[torgear1]

A Lancaster, Wellington, Stirling, Hampden, Whitley, Beaufort etc would also be nice. When did any of these these ever appear in a decent combat flight sim?

The Lanc was arguably the finest allied bomber of WW2 taking everything into account; length of service and missions flown (compared to B-29), range and much heavier bombload including huge 12,000 lb bombs (compared to B-17). Bombs dropped on Germany (compared to all!).

The B-17 would have been the greatest had it been able to fight its way to the target and back unescorted as it was designed to do. Unfortunately it couldn't without incurring horrendous losses, so all the extra weight that took away from a half-decent bombload; such as guns, crewmen/gunners, ammo storage and armour plating, detracted from its bombload significantly. The Mosquito bomber variant could match good bombload and fair range, plus much more speed and only risking the loss of two crewman into the bargain. I often wonder how many lives would have been saved had the USAAF gone the Mosquito bomber route instead?

I agree that the B-24 does get overlooked unfairly vis B-17. That bomber flew some great missions and was particularly significant in its role across the atlantic searching for and attacking U-boats in what had once been safe waters for them. It would be great to see a proper one (along with Blenheim/Bisley and Halifax too) in il-2.

i second this