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EmailThe K9 Squadrons are a loose amalgamation of the DangerDogz and the HellHounds Squadrons, borne from their shared passion for 1C:Maddox's IL2 series of WWII flight simulators, IL-2 Sturmovik, IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles Aces Expansion Pack and Pacific Fighters, and the kindred ethos of both Squads whose primary goal is have fun and share in the rich experience on-line play of this simulation gives.
The DangerDogz are drawn from two continents and a small insignificant island, North America (both the US and Canada are represented), Europe has given us a Belgian contingent.
The UK has provided members from both Scotland and England (although one member from Scotland has his roots in the Green Isle to the west and is therefore somewhat confused as to his nationality) our geographical dispersion can be seen on our Google Map.
It is often a source of amusement when translators are called for to facilitate communications on Team Speak, despite the fact that fluent English is spoken by all!
Not an easy feat it has to be said, especially in the heat of a furball and the communication is a plea for speedy assistance!
Furball?
Well yes, as said above this is a WWII flight simulator. Or more accurately The WWII simulator as all others are mere pretenders to IL2:Sturmoviks well deserved crown. But I digress...
The DangerDogz started out small, with it's members originally drawn from Canada and the US.
The DangerDogz 'Patriarch' (as he is now known) Blairgowrie set out on a recruitment drive.
The offer of free whisky to all new recruits soon caused his email box to be overwhelmed, and is reputed to have been responsible for the temporary collapse of Canada's internet infrastructure. This was quietly hushed up and blamed on a hitherto (and it has to be said henceforth) unknown Worm.
Burying the true cause was of course relatively easy, as Blairgowrie's vast estate is such that the majority of Canada's network infrastructure passes through it, and as he has milked most of the money out of the Canadian economy already he no longer charges for the privilege of the cable traversing his property.
Sorry, I digressed again. So difficult to stay on track in the obligatory DangerDogz state of mild drunkenness. Even at 9:30 am. 
The recruiting drive was certainly a great success, BG's (as we affectionately call him...decide for your self what the acronym means) whisky mountain remains seemingly undented. Yet our roster now shows no less than 40 members.
You can imagine the raucous noise that that many drunks, oops Pilots, can create on Team Speak during a campaign night!
The HellHounds, like their sister squadron the DangerDogz, was spawned in the North American Continent, with both the US and Canada thrusting forward their finest.
Interestingly they managed to broaden their squad dialect by seeking out and enlisting a Canadian former Australian, quite a find as there aren't many who would admit to such a heritage.
One of their number is particularly skilled at the art of Lawn Darting, it is alleged, and is such an expert that he has now given his name to the act.
'Arthuring' has a much better ring to it than 'Lawndarting' and, it has to be said, does dribble of the tongue so much easier after a drop or two of the good stuff.
We should also give a nod to that other member of theirs, the king of the reformat.
Such is his dedication to the simulation that he can not only reformat his machine with his eyes closed (it is said that he has been heard to mumble his Windows XP product key in it's entirety when asleep) but he has also single handedly staved off the expected US computer components recession, forecast by many leading economic forecasters. However there are rumours of unrest in his neighbourhood sparked, it is alleged, by the frequent dimming of the lights and frequent blackouts triggered when he turns his PC on now. Thankfully he has been able to divert suspicion from himself by pointing out it is a Tornado hotspot and, well we all know what global warming is doing in the Tennessee area don't we?
Rumours that Homeland Security have negotiated CPU time on his rig are, we believe for now, entirely unfounded. And I have a court order here to that effect.
Ahh yes, or no.
Ok now I have you totally confused...It's not an alcoholic beverage, although it has to be said that our wives and girlfriends (who says you can't have both..there's a war on dontcha know and morale is important) wish it was alcohol, after all there are support groups for addictions of that nature.
Right, a little more serious now. Feeling this sober has that affect on me..
IL2:Sturmovik popped into the collective consciousness at large in late 1998, when an obscure Russian developer Oleg Maddox started publicising his new project to the flight simulation community (a genre that until then had been dominated by large American publishers).
Of note was the fact that his project focussed on the Russian Front of the war, prior flight sims had their sights firmly on showcasing the American and other Western aircraft, and this was met at the time with skepticism. This skepticism initially gave way to great anticipation when the first screenshots and technology briefs were released. I say initially because at that time PC's were relatively limited in their abilities (never mind the fact that the computers that got the Apollo up and down were less able than most pocket calculators) and this perception of the PC's abilities started rumours of IL2:Sturmovik being something of a con.
So much easier for complacent competitors to shift focus away from their own lack of ability to produce such high quality and highly optimised code. Heavens forbid the masses should ever realise...ermm think.. that they had been hoodwinked into parting hard earned money for a budget release (the budget was in the production not the price of course!).
In 2001 IL2:Sturmovik was finally released to the public, and boy oh boy did it sweep the competition under the carpet. Some pundits claimed it made it's competitiors offerings obsolete with it's well executed flight modelling and damage modelling. The graphics were the true icing on the cake, with 3D modelling that really brought the flight sim 'to life', with detailed interiors and exteriors that were a credit to the publishers obvious enthusiasm for the genre. And the weapons modelling...
True it wasn't without it's bugs, but the developer came through and released two patches to address the issues that had come to light. This was expedited by Oleg Maddox himself taking part in the community that soon sprung up around it, fed with enthusiasm from those enlightened by their experience of it.
