Desert Wings Tobruk | Gloster Gladiator No.3 Squadron | Our First Patrol!

[@Montycat78]

1:34 “God it’s a barren and featureless desert out there, isn’t it” “The maps on the other side, sir…”

[@mikhailiagacesa3406]

"Ohhh...thank you, Darling."

[@jamesrussell7760]

No one likes a wiseass, Leftenant! Sir, yes Sir! Here Sir, have a look at my map, Sir. Better, Leftenant!

[@rodneypayne4827]

3 Squadron RAAF. This Australian squadron served the whole war in the desert and Med campaign. CV code is easily recognised. Later aircraft(P40 and P51) had the Australian Southern Cross stars on the RAAF light blue painted rudder.

[@christopherhanton6611]

now they fly f-35 s now

[@joeaustin4472]

Welcome back to IL-2 taff, sweet stuff in highlighting Desert Wings, this is one of my fav campaigns - well worth a campaign playthrough, especially the siege of Tobruk, the P40 Warhawk and the F4F Wildcat are true players and fantastic aircraft to fly in this campaign, my favs in Desert Wings. This was also fantastic because it reminded me of your rise of flight series with your Gloster Gladitor taking on those CR42 aircraft. It's a very Spartan world fighting in the desert but believe me this is a great place to showcase the North Africa theatre, the operations you get with RAAF No.112 Squadron with the P40 Warhawks is white knuckle at times but fantastic in regards of combat and experience. Good thing you only had CR42s to deal with and Italian ground forces were not as lethal as most German units, flying with the Gladiator would have been near murderous out there. Great work on surviving, that was a victory in it's own right, your IL-2 content is truly excellent.. keep those coming, stay safe and happy gaming mate.

[@andrewmontgomery5621]

This reminds me of those three Sea Gladiatiors that defended Malta called "Faith","Hope" and "Charity".

[@timonsolus]

Actually there were 6 Gladiators on Malta in June 1940, and none had names. The Maltese gave them the names unofficially.

[@advorak8529]

@@timonsolus … after the island had been made safe by spitfires and hurricanes.

[@davidkatz1503]

North Africa was such an interesting theater that never gets the attention it deserves! Glad to see it here.

[@jamesrussell7760]

The Gloster Gladiator was built like a tank with all that metal and weight in the birdcage canopy plus the internal struts. And the top wing, struts and wires obstruct the pilot's view. I dare say, the biplane design was obsolescent coming off the assembly line. With just a slightly larger, double sparred bottom wing, no top wing and without all those drag-inducing struts and wires, the performance would have been considerably improved, even with the same engine and the fixed landing gear. Nothing kills performance in an aircraft more than excess weight.

[@advorak8529]

You would rather have had even older planes, or no planes, while waiting for the spitfires and hurricanes. You’d probably also be the type of pilot who’d demonise the Ford Trimotor for a closed cockpit (you need the cheeks feeling the air for a coordinated turn!!) or the anti-flap faction that railed the flaps would upset the trim - because turning the trim wheel right next to you was not part of your work contract.

[@jamesrussell7760]

@@advorak8529 Hehehehe. I appreciate your humor. But, no, I was just putting myself in the place of a British pilot in those early days who found himself in the cockpit of an undeniably well-built aircraft, the Gladiator. Unfortunately, the Gladiator, was outclassed by the Fiat CR. 32 Falco biplane, single engined fighter in terms of performance. And a Gladiator pilot would be daffy to initiate a contest with a Fiat G.50 Freccia monoplane fighter aircraft. BUT, what if the Gladiator had been designed as a monoplane? Well, that is an entirely different kettle of fish!

