[Poltava]

If you want to take the Curtiss Hawk for a spin, then there is campaign for you! It is called "Karelian Hawks", and set during the Summer and early Autumn of 1942.



You are Finnish Fighter Pilot in LeLv32, flying the Curtiss Hawk A75. The Operations Area is Eastern Karelia. After the hard battles of 1941, a stalemate has been reached along the river Svir. As in history you will face a Soviet air force that slowly but surely is growing stronger and stronger.



The missions are a mix: some ground attack, some escorts, but mainly patrols and fighter sweeps. At first you will meet mainly the old Soviet types, typical of the first phase of the war: I-153's, I-16's, etc. But as in real life the competence and strength of your Soviet opponents will grow, and you will encounter newer types, like MiG's and LaGG's and IL-2's.



Two things prompted me to do this campaign. The first one is Kapteenis Svir River map! (It can be downloaded at the AAA site.) It has a generic character, portraying Eastern Karelia, and with a distinct flavour of the Svir Front, with the map dominated by a big river that runs out in a big lake (i.e. the Onega).



The other one is simply the fact that the AAA Mod has made the Curtiss Hawk flyable. And it is a joy to use: fast, maneuverable and packing quite a punch!



After flying it you will probably not be surprised to hear that the RAF was interested in aquiring the aircraft, and when testing it against a Supermarine Spitfire Mk I the Hawk turned out to have several advantages over the famous British fighter. The Hawk was found to have lighter controls than the Spitfire at speeds over 480 km/h, especially in diving attacks, and was better in a dogfight thanks to the less-sensitive elevator and better all-around visibility. The Hawk was also easier to control on takeoff and landing. However, what tipped the balance was the Spitfire's superior acceleration and speed.



The campaign has also been designed it so it can be run smoothly on middle-range computers, i.e. there are not enormous amounts of aircraft in the air at the same time, and I have kept the amount of FLAK and extra objects down a bit.

I have also tried to put in some more ground activity. The front line is easy to spot, as it is fortified by trenches and bunkers, sometimes there is quite fierce fighting going on, and behind the lines there are always transports to strafe or spot:







And here are some more screenies:





The campaign can be downloaded here: http://mission4today.com/index.php?name=...ils&id=110

The map can be found here: viewtopic.php?t=10747