Dev Blog #71: Airfield Objects

[LukeFF]

Hey everyone!

The new Dev Diaries are dedicated to airfield inventory. Technicians, fuel depots, rocket and bomb carts, and half-disassembled planes—all of this is at the airfield for a reason and a purpose.

If you haven't been to an active military airfield, you can immerse yourself in this world and learn about the intricacies of its life in the article on the official website: https://media.il2-korea.com/news/dd_71

[Avimimus]

Fantastic as always!

I sometimes find it hard to believe this is all real.

[Jade_Monkey]

Where are the technicians?? Saving the people for a different DD?

THIS is exactly what I wished for GB, and I’m very glad it was not left out of Korea. I really like the variety of objects and their graphical quality.

Eagerly awaiting the release of the game!!

[sevenless]

👍

[Lofte]

I think such images for airfields in North Korea and even southern China would have been impossible given the dominance of American air power. Especially during the period the game is stated to begin with. All of this had to be dispersed and camouflaged, risking destruction otherwise.

[Aapje]

When do we get a collab with https://store.steampowered.com/app/803980/Plane_Mechanic_Simulator/ ?

[Jade_Monkey]

2 hours ago, Lofte said:

I think such images for airfields in North Korea and even southern China would have been impossible given the dominance of American air power. Especially during the period the game is stated to begin with. All of this had to be dispersed and camouflaged, risking destruction otherwise.

I'm not a Korean war historian, but pretty sure Americans were not allowed to fly over China? 

[Dash,Polder]

Apologizing in advance for my flagrant border violations. 

[Reisen]

Not officially allowed, but they definitely did.

[Kongo]

4 hours ago, Lofte said:

I think such images for airfields in North Korea and even southern China would have been impossible given the dominance of American air power. Especially during the period the game is stated to begin with. All of this had to be dispersed and camouflaged, risking destruction otherwise.

you do know UN forces were not allowed to bomb aifields in Manchuria, right? They also didn´t do any of that. The only thing that happened discretely were F-86 sabres crossing the North Korean-Chinese border at the Yalu river looking for Migs to shootdown. Moreso in the latter part of the war, not really early on.

[Juri_JS]

I hope this time mission builder will get placeable ground crews and not just people randomly walking around.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

1 hour ago, Juri_JS said:

I hope this time mission builder will get placeable ground crews and not just people randomly walking around.

Speaking of ground crews, with so much emphasis in the blog text being put on airfields being a "hive of constant activity" with repair work going on and rifle companies marching about, I cannot spot any ground crew in the images. Are they just not finished yet or will this be a step down compared to GB?

[AcesDarthBubu]

Impressive. Any of those items destructible? 

[Lofte]

17 hours ago, Kongo said:

you do know UN forces were not allowed to bomb aifields in Manchuria, right? They also didn´t do any of that. The only thing that happened discretely were F-86 sabres crossing the North Korean-Chinese border at the Yalu river looking for Migs to shootdown. Moreso in the latter part of the war, not really early on.

And did YOU know that all of this was nothing more than bureaucratic *** for politicians?

"Many senior Air Force leaders not only condoned but encouraged pilots like Risner to break the rule that prohibited pursuit of MiGs into China. In fact, the top pilots routinely crossed the border. They did so both in hot pursuit and as part of preplanned missions that flagrantly broke the rules. Two-thirds of the 39 American jet aces crossed the Yalu, including the three leading aces. Eight of 11 pilots who scored 10 or more kills admitted after the war that they had crossed into Manchuria. General John Roberts remarked, “There were a lot of airplanes shot down in Korea by guys who…[did] not necessarily play by the rules.”

Sabre pilots were encouraged by the lax attitude of senior leaders, whom they expected would wink at border violations. For the most part their assumption was correct. After watching a radar display that showed two F-86 pilots twice circling a Chinese airfield 100 miles beyond the border, General Frank Everest, commander of the Fifth Air Force from June 1951 to May 1952, pretended to angrily storm into the postflight debrief and threaten the two pilots with court-martial. He then stomped out of the room and slammed the door. Moments later, he poked his head back in the room and said, “And furthermore, if you are going to violate the Manchurian border, for Dog’s sake turn off the damn IFF [identification friend or foe].” Likewise, General Glenn Barcus, the Fifth Air Force commander after Everest, told pilots during one premission brief to “Screw the Yalu!”

https://historynet.com/mig-madness-the-air-war-over-korea/

Even if they hadn't bombed, if someone had fired on the airfield or dropped a bomb, they would have simply been scolded and that would have been the end of it.