[@advorak8529]

_Unfortunately, the Gladiator, was outclassed by the Fiat CR. 32 Falco biplane, single engined fighter in terms of performance._ The “CR.32” was a 1934 sesquiplane[1], the “CR.42 Falco” is a development of the latter with the same wing layout. Against the USSR, the Hungarians had a 12:1 kill-to-loss rate with the _Falco._ The Gloster Gladiator has 1.2 kills per loss against the _Falco_ similar to 109 vs Spitfire during the Battle of Britain. Yes, the _Falco_ was 15 km/h faster, but the Gladiator had radio with about 5km plane to plane range instead of hand gestures and could coordinate attacks - and was more manoeuvrable. Outclassed looks different. _BUT, what if the Gladiator had been designed as a monoplane?_ You mean, what if the Brits had asked for a monoplane instead of a biplane? Why would they, they already had the hurricane and spitfire being worked on, what would be the advantage of another monoplane design coming out after them - they needed something now! _Well, that is an entirely different kettle of fish!_ How about the Brits asking for a biplane that can switch to a monoplane in flight? And maybe “and back”? That would be a completely different kettle of fish - and examples of both kettles flew before 1942 even began! [1] a “wing and a half”, the lower wing being only about half the area of the upper wing

[@arthurcrego8297]

Gladiators, love it, what a great surprise,

[@sawyerbates2032]

Woo! The Gladiator is one of my favorite planes, glad to see you using it.

[@mikhailiagacesa3406]

Good mission for you, Tommie. You survived! I raise my glass of warm Chianti to you and your comrades...Avanti!

[@darriusdias]

Well, time to defend Malta with some Faith, Hope, and Charity!

[@scarletkinkajou1]

Good to see you back in the cockpit Taff

[@ErichVonKraut]

I distinctly heard a guy on the wireless say "We are failing upwards!" Interesting vids Taff. I love seeing the old crates on ops.

[@christinebeckett7060]

They BOUNCE when they hit the ground!!

[@esbenk.d.jensen9345]

Good first mission

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Great new series. WW1 warfare. Falcos are deadly .

[@rodrigogoncalves6165]

More of this please!

[@ianjeff22]

I’d forgotten how atmospheric this game is at times, all that low cloud and smoke, amazing! AI as well, so much harder to deal with that Great Battles. Jolly good show though Taff, stay away from your ground crew though, they’re gonna be on the warpath after that landing 😂😂

[@emeraldflint516]

don´t worry about 109s. in december 1940 there shouldn´t have been any, because the afrikakorps was deployed not before february ´41. :) Great video as always - thx!

[@advorak8529]

The Swiss had a few 109’s, so you never know who else may …

[@SammySathya]

If this turns into a series I'm ready to wager Taff will complete it without a single kill to his name. His aim is that good 😂

[@Stannington]

Wow and I was making a new desert campaign this week, the first mission is a recon in a Gladiator

[@Kritfayle]

They did a great job with CoD in the end. Biggest complaint I have is a less intuitive and more complicated Mission Creation Builder than 1946

[@bluestorm3628]

Remark for a pilot of no.3, North Africa My plane may be old, myself inexperienced. But with the flying spirit of those who came before me like, Albert Ball, George McCubbin, Edward Mannock and Robert Little. I shall pursue my foes until they are burning like the sun above us!

[@IkomaKoma]

Not SO old. Gloster delivered those Gladiators to the Commonwealth squadrons in '37, a mere 3 years ago. In fact a few of the planes no.3 RAAF flew were from a '39 batch produced for the Egyptians, and subsequently taken over. Mere year old machines. These specific Gladiators were already in North Africa fighting with different squadrons since the outbreak of hostilities, mostly with no.33 and no.112 sq, and when they were handed over to the Australians, they also received some Gloster Gauntlets, which were produced '33-'35, so the Gladiators were actually the newer fighters they got.

[@bluestorm3628]

@@IkomaKoma i was more referring to them being of an older type of aircraft design philosophy than old aircraft in general. But yep that is true not gonna dispute that.

[@simonhodgett4598]

I haven’t heard so many references to Sidi Barrani since Much Binding in the Marsh… 😂

[@leh2012]

Good flight!

[@johansoons8413]

i shot multiple 109 down in gladiators..... not easy, but the manouverbility is the key

[@christopherhanton6611]

neat video COOL THING IS THIS squadron is still around and now fly's f-35 fighters

[@monostripezebras]

the obsolete-aircrafty african air war has really its own charme as a setting

[@KyleJC91]

Taff on a leisurely flight

[@ScottTaggart65]

Hope this is a new full campaign!

[@samuelashton8787]

Very Roald Dahl

[@lordicedewd4375]

I completely forgot about that game ... still on my account ... time to reinstall

[@timonsolus]

Interesting landing. I wonder - perhaps in the Gladiator you don't need to touch the brakes? Maybe try just cutting the throttle to idle, and letting the Gladiator roll itself to the end of the runway - like a Sopwith Camel.

