Flying Corps - Playing Guide

GENERAL FLYING TIPS
Many people scoff at flight sims, claiming that they are all the same. However, 
Flying Corps exposes this myth better than any other. Air-to-air combat in 
biplanes is very different from all this modern business with jets, radar and HUDs. 
The low power of these aircraft makes gaining altitude while manoeuvring 
extremely difficult. Therefore having a height advantage over your opponent 
gives you the chance to decide when and how to initiate combat. As a result, 
tactics and dogfighting are more important in historical fighters than their 
technology-led modern-day counterparts.
The lack of radar means you can literally fly up to the enemy if you know where 
his blindspot is, and as for a HUD, well, you have a few dials, a compass and gun-
sight - not much really. But without the advanced technology it becomes a battle 
of wits, skill and instinct as opposed to loosing off a couple of Mavericks and 
turning for home. This is why men such as Von Richtofen and Albert Ball were 
able to win so many battles and stand out against the backdrop of carnage that was 
the First World War.
The aircraft in Flying Corps are among the first real fighter aircraft ever built, and 
their designs reflect the different tactics that the pilots used in combat. The two 
most important properties in a fighter are speed and quick turning, but an 
improvement in one will limit the other. Knowing your aircrafts abilities and the 
abilities of your opponent will mean the difference between life and death.

DOGFIGHTING
In a dogfight you have to keep your head. There is no point in rabidly chasing one 
enemy plane when you have another enemy about to dive on to your tail. These 
are frail planes, so try to spray as many of them as quickly as possible - just a few 
bullets are needed to affect the performance of your opponents, and many pilots 
will turn for home as soon as they are hit. Learn to turn (both vertically and 
horizontally) without losing height and then see how far you can ease down the 
throttle while keeping your nose up. This is the key because the slower youre 
going the smaller your turning circle is. 
Always make saving your wingmen a priority. If you see an enemy closing in on 
one of your men, join the chase and try to save him. The slower, more agile 
aircraft like the Camel or the Fokker DR1 are perfect for dogfights because they 
are able to turn on a sixpence and therefore quickly shake off (or shoot down) 
their opponents. 
Squadron fighting may seem a random mess at first, but there is a semblance of 
order to it. At the point when the formation splits up it is vital that you dont start 
to pull sharp turns as you could go ploughing through your wingmen. A neat tactic 
is to dive under the approaching planes and then pull up and spray them as the 
two formations collide. Use your speed to climb your way to the top of the fight 
and find the enemy CO. Take him out (he is always the most skilled) and then 
work your way down, forcing the enemy aircraft lower and massing your 
squadron above them.

GROUND ATTACKS
When bombing a ground target you put yourself at great risk as you have to give 
up all your height and run the gauntlet of anti-aircraft guns that will almost 
certainly be guarding your victim. There are two different tactics I use, depending 
on what Im aiming at. For buildings and stationary targets I dive bomb my 
victims. This involves climbing and approaching the area at around 3,000 feet, 
then cutting your engines and diving at the target almost vertically. At 1,500 feet I 
power up again while still heading for the target. This is the tricky part now. You 
must release your bombs at the last moment possible while pulling up and away 
but not passing too low over the explosion. Youll damage your own plane if you 
go too low, so try to keep at least 100 feet away from the target. 
For the convoys or trains you should fly up behind them at around 150 feet and 
strafe them. This is always dangerous, but if they dont blow you out of the sky by 
the time you reach them, drop one bomb off and fly away at least 1,000 yards 
before you turn for another run. 
The tanks in Flying Corps generally drive along in lines next to each other, so a 
different approach is necessary. Fly at them from the side and let off no more than 
two bombs on each pass from a low altitude. They are normally so close together 
a hit is guaranteed.

ZOOMING 
Zooming is a technique used by the faster and less manoeuvrable aircraft like the 
Spad. Using the superior climb rate of your fighter, climb above your opponent 
until you are around 1,000 feet above them. Position yourself behind them and 
then slow your engines as you dive on your helpless victim. As you begin to get 
close to them pull up hard, put on full throttle and climb back to a safe distance 
where you can prepare for another dive. If youre doing it right, you should be yo-
yo-ing up and down just behind them. Care must be taken not to stall or overshoot 
your opponent, because youre likely to become the helpless target. Any of the 
fighters can use this technique against bombers as they are extremely slow.

