Hello everyone!

Last Saturday, February 22, 2025, was the second stage of the Air Duel Tournament in IL-2 Great Battles.

Let us remind you that a total of 59 people registered for the competition. As a result of 26 fights, two technical victories and two technical draws, 28 people entered the second round and a week later they fought again in the skies of Great Battles. The rules of the second stage of the qualifiers were slightly different from the first: each pair of competitors fought at least two fights, as two victories over their opponent were required to advance to the finals, and in the case of three consecutive draws, both would not advance to the finals. Some improvements were introduced - the approach to the start of the fight was semi-automatic, with ring markers that the contestants had to fly through.

Details of the matches are given below.

7-10 GMT, 8 pairs of participants.

SCG_geronim0 (RED) vs. Lostboycc (BLUE) [109G6AS]

1. Lostboycc overran SCG_geronim0 after the approach, but couldn't use the advantage - SCG_geronim0 was able to turn into him and shot off his tail.
2. During one of the loops, SCG_geronim0 hit Lostboycc as he was coming down from a half loop (it seems that he wounded the pilot) and seriously damaged the plane - he went down, SCG_geronim0 shot off his left flap and Lostboycc crashed.

Winner: SCG_geronim0

SYN_Repent (RED) vs. java-lang-RuntimeException (BLUE) [P51D]

1. From the beginning they turned and did slant loops, finally came to the ground level next to a steep bank and java-lang-RuntimeException hit SYN_Repent in a turn (fuel leak started), scissors maneuvers started, java-lang-RuntimeException skipped a bit and went up, overflew SYN_Repent and hit him again, then the same situation was repeated and again he hit SYN_Repent in a turn. The opponents switched to scissors again and went into a long turn, on which java-lang-RuntimeException killed SYN_Repent, and his plane fell into the sea.
2. After the approach the opponents started flying loops, on one of the loops java-lang-RuntimeException hit seriously the right wing of SYN_Repent's plane. SYN_Repent went down and went into a left turn with a yo-yo, then scissors and another hit on SYN_Repent (fuel leak and punctured radiator). After some maneuvering, SYN_Repent was able to regain the situation and meet his opponent almost head on. It turned out to be a nice long battle, as a result of which SYN_Repent caught his left wing in a tree and crashed.

Winner: java-lang-RuntimeException

JG4_NOW99 (RED) vs. ITAF_Lynx11 (BLUE) [P51D]

1. After approach, oblique loops began over the city near the coast all the way to the ground. After one of the turn shifts into a left turn, ITAF_Lynx11 hit JG4_NOW99 and killed the pilot.
2. After approach, the competitors began oblique loops, transitioned to a yo-yo, and descended to the coastal town. ITAF_Lynx11, operating from the vertical with a down transition (high yo-yo), accumulated more energy and at one point made a flip and went up, JG4_NOW99 continued the yo-yo with a vertical exit. ITAF_Lynx11 opened fire but did not hit, went vertical again and accumulated more energy and got into position to fire again. JG4_NOW99 saw this and tried to pull away in a straight line over the city and let his opponent pass before him. ITAF_Lynx11 went up and the time ran out. The referee awarded the victory to ITAF_Lynx11 as he had the upper hand for most of this interesting fight.

Winner: ITAF_Lynx11

-=SMG=-Spartak13 (BLUE) vs =FB=Said (RED) [Yak9]

1. The opponents moved into a left turn, -=SMG=-Spartak13 caught up to =FB=Said and badly damaged him. =FB=Said went vertical and took another hit, causing his engine to catch fire.
2. After approaching, =FB=Said began a tight left turn down with a transition to yo-yo, this time =FB=Said began to approach -=SMG=-Spartak13, changed roll direction and hit -=SMG=-Spartak13, whose plane's engine caught fire.
3. The opponents went vertical, =FB=Said managed to let -=SMG=-Spartak13 to pass ahead and hit him - the plane of -=SMG=-Spartak13 stalled and crashed.

Winner: =FB=Said

=DW=Biggles266 (BLUE) vs =FI=Rambo (RED) [Yak9]

1. After the first turn and the transition to the yo-yo, the opponents went down to the ground, at one point Red hit Blue on converging courses. They started trying to pass each other on verticals and turns, changing the direction of the turn and hitting each other. Blue tried to get away in a straight line, but was hit by =FI=Rambo, and finally =DW=Biggles266 hit the water with his wing and crashed. Nice fight with tight maneuvers.
2. After the approach, a turn began in which =FI=Rambo gained a slight altitude advantage. During the critical angles of attack engagement (stall fight) =DW=Biggles266 hit =FI=Rambo (fuel leak), but lept forward and =FI=Rambo hit him (fuel leak, engine damage). Despite the damage, the two opponents continued to battle closely, but it appeared that =DW=Biggles266's engine was losing power, as =FI=Rambo was able to stay higher and occasionally hit =DW=Biggles266 on passes. At one point, =DW=Biggles266 managed to hit =FI=Rambo again (fuel leak increased). Both contestants continued the fight with considerable damage, but eventually =DW=Biggles266's plane fell into the sea. The contestants fought beautifully to the end.

