So! You want to lead a massive squadron of beautifully recreated RAF Spitfires into battle against the hun! Or perhaps lead a squadron of Luftwaffe bombers on a low level raid to finally crush the RAF once and for all!

But there's a problem. You start on the runway, take off and watch, with abject horror, as your AI wingmen proceed to roll down the runway, bank over towards the first waypoint and climb to altitude without even acknowledging you, despite the fact that you're supposed to be in charge!

It's a problem I've been struggling with since I bought this game all these years ago. And now I have the actual solution to this. A solution that doesn't involve the autopilot button!

Here's what you do.

Well, first you make sure you know how to start up your plane. That's important. You shouldn't be leading a ton of AI wingmen if you can't actually... like... fly. At all. It's gonna be hard. So look up a guide or figure it out or whatever.

Right. Now you've done that. This guide covers making your own mission in the full mission builder. I'm affraid I can't help if you're not making a mission yourself. If you're playing someone else's mission, maybe politely tell them about this bug so they can implement the easy fix and get it working again.

So, I'm going to assume you've got a squadron of planes on the ground already. Good. Doesn't matter what sort of planes they are. I've seen some talk of this only being a bomber issue but it seems to apply to all aircraft to some extent, and this guide always fixes it, so I think that's not the case.

Select your take off waypoint, go into the properties section and tick "Start Parked".

Now. You'll notice your planes are no longer on the runway. Instead, the planes are scattered, in parked positions, engines cold and dark.

That's why I mentioned the startup procedure. The workaround here requires a cold start, so you NEED to know that. Or you can just press the autopilot button for a few secs and let the computer handle all the startup stuff for you.

Anyway, once you've got the plane taxiing. Go to the runway.

Now, This pains the flight simmer inside me, but you gotta ignore the tower here. Completely. Just go to the runway, line up and take off. Direction irrelevant, runway irrelevant, heck, takeoff from a taxiway if you want, it doesn't matter.


It doesn't matter. Just take off before the other planes do.

What does matter is you get in the air way in advance of your AI wingmen. They are polite, and so they typically delay their takeoffs for quite a while - more than long enough for you to start engines, warm up, taxi and take off, but time is relevant here, so keep it in mind.

Once you're in the air, circle near the airbase.


Barely visible: My first wingman clears Biggin Hill and starts an accent towards my plane, regardless of the actual set second waypoint.

You're done! Watch, with immense, near sexual pleasure, as an entire squadron of planes gradually forms up around you, waiting for you to lead them into the fray!
Easy! Works with all aircraft I've tried.

With my other guide done, and several others that I swear I'll get round to at some point, I feel I owe my fellow IL2 CLOD players some explaining. Or, at least, an attempt at explaining.

It feels like, when the AI takes off, it searches for it's leader. When an all-AI flight does this, there's no problem. The leader is always at the right altitude, and right speed, because, if you weren't aware, original-engine IL2 games put the AI on rails for take off and landing.

Players do not have this luxury, so, when a player takes off with a flight of AI waiting for them to go, the player doesn't have enough speed or height at the right time, so the second plane in the flight takes over as the squadron leader. This makes sense in the real world. If you were a bunch of hurricanes scrambling to intercept dorniers over the channel, and your squadron leader couldn't get his engine to catch or suffered a prop strike or engine malfunction, it would make sense to contine on without him. And in that respect, CLOD simulates that well.

Too well, apparently, because if you're not "Flying" the correct way, the AI will think something's off, and just fly on without you.

Which is why, the somewhat nonsensical solution laid out in this guide works. If you bumrush the takeoff, ignore clearance, wait for no-one and just get in the air, when your first plane comes round for takeoff it goes
"Oh! Hey! There's my squadron leader! Everything's good! Time to form up!"
And promptly turns to get into formation, followed by everybody else.

Still to come: Torpedo bombing, level bombing, mast-height anti-surface attacks

So there you go. Now, take to the skies with millions of AI planes following you! Lead them into battle, get your radiator shot straight away and return to base. Or just forget to open your cowl flaps and cook your engine before you're even flying. But hey, at least your wingmen will follow you for a few seconds before you smack into the houses of biggin hill, right?

Thanks for reading. This guide really shouldn't be needed, and I hope one day someone comments
"Hey, what's up with these guides? The AI works fine with no odd behaviour whatsoever! You're wasting your time!"

But until that day arrives, I'll keep making these.

Good luck, and happy flying!