Retro Room • Playing B-17 Flying Fortress like it's 1992
65B-17 Flying Fortress (aka B-17 Flying Fortress: World War II Bombers in Action) was released by Microprose in 1992 for PC and in 1993 for Amiga and Atari ST. It was developed by Vektor Grafix Ltd - UK based company known for the Fighter Bomber (aka Strike Aces). They later used the engine developed for B-17 in Dogfight (aka Air Duel) : 80 Years of Aerial Warfare.
It depicted a struggle of the brave man that flew those mighty bombers over Fortress Europe in WW2. Instead of a apparent flight sim, this was more like a bomber-crew managment simulator. It was really in-depth, you could man every crew position or let AI to control it. Every station had its purpose in the game, even radio man or navigator.
In 2000 in an attempt to promote the sequel - The Mighty Eight, Hasbro/Microprose has released the original B-17 Flying Fortress game as freeware to be downloaded at the developer's site. In 2021 it was re-released by new Microprose, nicely packaged with a DOSBox launcher and even some modding tools.
There is also upcoming Steam Early Access release of the Mighty Eight Redux on 23rd pf January (next week!), an updated version of the sequel, which was even more detailed both in presentation and in content. You can grab it here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2000800/B17_Flying_Fortress__The_Mighty_8th_Redux/
With Masters of the Air coming out soon, the interest in those games will be high I presume.
Retro Room Series:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIku_oD9y-RBYXzRcomKIaKpxLDSJCdlZ
EmuVR:
https://www.emuvr.net/
0:00 Checking out the new posters
1:07 Game intro
1:34 ;)
3:30 Select bomber screen
3:46 Meet the crew
5:22 Campagin history
5:41 Mission briefing
6:37 Recon
7:54 Config menu
8:14 Mission start
9:45 Compartment view
10:18 Chin turret
10:41 Cheek gun
11:00 Navigator map
11:07 Top turret
11:21 Ball turret
11:37 Waist guns
12:00 Tail turret
13:02 Alconburry airfield overwiev
14:16 Take off
15:36 Radio operator - sending him to see bomb compartment
16:25 Formation seen from the cockpit
16:51 Time skipping
17:55 Cross-checking landmarks with the map to limit nav errors
19:11 Approaching Dutch coast - bandits sighted
20:20 Looks like engine 4 got hit - loosing oil
21:40 Director view mode
22:11 Scratch one fighter!
23:00 Checking out engine instruments - lower oil press on 4
23:54 Updating nav position
24:35 More fighters!
26:10 This ain't good - engine 2 on fire, tail hit and on fire
26:40 Fire is out, now to unjam the turret
27:17 Engine 2 stopped, we need to extinguish the fire
27:36 Firing extinguisher on engine 2 - fire is out
29:40 Accelerating time to reach IP
30:22 Flak over Brussels
34:32 Docks at Antwerp in sight - starting bomb run
34:56 Norden Bomsight
36:46 Bomb release cue - bombs away
39:45 More bandits
40:26 Another bandit down!
41:50 Looks like another one of ours is going down - only 3 left
43:40 Approaching Endhoven - more flak
46:01 Looks like we are too slow to keep in formation
46:35 Engine 4 finally seized up, and more bandits...
46:45 Fire extinguisher wasn't able to put out the fire on 4
47:05 Now engine 1 lost fuel pressure and stopped
47:27 Lets try to choke the fire out with increased airflow
48:25 Wow that worked! ... but not for long
49:30 I'm afraid this crate is done for
50:20 Sending distress message and bailing out over the water
51:15 What luck, we were picked up to fight another day!
51:35 Mission debriefing
51:52 Recommending decorations
#retrogaming #mastersoftheair #flyingfortress