In 2003 IL2:Maddox, via UBI Soft, released it's successor. IL2:Sturmovik:Forgotten Battles.
They pulled off what could be considered to be a miracle, the defacto flight simulator was Improved significantly with improved graphics, flight modelling and weapons modelling. And the small and easy to overlook addition of a significant number of new flyable aircraft, including many of Russia's WWII allies.
And again 1C:Maddox continued to listen to it's customers and provided unrivalled support for the IL2 Franchise. Several free patches were released that both addressed bugs and limitations, and in some cases corrected historical portrayals of specific aircraft capabilities. They also added several new flyables and non-flyables for free..
With the in-built offline dynamic campaign/career mode offering immersion only ever experienced before with gallons of whipped cream, and the sisters of St. Olegs Priory (yes there really is a religious order that has sprung from the IL2 franchise and offers succour to it's addicts, some of which is of a spritual nature) a new subset of humanity was created. The flight sim addict. Typified by pale skin, staring eyes, constant over the shoulder looking and mumbles of various o'clocks. Unlike traditional geeks and script kiddies, however, the IL2 junkie knows what a joystick is. Both definitions.
They also commune frequently with others of the same addiction, exchanging pleasantries on UBI Zoo where they vie to out do each other on the IQ stakes. Apparently the prize will go to the one who convinces the judges that they are insufficiently intellectually equipped to operate their trouser zipper in the confines of their bathroom, let alone indulge in attempted sane congress with other intellectually challenged individuals.
Unless of course they are discussing the merits, or otherwise, of a particular war bird. Then, and only then, does any semblance of intellect come to the fore. The discussions can and will ramble on for near eternity with claims of why their currently favoured warbird can perform that starwars maneuver.
One rarely sees the gauntlet thrown down and a gentlemanly challenge to take to the virtual skies for a duel, where proof would be in the pudding.
Amazing really considering that this is where the IL2 franchise really, and I do mean really comes into it's own.
Yes I have sorted out my blood/alcohol levels. There was too much blood hence the ramblings about UBI Zoo and the dichotomy of Intellect when referring to it.
There is no other flight simulation that can come as close to the real thing as IL2, in all it's guises, with the closed code structure all pilots are on an equal footing. There is no opportunity to open your chosen steed's file in one of Microsofts offerings, and surreptitiously tweak the performance characteristics so you can better your on-line adversary.
With support for up to 128 players in a dogfight (the aforementioned 'furball') there is much scope for bragging rights, especially if yours is the server that can actually support 128 players. I guess the lights have gone dim in Tennessee again 
.
Not content with the superlative job done with IL2:Forgotten Battles 1C:Maddox then released the ACES Expansion Pack.
Now the mighty Spitfire took to the virtual skies, and was seen in action all around the world.
Again 1C:Maddox stunned the Flight Simulator world by announcing, and then releasing two weeks later (it should be noted that Olegian two weeks is derived via
some obscure and convoluted Quantum Physics formulae that is an as tightly guarded a secret as the game engine itself) the Pacific Fighters add on.
PC's the world over groaned as yet another CD was forced upon them, yet more disc space was consumed and again hard pressed CPUs and GPUs were put through their paces.
What was originally a Russian front franchise had now taken on near global dominance, and Japanese aircraft took to the skies from aircraft carriers.
'Whoa! Aircraft carriers? Aren't they, like, difficult to take off from?'
Yes you read right my friend, aircraft carriers. And yes take off can be a challenge.
That is why cockpits now open on selected aircraft (the newly added Seafire is one such aircraft) and some even have seats that rise, sadly this opened the franchise up to the swathes of vertically challenged known as kids.
Fully laden with the fuel required, and the obligatory ordinance to pound those ground huggers who dare trespass on the ground that is so rightly ours, getting airborne is a real challenge.
Many have suffered the indignity of attempting flight and rolling graciously off the end of the carrier, to be ground into fish flakes by the relentless forward motion of the mothership.
Perseverance pays off though, and the skill is soon learnt and one finds getting airborne is successful at least 3 times out of 10!
Once the sortie is completed, and satisfaction is gained from seeing those ground objects subsumed by your pay load of napalm, and the smugness derived from taking down those two bogies on the way back home, comes the next small challenge.
Landing on a carrier deck. Uh oh. Do they have to be so small? And ... ermm.. does it have to buck so badly in the waves and wind?
But boy is it so satisfying to actually get your bird down on the deck safe and sound, landing your aeroplane is pretty cool too!
Then again 1C:Maddox, thinly disguised as RRG Studios, announced yet another add-on. The PE2 Peshka graced our screens and caused much flurrying of blinking moths as tightly clasped wallets were prised open.
The changes this time were minimal, we found that a mere two aircraft had been added.
The PE2, which was a surprise to some fumbling with their zippers in their bathrooms, and the PE3.
Two stalwarts from the Russian front, the IL2 franchise had returned to it's roots and provided yet another perspective on the forgotten war.
And now we await the last two add-ons from the IL2 franchise, 'Sturmoviks over Manchuria' and '46' a 'what if' that attempts to create the possible scenarios if the war had continued for another year.
The jury is still out on these two add ons, we don't yet know how many aircraft will be added to the existing over 250 different aircraft, 180 of them flyable.
What we do know is this simulation has been successful. Sales figures are quoted as over 650,000 units in Russia, and over 600,000 additional units in the rest of the world.....
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