Winner: =FI=Rambo

=FB=FLint_ vs [Driver]Ryan_Gosling [109G6AS]

1. The battle began with oblique loops and aggressive turn by =FB=FLint_ on [Driver]Ryan_Gosling, and at one moment =FB=FLint_ on converging courses seriously damaged his plane (hit in the middle, shot off the left landing gear flap and probably wounded the pilot). [Driver]Ryan_Gosling tried to break away, but during the turn took more hits. As a result, [Driver]Ryan_Gosling's plane crashed into the English Channel.
2. After the approach, the opponents started a tight left yo-yo to the ground level. In the end =FB=FLint_ turned almost head-on into [Driver]Ryan_Gosling - opened fire and damaged his engine and apparently wounded the pilot badly, because after that [Driver]Ryan_Gosling's plane immediately fell into the water.

Winner: =FB=FLint_

-DED-Antip vs. =NBSI=bluehawaii1213

A technical victory was awarded to DED-Antip as his opponent =NBSI=bluehawaii1213 was unfortunatley unable to join the server properly after several attempts.

DisgruntledTa2er automatically advanced to the next stage by random draw due to the odd number of participants.

18-21 GMT, 8 pairs of participants.

=FB=Marat -vs- 72AG_Lar [P51D]

1. Marat on the first turn after approach turned to Lar and opened fire - hits were mostly on the tail behind the cockpit. Then both competitors switched to vertical loops, where Marat could turn and fire with a hit on Lar's fuselage at the root of the right wing (fuel leak). Next, the duelists began to trade altitude for speed, spiraling downward toward the ground. They stayed close to the ground until the end of the lap in the right turn, where Lar's engine overheated. Eventually his engine died and Lar went down.
2. Both competitors started to gain altitude and came together in a frontal attack, avoiding a collision. Marat was hit in the right wing tip, Lar in the right wing and began to lose fuel. Then the opponents began to fight for energy, making vertical slant loops, with Marat hitting the left wing of Lar's plane. A few loops later, Marat was hit again: in the right rudder, then the engine and the fuselage near the cockpit. The damage proved fatal, as Lar lost control and crashed.

Winner: =FB=Marat

=LG/F=Franz -vs- Dynamic [109G6AS]

1. After flying through the start rings, both opponents went into diagonal loops. Dynamic gained height advantage and both opponents went into a left turn, at the same time Franz, seeing Dynamic's attempt to accelerate by slowly descending, began to pursue him to the ground. Dynamic accelerated, trading altitude for speed, and Franz began to turn on Dynamic, tailing him. Seeing this, Dynamic tried to regain altitude and went into a loop, worsening his position. Franz swerved to the target and fired at Dynamic's plane as it descended, but missed. Next, both competitors went into a long left turn and reached the ground level. Franz came out of the turn and headed for the sea. Dynamic tried to catch him, but Franz turned and there was a head-on approach followed by a collision.
2. Franz repeated a hard dive turn and gradually caught up with Dynamic's plane, opened fire and hit the enemy's left wing. Dynamic went lower, but during the turn his left wing console flew off and his plane crashed into the water.
3. Franz went lower after the first turn and began to turn on Dynamic, who attempted to go up and was hit in the left wing root and tail section. With this damage, Dynamic went down and could not recover from the dive.

Winner: =LG/F=Franz

rei -vs- =M=Shammy [109G6AS]

