms, its time of turn and improving its vertical maneuverability.

 

37mm M4 autocannon is similar to German 20mm MG-FF by design - its fire rate and muzzle speed were sacrificed to reduce the weight of the gun and its recoil. These compromises improved the burst fire accuracy but greatly hampered the anti-armor effectiveness (the armor penetration of this gun is 29mm at 500m). Because of this, AP ammo for these guns wasn't supplied to USSR via the lend-lease program in adequate quantities, so AP loadout will be an optional modification in the game. Primarily, 37mm M4 autocannon in the sim will be a weapon of choice against large air targets, and HE rounds are the best for this task.