The Wargamer

Introduction

High Flight

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew -
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

- John Gillespie Magee, Jr

On 3 September 1941, Magee flew a newer model of the Spitfire V. The purpose of this sortie was to test the new Spitfire’s high altitude performance. As he orbited and climbed upward, Magee was moved by a poem, To touch the face of God.

Feet now firmly on the ground, he wrote a letter to his parents detailing his recent experience. In it he commented, "I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed." On the back of the letter was his poem, High Flight.

Nothing stirs the human heart quite like piloting an aircraft. For some, like John Magee, it is a religious experience. Flying, for me, has been my profession for the past 23 years and my passion for as long as I can remember. Microsoft, in their Flight Sim series attempts to simulate the flying experience on the PC.

The Game

Flight Sim X comes in two different editions, standard and deluxe. The standard edition is 2 DVD’s and includes: 18 airplanes, 40 high-detail airports, 28 high detail cities, and over 30 structured missions. The deluxe edition is 2 DVD’s and includes: 24 airplanes, 45 high-detail airports, 38 high-detail cities, more than 50 structured missions and Tower controller.

This preview copy seems to be a hybrid of the two different versions.

The demo version contains two missions. The first mission has players flying an Air Creation Buggy 582SL Trike and their mission is to flour bomb targets. It’s off to the Caribbean in a CRJ700 for the demo’s final mission. I highly recommend this 700+MB demo to anyone remotely interested in the game.