[8FS_Bulau]

...no mods folder. Am I missing something here? Please note it says 4.09 on my loading screen!

Others have directed you to the HSFX mod pack, but to answer this question specifically, yes you're missing something. IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 stock game is NOT modded. The Official patches 4.08m and 4.09m are not Mod patches. The little 'm' does not stand for 'mods', it stands for 'merged', and is a throwback to the old days of separate Forgottten Battles + AEP, and Pacific Fighters, when there was an option to merge the two games into a single install. Thereafter, there were separate patches release for the standalone Pacific Fighters, and for the merged Forgotten Battles + AEP + Pacific Fighters, the patches for the merged game were distinguished by the lower case 'm' in the patch name, e.g. patch 4.04 versus patch 4.04m. After patch 4.04, there were no more patches release for standalone Pacific Fighters, however the subsequent patches for the merged game retained the 'm' in the name.