[@motorheadrocker6504]

Hello! Great video, thank you! I had a plans to buy Desert Wings. Please tell me, do you have any interaction with your squadron AI planes playing campaign? Can you give them a order, or hear some useful information from them? Because in Cliffs of Dover it’s one man war - absolutely no interaction with AI😢

[@leroyabernathy9934]

Have they got this to a working VR stage yet? I signed up for VR beta testing for the Desert Wings campaign and installed the necessary software, but it never worked and I have not tried it since. I only fly VR now as sitting in front of a monitor just doesn't work for me. Too many hours in non-VR cockpits.

[@yoosta22]

Does anyone know of a good place to download missions for this game???

[@abdelghanysharkawy8559]

I have open track head tracking with Delan clip, I can't get it to work on this game, can someone please help?

[@flycatchful]

Did you know that this aircraft evolved into the Hawker Hurricane.

[@timonsolus]

No. 3 Squadron RAAF converted from Gladiators to Hurricanes in early 1941, but didn't keep the Hurricanes very long. Only a few months later, the squadron converted again to the Tomahawk I (British Curtiss P-40D).

[@colindouglas7769]

It was the Hawker Fury that evolved in to the Hurricane, not the Gloster Gladiator.

[@muzasbar]

oh god the visibility in the Gladiator is horrendous even for a vintage biplane (The italian ones were much, much better in the same role)

[@timonsolus]

Pilots usually flew the Gladiator with the canopy open throughout the flight for better visibility.

[@richardmitchell2274]

Fiat cr 42

[@Donik0420]

Good luck with that awful AI. They'll wing wobble themselves right into the dirt pretty easily.

[@vipertwenty249]

Hmm - yes - I think you did indeed survive by the skin of your teeth there.

[@hansclaw]

I don't like that the AI ​​always reacts evasively just when you shoot it, that's unrealistic and annoying

[@timonsolus]

Why is it unrealistic? Sounds like what an Italian biplane pilot should be doing. (The Italians were highly skilled acrobatic pilots in their Fiat biplanes.)

[@ricardoroberto7054]

True because it's a computer so it knows when you are firing even if in reality you jumped it blind. Always been a major fault with il2

[@hansclaw]

@@timonsolus unrealistic because As soon as you press the trigger on the joystick, the plane (no matter if it's allied or axis) reacts at exactly the same time by moving out of the path of your projectiles (there is no surprise factor, so you can spend all your ammo trying to shoot down a single plane), this is totally impossible, the only viable way to shoot down planes is with deflection fire. That's why I stopped playing this simulator, even simulators from the 90's have better programming.

[@timonsolus]

@@hansclaw : OK. That makes sense.

[@hansclaw]

@@timonsolus sorry my english is limited

[@jameslanning8405]

Maybe need some training before combat... Get familiar with the aircraft and it's limitations. Learn how to gun effectively. Drop bombs effectively. Duck and run effectively. The name of the game is to win! Not be a useless target!

[@redbaron6569]

Try to get a kill next time please this was a bit boring 😂

[@regwatson2017]

That aircraft is a dog's turd.

[@EneTheGene]

Gladiator my beloved.

[@maxleitschuh7076]

Fixed gear biplanes with mediocre armament - it's like you're fighting WW1.5!

[@timonsolus]

The Gloster Gladiator was twice as fast and had 8 times the firepower of a WW1 Sopwith Camel (twice as many guns, and the guns fired twice as fast). Quite a big step forward.

[@richmorg8196]

These Gladiators are MK2 three bladed propeller prop that turn a tighter circle than man monoplane fighters of WW2

[@advorak8529]

@@richmorg8196 And a WWI rotary engine fighter will outturn any gladiator.

[@skibumplus3]

I cannot imagine a more boring game to watch or play.

[@advorak8529]

… and yet here we are: you are too bored to stop watching and *must* comment on that. Instead of doing literally anything else. I cannot imagine any less useful, less interesting, less intelligent or more boring comment. But you will widen my horizons with your answer …

[@longi625]

Is VR working in this now?