1. The battle began with a series of mind-boggling mutual diagonal and straight loops, on one of which rei was able to turn enough to hit the center of Shammy's plane, causing significant damage to the plane's skin. This caused Shammy to lose some maneuverability, and in the next turn, Rei hit him again several times. Shammy tried to get out of the line of fire with a scissors maneuver, but was unsuccessful, and after another hit to the tail, his plane lost its tail and went into a low altitude fatal spin.
2. After approaching, Rei started a left turn and Shammy started a loop - as a result, after the first turn, Shammy was able to turn towards the enemy and open fire, hitting the engine of Rei's plane from the side. After a series of oblique loops, the fight turned to left turns over the city. The hit at the engine was not without consequences: after 2 minutes, Rei's plane crashed into the city.
3. In a series of downward spirals, the opponents descended to sea level and moved into a series of horizontal turns. Each of them realized that an attempt to shift the direction of the turn with an experienced opponent could lead to defeat, so the situation was a stalemate: the opponents stayed in endless turns until a draw was declared when the time limit of 7 minutes was reached.
4. In the stalemate during the first rounds rei was able to hit the right wing of Shammy with an HE round, damaging the radiator and causing a leak in the cooling system. The planes then descended in a series of descending right turns. Shammy, in an attempt to stop the rei's move into firing position, tried to shift his turn to the left, but his opponent did not miss the opportunity and scored another hit while Shammy was doing so. In a downward spiral at low altitude with high overload, Shammy's plane lost some of its lift, stalled, and crashed in the northern suburbs of Le Havre.

Winner: rei

Roland_HUNter -vs- Kynodontas [109G6AS]

1. The battle began with a series of combat turns and upward spirals, ending with Roland_HUNter flipping over on his back at the top of the maneuver, after which both opponents began a rapid descent to the water in a deep double spiral. At sea level, there followed a series of deep turns at extremely low altitude, in one of which Roland_HUNTER hit Kynodontas, who fell into the water, but Roland_HUNTER did not stop his attack in time and fell as well.
2. The start of the battle was generally similar to the previous one: a series of ascending spirals turned into steep maneuvers down to the sea, but at the end of these maneuvers both pilots did not calculate their altitude reserve correctly and fell simultaneously into the water.
3. After the approach, both competitors made a sharp turn towards the enemy with a frontal attack exit and collided with each other.

Winner: none

Gierek -vs- 2./SG2_PanzerWolf [109G6AS]

1. After approaching, the first mutual horizontal turn turned into a long upward spiral, at the top of which PanzerWolf stalled his plane and flipped over the back, firing at the approaching Gierek, but missed. What followed was a dizzying mutual downward spiral, in one of the turns of which PanzerWolf scored a hit on the enemy pilot, which immediately decided the outcome of the duel.
2. This time the turn turned into a downward spiral towards the sea. At some point Gierek decided to radically change the situation by turning the plane into a half loop, but this allowed PanzerWolf to turn and fire - the angle was too difficult and no hits were scored. Next, Gierek tried to evade by performing a scissors maneuver, but he was too far away from the enemy and ended up taking several hits during the roll change. PanzerWolf then brought the plane into a zoom climb to keep the energy, from which he dived at the enemy climbing towards him, scoring multiple hits.

Winner: 2./SG2_PanzerWolf

EduardoMcFly -vs- Kaligot [P51D]

1. After approaching each other, they went into a vertical fight while gaining altitude, during which the opponents opened fire several times, but to no avail. The fight then went into a mutual descent in spirals and then into low altitude counter-turns. EduardoMCfly chose his trajectory more accurately directly over the house roofs in the suburbs of Le Havre, finally maneuvered into position to shoot and this time did not miss.
2. After the merge, the opponents descended in spirals to the ground, during which Eduardo McFly was able to score several hits, but Kaligot continued to hold steady in the air and Eduardo ran out of ammunition. After a while, a draw was declared.
3. In a process of downward reversals after the approach, Kaligot achieved a more favorable position. Finally, as both were descending towards the beach, EduardoMCfly made a mistake trying to get his plane out of range, stalled and crashed.
4. After flying through the start rings, EduardoMCfly chose a right turn and Kaligot began to make a loop. After the turn, Kaligot opened fire but did not get a hit and both headed for the ground in a steep right spiral. At some point Kaligot shifted the turn to the left, which gave Eduardo the opportunity to take a more favorable position. After a while Eduardo got a good angle and hit. Kaligot tried to roll out of the line of fire, but spun his plane and crashed.

Winner: EduardoMCfly

A total of 13 people made it to the finals:

1. SCG_geronim0
2. java-lang-RuntimeException
3. ITAF_Lynx11
4. =FB=Said
5. =FI=Rambo
6. =FB=FLint_
7. -DED-Antip
8. DisgruntledTa2er
9. =FB=Marat
10. =LG/F=Franz
11. rei
12. 2./SG2_PanzerWolf
13. EduardoMCfly

The final stage will happen on March 1st. All participants will receive additional notifications about the time of the fights. The semifinals will be held by dividing the opponents into subgroups of 3-4 people and "round robin" fights within these subgroups. The player with the highest number of wins will advance to the final. In case of a tie, additional duels will be held. The finals will be fought on a single round robin basis. Uncertainties after the round will be resolved by additional matches between the contestants.

Stay tuned for more tournament news!