Their Finest Hour: The Battle Of Britain (PC/DOS) 1989, Lucasfilm Games

The second of Lucasfilm Games' air combat simulations and follow-up to Battlehawks 1942, Their Finest Hour recreates the Battle of Britain during WWII in the summer of 1940.

Players can fly both for the German Luftwaffe and the British Royal Air Force.

On the British side, two planes are available: the Spitfire and the Hurricane. For the Germans, there is the fighter Bf 109, the heavy fighter/fighter bomber Bf 110, the infamous Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber, and the three light/medium bombers Do 17, He 111 and Ju 88.

Next to training missions for every plane, there are several historical combat missions to be flown. In accordance with history, most RAF missions consist of defense assignments - intercepting and destroying German bombers. Most Luftwaffe missions are attack runs - either flying the bomber escort or the bombers themselves. In the heavier planes, not only can the pilot of the plane be controlled, but also the gunner(s), and, in the bombers, the bombardier.

The special Campaign Mode allows one to actually change the historical outcome of the Battle of Britain. On a strategic map, planes must be organized into groups and assigned to missions, one of which must be flown. The outcome of that mission affects those of all others and also the status of the overall campaign. The British side wins by simply surviving for a certain time or by destroying enough German aircraft. The German side wins by destroying enough RAF fighters, either in the air or on the ground.

Also included in the game is a mission builder for designing custom missions, and a film playback option for reviewing recorded flight footage.

[Cujo]

My favorite game of all time. Couldn't even guess how many hours I spent playing this.

[ryangallagher]

I grew up playing this game. Many an all nighter playing this game as a youngster.

[ДЕНИСКрюков-цх]

In 1991, in Russia, my father brought home from work the magazine Aviationweek and it was advertising this game. Through year played in it and Battlehawks 1942
with pirate floppy disks

[zeus]

Remember the book that came with the game? It was fantastic. I wish they would make a game like this now, with modern graphics, but keep the RPG portion of it, by letting you create and develop pilots, design your nose art, customize your cockpit and plane, etc. Get to know your squad mates.... feel it when they get killed or shot down. How cool would that be??

[TheGameCollector]

The nostalgia is strong with this one! I remember playing this game a lot on our 386 in my childhood! 😊

[antartis]

This game was amazing in its simplicity yet it was so immersive thanks to the research put into it and it made you feel that you were a part of the greater picture of the Battle of Britain. Being able to fly all the featured aircraft and man every position, Performing dive bombing attacks, planning the raids with a strategic goal to destroy the Radar installations then the airfields and factories and manage to pave the way for the ‘Sea Lion’ campaign was superb. Completing the campaigns with the winning screen was the cherry on top of a brilliant game.

[winternow]

Ah the memories. Played this around 1990 on my 286 in CGA. I remember that at some really pivotal moments on a mission it felt like time was slowing down and I thought wow, this is dramatic. Eventually I realized it was just my 286 reaching the edges of its performance. Almost always flew the Spit. I tried saving my career under multiple names thinking I could basically create a squadron of pilots who had each shot down a thousand airplanes. In practice, when assigned as wingmen, they were as useless as stock ai pilots.

[Leemz]

wow this brings back a lot of fond memories. loved this game along with Blackhawks: 1942 and of course the fabulous: SWOTL - Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. Great games by Lucas Arts.

[thijsdejong]

Loved training pilotes and crew, never found any other game like this

[TheDoorman]

There was nothing like taking off in a bomber and hoping you'd make it to your target. Really got into this game.

[ReclusiarchLP]

So much nostalgia. :) Back then, due to not being able to really connect to anyone because no internet, I felt I was the only one playing this. So fun seeing the comments talking about this game, I was very much not alone enjoying this!

[teamski]

One of the first games I got for my Amiga back in the day. What a great game with excellent attention to detail. Great times they were!

[Thijsdejong]

Great game, played it for hours every weekend. I can't find a similar game with careermode on modern day PC.

[Trusteft]

One of the best games of its generation/genre.  Many hours were spent with it. :)

[ronbaldwin]

Wow, I completely forgot that I was a playtester on this product... Good old days.

[KingHaggis]

I remember bombing was very nice in this game, you could actually look down through the bay doors and see the bombs hitting their targets.

[Lemonidas]

PC-speaker sound: Making your airplane engine sound like a long continuous fart, since 1981.

[alexkilgour]

I loved this game. Played it on my 286.

[gitarafan]

I played it on my Amiga... 30 years ago and I loved this game.

[Colaris]

Great manual as well, full of background info if I recall correctly.