Aircraft list (and possible additions, in historical context)

[Airborne2001]

I wonder why the F4U got removed from the main set of aircraft...

It may have been due to the complexity of modern carrier modeling, which is understandable.

[MajorMagee]

The new country could just be South Korea. 😉

[Bell]

1 hour ago, Airborne2001 said:

I wonder why the F4U got removed from the main set of aircraft...

It may have been due to the complexity of modern carrier modeling, which is understandable.

yup when I saw this post nine days ago I thought Avimimus wrote it wrong until I saw the preorder detail.Corsair was on the list when Korea was announced.La-11 and F9F-2 were announced last.

Spoiler

LukeFF said there would be USMC F9F-2 career option and F4U-4 seems to be Marine too.

Spoiler

But LukeFF hinted there would be carrier based Corsair and Panther on July 8th.

Spoiler

 

[Airborne2001]

3 hours ago, Bell said:

yup when I saw this post nine days ago I thought Avimimus wrote it wrong until I saw the preorder detail.Corsair was on the list when Korea was announced.La-11 and F9F-2 were announced last.

  Reveal hidden contents

LukeFF said there would be USMC F9F-2 career option and F4U-4 seems to be Marine too.

  Reveal hidden contents

But LukeFF hinted there would be carrier based Corsair and Panther on July 8th.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Okay so that is interesting then. My only theory is what I said with the difficulty in modeling modern carriers. Perhaps they are waiting a bit longer for this purpose? If that's what needs to be done, then I see it as fine enough, though at least a USMC aircraft would be nice IMO.

[gecko]

As much as I'd love a Seafire, wasn't its tour prior to our start date of early 1951? F-82 would have the same problem with it's most intense period of use being the early months.

That said, I'd love to see the opening moves of the war brought to the sim along with the above planes. It would require a bigger map, and I don't know if that is considered feasible or not. Desperate ground pounding missions for the UN side trying to help the troops hang on along the Pusan perimeter, and absolutely overwhelming odds for the North Korean pilots would make for some intense and interesting missions. 

Whether it's early war, or naval, or filling in what they already have more thoroughly before branching out, or something else, I hope any future DLCs are focused on covering one new aspect well rather than a piecemeal smattering.

[Calos_01]

I would say that Firefly is somewhat underrepresented in this thread.🙂

The Admiralty sometimes tried to explore somewhat blind alleys, resulting in rather unusual types of aircraft, which, however, often proved quite successful in the end. I hope that one day we will even see the Skua in the sim (not in Korea of course :-)).

Edited December 7, 2025 by Calos_01

[Avimimus]

2 hours ago, gecko said:

As much as I'd love a Seafire, wasn't its tour prior to our start date of early 1951? F-82 would have the same problem with it's most intense period of use being the early months.

Yes, quite true. I could see a second DLC which expands the timeline - a couple of aircraft from the start of the war, a couple of aircraft from the end of the war... it could be quite popular.

Isn't Inchon on the map? So, it should be able to go as early as Sept/Oct 1950? I gather 800 Squadron's first attack was against modern day Haeju - so it should be on the map. They also were active at Inchon, Nampo, as well as areas off the map to the south. They even attack Wonsan and the outskirts of Pyongyang. So I don't think the map alone is a reason to not include them.

 

11 hours ago, Airborne2001 said:

I wonder why the F4U got removed from the main set of aircraft...

It may have been due to the complexity of modern carrier modeling, which is understandable.

I'm pretty sure they didn't want to commit to a carrier until they'd done enough testing to sure they could do it right, and in a timely way. So, thy planned to offer the F4U and F9F as Marine squadrons operating off land bases. I suspect carrier technology has developed more smoothly than anticipated, so they've decided it was convenient for everyone to regroup the carrier aircraft into their own expansion (instead of having them only operate off land bases). But that is just my guess.

6 minutes ago, Calos_01 said:

I would say that Firefly is somewhat underrepresented in this thread.🙂

 

Yes, British Carriers wouldn't look right without it - I'm holding a slight hope that it'll be there as an AI aircraft someday. They did see a lot of action.

[BlitzPig_EL]

AI Firefly??

Poppycock sir!

I want to fly that Griffon powered beast of an aeroplane!!

Good day sir!

😁

[BlitzPig_EL]

[Airborne2001]

21 hours ago, Bell said:

yup when I saw this post nine days ago I thought Avimimus wrote it wrong until I saw the preorder detail.Corsair was on the list when Korea was announced.La-11 and F9F-2 were announced last.

 

11 hours ago, Avimimus said:

I'm pretty sure they didn't want to commit to a carrier until they'd done enough testing to sure they could do it right, and in a timely way. So, thy planned to offer the F4U and F9F as Marine squadrons operating off land bases. I suspect carrier technology has developed more smoothly than anticipated, so they've decided it was convenient for everyone to regroup the carrier aircraft into their own expansion (instead of having them only operate off land bases). But that is just my guess.

I checked the website again, and the "Founders Edition" includes access to upcoming 2026 DLC which has "5 yet undisclosed aircraft, their unique liveries and a new layer of interaction with the game world". So not only are new aircraft going to be coming not too long after the release, but it appears that they will bring different things to the game from the base plane set. Theoretically speaking, this could include some carrier or at least USMC operations.