GREED OR GENEROSITY
When leading a squadron you can make your job a lot easier by examining the 
mission briefs in detail first and then deciding on a formation. I use the above 
formations for the two very different jobs of hunting for kills to increase my 
personal score or trying to win a squadron vs squadron encounter while 
minimising our losses. 
Often the missions will contain much more than is shown in the description and 
this may mean that you get separated from your squadron or lose them to enemy 
fire. When alone you must climb as high as possible, because if you contact an 
enemy squadron that is above you, then youll be at their mercy (and they dont 
have any). If, however, you are a few thousand feet above them, you can continue 
to fly to your destination and they will not be able to catch up with you - when 
they climb they lose speed and you pull away from them. If youre on your way to 
a target, then remember that theyll be waiting for you on the way back. 
One general tip when youre trying to rack up as many kills as possible is to try to 
get damaged enemy aircraft as they fall out of the dogfight - whoever puts the last 
bullet in gets the kill. Also, try spraying bullets at a whole formation, because 
even though only a few bullets hit each plane there is always a chance they will hit 
the pilots or disable the plane and force a crash landing. If an enemy manages to 
pull off a crash landing and you dont see their aircraft explode, dive down and 
strafe them till they blow up. This is war, after all.

THE CAMPAIGNS
Flying Corps campaigns are the heart and soul of the game. Their dynamic 
progression and small differences make it impossible to provide a foolproof 
walkthrough, but the following will certainly help you take out the worst the 
enemy has to offer.

Flying Circus
In this campaign you lead Jasta 11 at a time when they were the undisputed rulers 
of the sky. 
Fearless and spirited, they became famous for their complete disregard for 
camouflage, which gave rise to the flamboyant, colourful paint schemes that 
earned them their nickname, The Flying Circus. Von Richtofen painted his plane 
red so his enemies would recognise him and immediately drop their loads. 
You play Lothar Richtofen, and have to deputise for the man himself while he 
takes a month off. Your objective is to take your kill score from 16 to above your 
brothers score of 52, as well as having a squadron left at the end of the month to 
hand back to your brother. During the campaign you may be able to attract some 
aces from other squadrons and turn some of your novices into aces. 
In the first mission you scramble as four bombers pass over the airfield without an 
escort - you should have no problems clocking up three or four kills. After the 
debrief you will get a choice of three missions, each in a different area.
Cambrai is definitely where the action is, but its a risky place to go and is often 
patrolled by the 56th squadron, which is led by the British ace Albert Ball. If you 
take all your wingmen, you risk losing the lot and being relieved of your 
command. If you take only a few, then youll almost certainly be outnumbered. 
The usual way to deal with this would be to save your position just before you 
take off and then if you did badly, you could go back to your save and change 
stuff round before trying again. Unfortunately, you cant do that in Flying Corps 
because there are lots of versions of each mission and you wont know the 
situation until youre in the middle of it. So play it safe and stay away from this 
area until you are confident that you can take a few losses. 
Douai is the second mission area and here you can take a few more flying risks 
and concentrate on your squadron management. The combat can still get intense 
but therell be plenty of opportunities to get easy kills, which will improve your 
score and the morale of your men. You should be the dominant force in this area. 
Douai is also an easy place to go hunting, but the lack of enemies may make it 
hard for you to attain a high enough score of kills while keeping the other pilots 
happy with theirs. 

Tank Battle 
In the Tank Battle campaign you are set the task of surviving a huge assault on the 
German lines by the British tanks backed up by artillery and the Royal Flying 
Corps. The campaign takes place over three days and your squadron is driven to 
the limit flying five missions per day and only returning to base to re-fuel and re-
arm.
When you start the first mission in this campaign you will be thrown into the 
middle of a surprise attack by the British against your airfield. Forget the 
buildings; you wont be able to save them. Concentrate on the trucks, which you 
see to your right as you take off, because theyre evacuating your supplies to a 
safer airfield and the more trucks you keep alive, the more planes you will have 
for the rest of the campaign. The trucks main threat is from the tanks, which are 
so close that if you dont take off immediately, youll ram them. Use up your 
bombs as soon as possible doing one or two low passes over the tanks. Then turn 
your attention to your wingman Otto Konnecke. Being a hero, Otto is trying to 
take out all the camels alone and will get himself killed unless you help him. You 
can either help him and have a killer wingman for the rest of the campaign or save 
the trucks and get more aircraft for the rest of the campaign. Nobody here has 
managed both... yet.
After the evacuation, your missions will all be planned on the map screen, where 
you have to position your squadrons waypoints. If you make that waypoint a 
group of enemy tanks, then your squadron will attack them automatically. When 
choosing waypoints try to defend the German anti-tank guns as theyre able to kill 
a few stray tanks but cannot withstand a full-on assault. If theyre also being 
bombed by the enemy fighters, you should engage these on sight. 
About halfway through the campaign things will probably start to look worrying. 
If the tanks reach the middle of the map, you must take out the bridges to prevent 
any of the tanks finding an easy path through the guns. Your superiors will start to 
encourage you to hit the enemy bases, but even if you have Otto, youll have to be 
in and out. Going in alone in an Albatross, diving vertically out of the clouds 
directly over the base and dropping my bombs on the enemy airfield is a tricky 
but effective way of bombing the large enemy hangars. After your dive you will 
have a lot of speed, which you should use to get out of there sharpish. Dont try to 
climb if youre being chased by camels.
By the third day you should be either picking off the remaining enemy ground 
units or frantically defending your last line of defence. If the latter is the case, 
then take as many planes up with you as you can and just attack the tanks, because 
they will have little air support. 

