A Beginner's Guide to Il2 Cliff of Dover Blitz / Tutorial - Waggaz Wings Ep. 20

Everything I wish I'd been told about Il2 Cliffs of Dover before I'd started flying the sim in a single video. I've pulled together all the tips I received from forums, online reference materials, and my own experiences.

I also take a look at getting up in the air in the Hurricane, managing the Merlin engines, and basic tips for combat. This is intended for beginners who have some prior knowledge of flying and simulators. Enjoy!

[CZtuner]

I fly with the community on the TWC Campaign server and we always welcome rookie. I've had 22 years of flying online dogfight sims so I'm quite used to mentoring rookies. We generally fly in flights and pairs so rookies can have a wingman shadowing them to show them the techniques and tricks required to not make parachute jumps. It can be a very steep learning curve for players who've started out on fantasy physics flying games like War Thunder.

The correct way to fast start the Hurricane:

If gear indicator show no green lights lower the gear before starting the engine (it's a bug).
Fuel tank main (or reserve if preferred) on
Radiator on.
Throttle to 20%
Start engine.
Wait until the oil temperature hits 16 degrees C (15 to 20 seconds).
Pulse brakes to unlock them.
Take off.
Hit the landing gear control 3 or 4 times to neutral, lower and then raise the gear.

In flight set Rotol prop to 75% to 80% and run all the time with the boost ON (Boost knob out) unless low of gas in main and reserve tanks. (Boost knob in opens the supercharger waste gate and runs the engine in economy mode).

Top airspeed in level flight with this configuration is 280 MPH (10 MPH faster than the Spitfire I) with the canopy closed. With the canopy open (for maximum visibility and to hear 109's / 110's / G-50's behind you 4 second before they can take a shot!!) the top air speed is 260 MPH in level flight.

Maximum dive speed in Hurricane Rotol is 430 MPH (aerolons fall off at 440 MPH and wings at 525 MPH). The 109 has compressibility control lock at 370 MPH by comparison. The 110 can dive to 860 KPH and remain in one piece, so will always win a "who can out dive who" contest.

The Hurricane with the DH 5-20 prop is faster at high altitudes and has longer range. It has poor acceleration at low altitude but does sip at the fuel. Good for bomber escort missions on the TWC Campaign server.

On the Hurricane DH 5-20, Set the prop to coarse pitch (20 degree pitch setting) as soon as airborne or risk blowing the engine. Do not exceed 360 MPH in a dive with this prop as it DOES NOT FREE SPIN like the Rotol prop so will over rev the engine even on a closed throttle. One's dogfighting technique has to take this into account. Best to steer clear of the DH 5-20 prop versions if one is a rookie.

The Hurricane can outturn, out roll and out dive the 109, G-50 and Spitfire. I have no problems sorting out 109's or G-50's with it. It just takes experience and technique with the Hurricane. It also carried 2 seconds more ammo than the Spitfire.

[stringbeanmuldoon]

Just spent 3 days experimenting with voice command, freetrack and the controls settings in game and I think I have finally found the ideal mix. Looking forward to playing with the mission editor to create some single player missions. Overall seems like a nice sim and looking forward to the release of the Tobruk dlc. Thanks for the tips and great video.

[yotheguy]

Good job on the video, and thank's for the kind words for TFS.

keep them come!!

[owenmathews]

Thanks for the tutorial Waggaz! Been wanting this game for years but had a MAC, finally bought a PC and am downloading the game as i type. Looking forward to this, thanks for the tips hopefully a few still playing the game.

[johnpatrickfay]

I understand your frustration when it was originally released, it was fubar on release.
Way to go TM, looking forward to 5.

[old_guard]

Thanks, Waggaz. I bought an earlier version, but did not have the patience to make it actually work. As with other commenters, I am considering investing in this version now that the 1C have taken it over. Compared with "Great Battles" there is the variety of planes and I think a better balance between the Axis and Allied planes. It is frustrating to be stuck with second-line fighters such as the P-39 and P-40 against first-line Axis fighters. (Noting that this is getting rectified to a degree in Bodenplatte.)

[UVRII]

Salve
Problema con IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover Blitz: missioni rapide
Nella pagina iniziale, delle missioni rapide, è sparita la finestra centrale che mostra l’aereo dove, con doppio click, si apre una nuova finestra con tutti gli aerei. Finestra che rende possibile la scelta dell’aereo da utilizzare. Come si può risolvere?
Grazie

Greetings
Problem with IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover Blitz: Quick missions
On the home page of the quick missions, the central window showing the plane has disappeared where, with a double click, a new window opens with all the planes. Window that makes it possible to choose the aircraft to use. How can this be solved?
Thank you

[dogbadger]

How Does CloD/Blitz compare to great battles series in terms of flying models and realism? Does great battles have the similar options such as custom ammo belts and bomb fuze setting? How does the full mission builder compare to the one in Cliffs?
I love CloD as it complements1946 by having a study of the one theatre that was ommited previously - I was initially put of Il2 Stalingrad as it offered far less content than FB and phaps lacked the realism of Cliffs - but I might be wrong about the latter presumption.

[PeterWTaylor]

Thanks for a very helpful review, that may keep me going for a bit. Just bought this game and first impression was it was nowhere near as good or user friendly as Ils2 1946. Just did my training on the Tiger Moth which wobbled about like a jelly on quicksand. I've flown gliders for many years and a real Tiger Moth and I'm yet to find a sim that gets anywhere near a real life flight experience. Real planes are 'much' easier to fly, although real crosswind landings are a bit 'OMG'.

[DMAX_DIY]

Holy Crap! That looks like a challenge! I have built my motion sim during the lockdown and need to go flying.. I'm going to get this game and spend many frustrating hours crashing etc.. Thanks so much!! DMAX Oh yeah.. like the way you handled parliament! (Mississippi USA)

[micahtritscher]

Haha love the video!! Might end up giving it a go finally!

[mfuller]

Great tutorial for this ''frakenstein monster'' thank you.

[maxdelater]

Great video, funny even. Didn't expect that

[paulneil]

2:20 hahaha that's literally the first thing I did when I got this game,

[VWLBlue]

"Take that Theresa May", brilliant, but even more so now, "Take that Boris Johnson!!!!"

[stix_]

RE: Loadout: Just FYI, (may have changed since video made but..)
Under options/plane (from main menu only) you can customise plane loadouts outside multiplayer. Note however that all single player missions use loadout that was programmed when mission created and not the loadout shown, which is why you can't change loadout for offline play this way. However to use custom loadouts in any single player mission you can use the Full mission builder (Extras/FMB from main menu) to edit the loadouts (pretty easy to do once you know basics of using FMB (and FMB is almost exactly the same as the il-2 1946 FMB . If u search utube for "il-2 fmb" u can find vids on using the FMB) *Side note*: il-2 COD roots come from il-2 1946 same developer, and il-2 Great Battles roots come from Rise of flight, (different developer, same publisher, often confused)

[guycroxford]

Does anyone know what plane is on the menu in the thumbnail?

[johnspurr]

Hi there great video! May I ask do you know if you can change the squadron code in Single player - not a skin, just the code in player plane set up?

[DJSbros]

Why dont i have view settings? All i see is aircraft, turret and vehicle

[KuroHebi]

It seems like a great sim, but I'm hesitating on buying it because of one limitation: I have no joystick.

Do you think it's playable without one and just going pure mouse w/ keyboard, or should I invest in a joystick before playing?