[Bell]

21 hours ago, Airborne2001 said:

Okay so that is interesting then. My only theory is what I said with the difficulty in modeling modern carriers. Perhaps they are waiting a bit longer for this purpose? If that's what needs to be done, then I see it as fine enough, though at least a USMC aircraft would be nice IMO.

I forget to say the Corsair they make is F4U-4E,so maybe they are busy testing radar.

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/88935-brief-room-episode-5-commander-career-and-museum/#comments

[Bell]

2 hours ago, Bell said:

I forget to say the Corsair they make is F4U-4E,so maybe they are busy testing radar.

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/88935-brief-room-episode-5-commander-career-and-museum/#comments

Sorry it seems wrong.There's almost no information about the F4U-4E online, let alone its participation in the Korean War. To be honest, I was surprised when I first saw the F4U-4E because I'd never heard of it before.

[Bell]

F9F was said to be placeholder but it was finally confirmed,so I thought the F4U-4E was also coming.Sorry.

[Airborne2001]

9 hours ago, Bell said:

F9F was said to be placeholder but it was finally confirmed,so I thought the F4U-4E was also coming.Sorry.

No you're fine because this definitely is confusing lol. Okay so at least we know that the F9F will arrive at some point. I'd assume that it might be a part of those five teased aircraft based on how LukeFF is presenting it here.

[Avimimus]

Just remember that these are all you assumptions... same goes with the idea that a carrier will be in the expansion... nothing is official yet in terms of confirmation as to what the plans actually are.

[Mors]

On 11/29/2025 at 8:29 PM, Valis said:

From a historical context, I would love to see these implemented. From a flight model perspective, I would love to learn how to fly these. From a game perspective all sorts of mission possibilities open up, from medevac to search and rescue and reconnaissance. 

Edited December 8, 2025 by Mors

[Bell]

On 12/7/2025 at 11:39 AM, Bell said:

But LukeFF hinted there would be carrier based Corsair and Panther on July 8th.

  Reveal hidden contents

Sorry again this sentence doesn't mean the hint of carrier based Corsair and Panther.I understood it wrong.

[Talisman]

On 11/29/2025 at 10:47 PM, BlitzPig_EL said:

I'd rather see one of the Sikorski birds, as they would be far more useful.   H-19 in particular.

 

In terms of historically revolutionary aircraft in common use, helicopters are the most glaring omission from the aircraft list at the moment.

Flyable Sikorski birds, not just AI versions, very much deserve a place here in my humble opinion.  

Happy landings,

Talisman

Edited December 9, 2025 by Talisman

[Airborne2001]

I'd love to see this, even just as an AI:

The B-45 tends to get under-represented in a lot of different games/simulators, which surprises me given that it was the first operational jet bomber of the US. The main variant used in Korea was the RB-45C reconaissance variant, which apparently represented the first jet bomber shot down by another jet aircraft (MiG-15). I'm not sure if the regular bomber variant was used over Korea or not.

[Hoss]

On 12/8/2025 at 10:02 PM, Bell said:

Sorry again this sentence doesn't mean the hint of carrier based Corsair and Panther.I understood it wrong.

Marines flew Panthers and Corsairs from shore..

 

[Avimimus]

2 hours ago, Airborne2001 said:

The main variant used in Korea was the RB-45C reconaissance variant, which apparently represented the first jet bomber shot down by another jet aircraft (MiG-15). I'm not sure if the regular bomber variant was used over Korea or not.

Just the photo reconnaissance variant (RB-45C) was deployed in Korea. Interesting plane though, and recon does have outsized impacts on the war!

[Turbo-Mouse]

I think the F2H-2 Banshee would make a great addition at some point, and would complement the F9F-2 Panther. It is powered by two Westinghouse J34-WE-34 of 3,250 lbf each and armed with four 20mm cannons in the nose. I think the later improved all-weather radar equipped -3 or -4 variants arrived too late/didn't see any action in the Korean War.

F2H-2 fighters to have served with:

VF-172 "Blue Bolts" during August 1951 - March 1952 from USS Essex CV-9

VF-11 "Red Rippers" during August 1952 - March 1953 from USS Kearsarge CV-33 

Also VF-22 "Cavaliers" and VF-62 "Gladiators" undertook combat operations late in the war June-July 1953 from USS Lake Champlain CVA-39

 

[Mysticpuma]

I'll reiterate my previous point, the Skyraider really was a massive workhorse for ground pounding, carried a huge load out and really should be one of the essential aircraft modelled for this theatre.

[oscar]

Im very dissapointed a flyable Douglas A-1 Skyraider isnt featured in the upcoming Il-2 Korea theatre. This airplane was used heavily in the Korean war, despite "just" being a propeller plane. In fact, apart from the flyable P-51D Mustang to serve the Korean ground attack role, and the fact that  we already had the P-51 in the previous games IL-2 Korea, seems to lack a real dedicated ground pounder like the P-47 in IL-2 FB. Dont get me wrong, Il-2 Korea looks very sweet and interesting, but given the fact that the IL-2 titles are expensive, (dont even get me started on the hefty price that can buy you a whole new place for addon planes, and the fact a flyable B-29 seems to be unlikely along the way i think i will pass on buying this one... 

[Jade_Monkey]

The Founders Edition comes with 5 unnannounced planes that will come as DLC. It's hard to imagine that the Skyraider not one of the top contenders for that list.