Hat In The Ring 
The Hat In The Ring campaign is all about glory-flying. As pilot in the American 
94th squadron you must work your way up the ranks until you take command of 
your own flight and eventually the squadron. The objective of this campaign is to 
win the Congressional Medal Of Honor. You get this by equalling the exploits of 
Eddie Rickenbacker, the American Ace of Aces.
At the start of this campaign you dont have control of your missions. Youll find 
the main difference is that the other planes will follow the squadron leader rather 
than yourself, and you must therefore do the same. This forces you to play the 
game differently because you have to stick with their plan and play as a team 
rather than steaming in and letting them clear up.
But, as Ive said, this one is about glory, so when the fighting does kick off, go in 
as fast as you can and try to take out a few extra enemies while your more 
cautious wingmen manoeuvre for position. Another good way to show how 
glorious you are is to dive to the rescue of any aircraft that are being attacked. 
Protect your bombers, but dont get distracted trying to finish off crippled 
opponents. 
When you do this, you may notice that your squadron is continuing to fly to its 
next waypoint, offering you no backup at all. The squadron leaders priority is to 
complete his mission successfully and safely rather than charging off to take on a 
squadron of Fokkers alone. Strange that, because after getting yourself promoted 
you may well be flying off into the distance and leaving your more reckless 
wingmen to fend for themselves because the missions get harder and much longer. 
As you advance through the ranks, a small icon becomes active on the left-hand 
side of your mission-selection screen. This takes you to the volunteer missions, 
which are in four separate groups.
The Balloon Busting is perfect for the lone pilot. Try to dive down below the 
balloon about 1,500 meters away from it, slow down and pull up to shoot at it. By 
doing this you get enough time to finish off the balloon in the first pass while not 
letting the man jump out.
The Three Fingered Lake is a good mission to accept once you have access to 
Spads. With the superior speed of the Spad its possible to zip around the lake 
taking out all three balloons and leave the enemy patrols behind before they can 
get close. The AA around the balloons is intense, to say the least, so keep up your 
speed. If you try to climb while youre still in range, youll be an easy shot. In the 
escort missions use a Nieuport because youll be able to manoeuvre quickly at 
low speed. Take your cavalier pilots with you in a separate flight with orders to 
engage all enemy aircraft on sight and they should be able to get a few kills in 
before the enemy aircraft get close to the aircraft youre defending. As the war 
and the campaign near their end, youll have to take up more and more dangerous 
missions. Whichever type of missions you choose to fly, make sure you finish the 
assigned tasks before you go glory-hunting.