Edited May 2 by LukeFF
Language

[LuftManu]

Great work on the airfields! You can see already this in the newer maps in GB. This is taken to the next level 🙂

Will help a lot for inmersion and also for mission builders!!!

[Bell]

Airfield ground handling trailer function when?And after seeing the exposed engine,engine test bench when?😁

 

[KC23]

Very well done, but of course, you know you need to have people and maybe some wildlife to really pull in the vibe of it being alive.

[Red_Dragon]

It probably doesn't really fit this topic.. But is it possible to hope for the right ATC in multiplayer mode and in co-op? Real-time air traffic control..  Okay, a more appropriate question for this topic..will there be an air traffic control tower?? And if there is a tower, will it really function?? 

[JG1_Vonrd]

I didn't know that the Mustang could do reverse thrust...

[Dash,Polder]

Hope they would consider doing a few junked aircraft to litter about the airfield periphery and also usable for crash scenes out in the country with custom built missions.  Be cool if you could set the model a few meters up and have it drop and crack into pieces on mission start, so it would always look random with scattered broken sub-assemblies. 

[Kongo]

On 5/2/2026 at 12:24 PM, Lofte said:

And did YOU know that all of this was nothing more than bureaucratic *** for politicians?

"Many senior Air Force leaders not only condoned but encouraged pilots like Risner to break the rule that prohibited pursuit of MiGs into China. In fact, the top pilots routinely crossed the border. They did so both in hot pursuit and as part of preplanned missions that flagrantly broke the rules. Two-thirds of the 39 American jet aces crossed the Yalu, including the three leading aces. Eight of 11 pilots who scored 10 or more kills admitted after the war that they had crossed into Manchuria. General John Roberts remarked, “There were a lot of airplanes shot down in Korea by guys who…[did] not necessarily play by the rules.”

Sabre pilots were encouraged by the lax attitude of senior leaders, whom they expected would wink at border violations. For the most part their assumption was correct. After watching a radar display that showed two F-86 pilots twice circling a Chinese airfield 100 miles beyond the border, General Frank Everest, commander of the Fifth Air Force from June 1951 to May 1952, pretended to angrily storm into the postflight debrief and threaten the two pilots with court-martial. He then stomped out of the room and slammed the door. Moments later, he poked his head back in the room and said, “And furthermore, if you are going to violate the Manchurian border, for Dog’s sake turn off the damn IFF [identification friend or foe].” Likewise, General Glenn Barcus, the Fifth Air Force commander after Everest, told pilots during one premission brief to “Screw the Yalu!”

https://historynet.com/mig-madness-the-air-war-over-korea/

Even if they hadn't bombed, if someone had fired on the airfield or dropped a bomb, they would have simply been scolded and that would have been the end of it.

Yes , sabres crossed often into manchuria hush hush. Even senior officer pilots like Bud Mahurin and Gabreski did this specially in late 51 and onwards. However the only thing to crash into a Chinese airfield was a Mig 15 after being riddled with bullets from Robbie Risner OR  Kasler (iirc) in 1952. 

Otherwise nor Andong nor Tatung kao have been bombed or straffed by UN aircraft, to not tempt further involvement of the USSR. If you research far enough you will see a nice colour aerial photo of Sinuiju or Uiju airfield just south of the Yalu taken in 1951 with shiny mig 15s on the flight line and in reventments, clear for all to see. There are also photos of The chinese airfields and same result.

Edited May 5 by Kongo

[BlitzPig_EL]

Doesn't mean we can't attack them in the sim.

MUHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

 

[Lofte]

2 hours ago, Kongo said:

If you research far enough you will see a nice colour aerial photo of Sinuiju or Uiju airfield just south of the Yalu taken in 1951 with shiny mig 15s on the flight line and in reventments, clear for all to see. There are also photos of The chinese airfields and same result.

I only have photo of Sinuiju like this. Can you mark the place "with shiny mig 15s" here?

[PaperPilot]

It would be nice to see a redone Battle of Stalingrad title in the new series one day. I'd like to see how they would present air fields there. It would be more realistic and more detailed, I am sure.

Edited May 6 by PaperPilot

[Kongo]

On 5/5/2026 at 9:08 PM, Lofte said:

I only have photo of Sinuiju like this. Can you mark the place "with shiny mig 15s" here?

Sure ,

South of the Yalu 

 

 

Edited May 6 by Kongo