Children who grew up during World War II fought their countries’ enemies with imaginations.
Today, those now-70-plus-year-old “airmen” duel realistically with enemy aircraft—thanks to Microsoft’s combat flight simulators for the European and Pacific theaters, relatively fast computers and nimble joysticks.
Americans dispatch Kraut and Jap fighters, bombers, ships and vehicles with P-51 Mustangs, Corsairs and other kites and Brits kill Jerries with Spitfires and Hurricanes in breath-taking dogfights.
You can almost smell the cordite from exploded shells and feel the Gs during tight loops above hostile and friendly oceans and lands.
Forget the comic books, film and radio dramas that fueled your excitement during The Big One. Nothing compares to shells holing the cockpit windscreen or shrapnel thumping the fuselage during cyber combat.
Sometimes you hit the “O” key and bail out to safety or capture. Sometimes you die. C’est la guerre. (23 SEPTEMBER 2007)