SPRING OFFENSIVE
In the spring of 1918 the Germans launched a huge attack against the Allied lines 
to gain as much ground as they could before the Americans could deploy their full 
force to bolster the Allied lines. After the collapse of Russia, the Germans were 
able to recall large numbers of ground troops and nearly 1,700 aircraft were used 
against the British in an offensive so devastating that they were pushed back ten 
miles and suffered 38,000 casualties in just the first day.
After landing youll receive your two most important training missions. This first 
is staying within 100 meters of your COs tail, while hes pulling extreme 
manoeuvres for three minutes. To be honest, the only tip here is practice. The 
second is stalking your prey, and here youll want to climb above the clouds, cut 
your engines and dive down when the CO is about halfway to the base. For this 
one use the padlock views and information bars.
The outcome of each of these missions determines the forces available to each 
side in the final battle of the campaign. You must take the initiative in every battle 
and hit your assigned targets and the numerous enemy patrols on sight. As you 
gain control of the squadron, try to save the best pilots for ground attack missions. 
This will make a major impact on the outcome of the campaign.
The hardest mission is a suicidal attack on the home airfield of Jasta 11, deep 
behind enemy lines and swarming with Fokkers. I would seriously advise you to 
stay above the clouds until you get right over the airfield; even if your wingmen 
drop away into combat, youll have enough bombs to take out the two main 
hangars. Resist the temptation of helping your boys out and get rid of your bombs 
and the airbase in one go. Then try to fight your way back to the remains of your 
squadron. By the time you reach the last battle you should have a pretty good idea 
of how the war is going from the news and messages you receive. 
If the wars going badly, youll have only yourself to blame. Its an awfully large 
responsibility, but youll get a chance to level the scores in the final battle. On the 
final mission, youll have to stop the German tank and infantry attack on Amiens. 
Take everything you have and give at least three of your wingmen orders to attack 
any free enemy aircraft that enter the area. Dont bother with the infantry, just 
concentrate on the tanks. Ammo is a major issue in this battle as the tanks just 
soak up your machine gun fire. Its possible to get two tanks with one bomb by 
dropping the bomb dead in the middle between them. This battle is make or 
break: win, and win the campaign; lose, and lose all that hard work. But thats 
war.


AIRCRAFT THE PLAYER WILL FLY

German aircraft
Fokker DR1 
This triplane is a good dogfighting aircraft because of its sharp turning abilities 
and its fast climb rate, but this comes at the expense of top speed. I found the 
triplane excellent for strafing, bombing tanks and ground positions. They are also 
good for escort missions, as you can stay close to the aircraft you are defending 
and recover height quickly after a fight. 	

Albatross D111 
A fine and reliable plane, and a good choice for a beginner. Its speed and 
manoeuvrability can be combined at low to medium altitudes, enabling it to 
outperform most of the Allied aircraft. It also carries twin synchronised machine 
guns, which fire between the propeller blades cutting down enemy aircraft at a 
reassuring rate.

Allied aircraft 
Nieuport 28
This is the weakest of the Allied planes offered to the player. Although it has 
reasonable speed and manoeuvrability, it has the disconcerting habit of shedding 
its wings in a fast dive, leaving the player piloting an oversize dart.

Sopwith Camel
Vicious to the enemy and a loyal friend to you. The aircrafts ability to turn tight 
circles or dive and climb better than any of the enemy aircraft make it a great all-
rounder. The Camel has very light controls which need to be nursed constantly, 
meaning only an experienced pilot can bring out its full potential.

SE5a
This is my personal favourite. It has greater speed and stability than the Camel 
and can still turn and dive well. This aircraft can engage in a turning dogfight or 
use zooming to great effect. When damaged, the stability of the SE5a means a 
good pilot can often glide down to a safe landing.

Spad
The Spad is the fastest of the biplanes available and can dive at speeds in excess 
of 200kph. The ultimate zoomer, this plane is superb for one-man missions 
because you can take control of high altitude combat through being able to out-
dive or out-climb your opponent. Do not try to dogfight in this plane as it takes 
ages to turn, and if you slow down, the plane will become tail heavy, resulting in a 
dive. It takes a long time to recover from a stall in a Spad so dont take any risks 
under 3,000 feet. 



TOP TEN TIPS 

1. Check that there are no other enemy squadrons lurking around before 
committing your squadron to a confrontation.

2. Make sure you get close enough to identify potential targets. Friendly fire is the 
last thing your countrymen need.

3. Get rid of your bombs if you get into a dogfight, as their weight will put you at 
a disadvantage.

4. Always save 100 rounds of ammo for the journey back home.

5. If you cant shake an enemy pilot who is stuck to your tail, dive for the ground 
and put on an aerobatics display under 1,000 feet. He will probably follow you 
but be unable to follow your stunts. If he fluffs one and stalls, he will have no 
space to recover.

6. Always be aware of your airspeed when diving, because even the Spads shed 
their wings when they go too fast.

7. Let your wingmen bomb a target while you cover them from above. After they 
have finished, you can clean up the leftovers.

8. If you dont have a joystick, then use the SHIFT+K feature to change the 
keyboard sensitivity and increase the abilities of your aircraft.

9. Dont get too close to your victims as debris from their aircraft could fly back 
and
damage yours.

10. Always try to land your aircraft. If its damaged, try to glide it down to a 
gentle landing. If youve had a piece of wing shot off, you will need the rudder 
(Ins and Del on number pad) to hold it level. Youll be amazed at what you 
can land.

