Gonna be releasing one Ww2 fighter every day for the next 6 days. These are all inspired by the realistic dogfighting and flight models from Il-2 and Warthunder. They are designed to dogfight against AI or other humans in multiplayer.

Each model has individual & very fine tuned armaments, health models, acrobatics, speeds, fuels, cockpit models, gunsights, gforce values ect. - All the good stuff that works together to create realistic fighters that fly like the real deal.

Planned list of fighters released by next month:

P-47D 'Jug'
Fw190 'Wuger'
P-51C 'Mustang'
Bf109 'Messer'
Mk.XIV 'Griffon'
Mk.IIb 'Spitfire'
La-5FN 'Lavochin'
Mig-3 'Istre'
A6M2 'Reisen'
Ki-84 'Hayate'
...Then more!

I'm releasing AI flyable versions of each of these fighters too, which have a far lower part count and fixed yaw as well as various other changes to help the AI really test your dogfighting skills.

This next part is just going into detail on how I've tried to hit that realism mark.

Health
I've divided each aircraft into three sectors (wing, fuselage, tail), with each sector having a limited overall hitpoint count that's divided over how many pieces make up that sector. The purpose of this is to prevent a high piece sector, like a spitfire wing (6 large wing pieces fitted together) from being much harder to shoot down compared to other aircraft with less pieces (like the Bf109, which has just one main wing piece)

Next, those values are increased/decreased depending on the structural toughness of the aircraft. Tough fighters like the Juggernaut has its values increased to 160% while more fragile, lighter fighters like the Zero has its hp values decreased to 70%.

Armaments
I found a great reference that goes into great detail on WW2 weapon damage - http://www.quarryhs.co.uk/WW2guneffect.htm

I built the health system around using the 'cartridge power' value, to be pretty accurate. Historically, two or three good Hispano hits on a Bf109 was enough to disable it, possibly even cut off a wing or tail - and that's exactly what happens in this system too. The tough part was getting those shots to land ;) I also added impact force for the larger weapons, if you get an AI on your back you can really feel your aircraft shrudder if cannon rounds punch into your wings.

Spitfire's 2 x Hispano - fires powerful rounds that deal 20 damage, inaccurate, slow rate of fire.

Jug's 8 x Late Brownings - High rate of fire, shots deal 4.2 damage , high velocity, very accurate.

Me262's 4 x Mk108 - Stupidly powerful at 58 damage, one hit wrecks any fighter, but still required four or five good hits to take out a B-17 Fortress.

Acrobatics
I basically jumped into Warthunder and recorded the seconds it took to complete a full roll and 360 degree turn each at 1,000 - 5,000 - 10,000 ft. Full fuel capacity, max speed, simulator settings. Took those values and edited the control surfaces of my fighters until they could turn and roll at the same values.

Speeds & Fuel
Again Warthunder is pretty good at showing the correct fuel tank placements but the simpleplanes engines have a very strange 'horsepower' and 'rpm' value that work together to get different speeds at different altitudes, so its basically took trial and error to get the engines running at their correct speeds at 1k, 5k and 10k. For example, P-47D-25 would never get beyond 310mph at sea level flight, but take that altitude to 10k and suddenly the lighter air means you'd reach 330mph. Add in that famous supercharger and it tips up to 360mph. Go into a dive and you'd hit 470mph, enough to catch and kill a Me262, which some few lucky american pilots did.

Cockpits
Each fighter has an accurate looking yet low part count cockpit model built in, the gunsight is unique for every design and the colours of the reflector light contrasts the colours of the tracer colours. The deflector rings work great for sniping your target at turning angles, so use them well. The camera is hooked up to two hinges that mimic g-forces, the values of these motion hinges are directly taken from the roll/pitch rates of the aircraft to show off that pressure the pilots would have been under in those tight curves.

I recommend following if you'd like updates on the 6 first fighters releasing over the next few days, I have a LOT more planned after this further down the line.