Tuskegee Airmen - 99th FS

[Falcon41]

     Well, I've finally completed a Scripted Campaign for the Tuskegee Airmen which currently includes 27 missions (I expect to construct several more in the future).  Special thanks go out to multiple skinners, including Viper, Raptor, and Off-Winters whose work cannot be overemphasized, just look for P-40 skins from the 99thFS, 332ndFG. Additionally, I'd like to thank Jägermeister for all the advice and suggestions he made regarding changing individual missions into this campaign.  The campaign is to be flown with Off-Winters Desert MOD v.8 using the Kuban map which will give the early missions flown in North Africa and Tunisia a more realistic background, but the first mission is flown on the Stalingrad map so make certain you have that map.

    I've been a fan of IL-2 since its beginnings and like many of you have found the ME intimidating to say the least. Nevertheless, I've been able to put together a few missions dealing with the exploits of the 99th FS of the 332nd FG, commonly known as the Tuskegee Airmen.  I've relied on several publications, e.g., "The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology" by Daniel Haulman, "Red Tails" by John Holway and "332nd FG - Tuskegee Airmen" by Chris Bucholtz to gain an idea of the kind of missions these men undertook.  One quickly understands that these young men were not only fighting a determined enemy but were also fighting an equally determined service that only reluctantly agreed to the "experiment" of allowing black pilots to serve.

     Truly these young men were some of the best of America and deserve to be recognized for all they did.  These missions represent the kinds of combat they encountered during their deployments in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.  Using Off-Winters latest version will allow you to also use some of the great skins he's made for both Luftwaffe and US aircraft.  Additionally, I would like to recognize the talents of several skinners who have provided me with skins and information for members of the 99thFS, e.g., Raptor, Viper, and any others whom I've forgotten.

 

 

 

Tuskegee Airmen - Shortcut.zip

Edited September 5 by Falcon41
Correction to comment

[Billsponge1972]

Thank you! I've been waiting for this! 

The download is a link. Is this correct?

[Falcon41]

Billsponge1972,

    Just double click on the shortcut-zip and then extract the mission files to wherever you keep your campaigns.

Falcon41

[Billsponge1972]

Sorry Falcon41, still not working for me. 😐

Originally tried on my android and then on my PC but no luck. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

[Falcon41]

What happens when you click on the shortcut.zip?

Edited September 6 by Falcon41
Correction

[Billsponge1972]

I get this menu on a right click. If I left click it downloads a zip file that contains the link but nothing else

[Falcon41]

Billsponge1972,

     First let me apologize for not being computer literate; however, let's try this as I believe attempting to send the entire campaign was just too big.  I'm going to send the missions for the campaign in separate packages.  You'll need to place them into a single folder in your Campaigns folder

Tuskegee_1.zip

[Billsponge1972]

This worked for me! Thanks so much!

[Falcon41]

Billsponge1972,

     Here's the second package and remember to place these files into the same folder as the previous package.

Falcon41

TUSKEGEE_2.zip

Billsponge1972,

     Here's the last package.  I hope you enjoy the campaign.

Falcon41

Tuskegee_3.zip

[Billsponge1972]

Yes! That worked! Thanks so much! 

I'm not home right now to assemble the campaign but I'm fairly savvy with it. I looked at the zip files and they contain all the necessary files. I will be home Sunday to try it out but I'm confident it will work now.

Thank you for helping me and thank you so much for what I'm sure will be an awesome campaign!

[Falcon41]

Billsponge1972,

     you're welcome and I'm sorry for the confusion with the downloads.  It seems having that many files just overwhelmed the system.  Enjoy the campaign and I'm open to any suggestions you might have.

Falcon41

[Billsponge1972]

Will do. 🙂

[Falcon41]

 

On 9/5/2025 at 2:20 PM, Falcon41 said:

     An update on installing this campaign.  Ignore the Shortcut.zip file, it was my mistake.  If you scroll up to the discussion between me and "Billsponge1972" you will see that there are 3 separate packages that have been provided in order for the campaign to fully downloaded.  Just place the missions in each of the packages into a single folder for this campaign.  I hope you enjoy flying this campaign as much as I did building it.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 12 by Falcon41
additional info

[Billsponge1972]

Finished the first four missions. Had to do a couple of them over because of my pension for staying longer than I should at the Target. 🙂 Good stuff! Haven't found anything weird, only a few misspells in the briefings.

[AcesDarthBubu]

Trying out the missions, do I need to custom select or modify the squadron's plane paint scheme/skin to match lore accurate or will the default skin apply correctly?

[Falcon41]

AcesDarthBubu,

     Yes, you should select a custom skin.  I found that the skins done by Raptor or Off Winters provide accurate representations of what was flown in the desert theater.  But, select a skin that you find appropriate.

Falcon41

[AcesDarthBubu]

On 9/21/2025 at 9:41 PM, Falcon41 said:

AcesDarthBubu,

     Yes, you should select a custom skin.  I found that the skins done by Raptor or Off Winters provide accurate representations of what was flown in the desert theater.  But, select a skin that you find appropriate.

Falcon41

Thanks for the answer @Falcon41. I did noticed that the AI squadron wingman have RAF skins too, hence took the liberty of changing all of the skins  for each mission to reflect US FG instead. Not sure whether it's lore accurate though. 

[SamVimes]

G'day @Falcon41,

 

I'm loving your campaign very much and thank you for taking the time and effort to make it. A problem I've just found is that all three of the first Thunderbolt missions I've played so far have the same fault which is that the map seems to be the wrong one. It's a very small section, the very top left corner, of one of the Russian maps either Moscow or Stalingrad. This gives me the "Leaving map turn South-West" flashing message for the entire mission. It also means I can never see the plane icons on the map after pressing "O" because none of the planes are on the map. I only downloaded the campaign a few weeks ago so it should be the latest one.

 

Thanks in advance for your help

Sam.

[KodiakJac]

Yes, also stopping by to say thank you for this wonderful campaign that also lead me to Off-Winters amazing Desert MOD v.9a using the Kuban map.  Off-Winters' Desert MOD was somehow off my radar, and when combined with your Tuskegee Airmen campaign the immersion is fantastic!

 

Cheers! 

[Falcon41]

Quote

Yes, also stopping by to say thank you for this wonderful campaign that also lead me to Off-Winters amazing Desert MOD v.9a using the Kuban map.  Off-Winters' Desert MOD was somehow off my radar, and when combined with your Tuskegee Airmen campaign the immersion is fantastic!

 

Cheers! 

KodiakJac,

     Thanks for the kind words, very much appreciated and yes, Off-Winters Desert MOD is fantastic

Falcon41

On 10/21/2025 at 8:58 AM, SamVimes said:

G'day @Falcon41,

 

I'm loving your campaign very much and thank you for taking the time and effort to make it. A problem I've just found is that all three of the first Thunderbolt missions I've played so far have the same fault which is that the map seems to be the wrong one. It's a very small section, the very top left corner, of one of the Russian maps either Moscow or Stalingrad. This gives me the "Leaving map turn South-West" flashing message for the entire mission. It also means I can never see the plane icons on the map after pressing "O" because none of the planes are on the map. I only downloaded the campaign a few weeks ago so it should be the latest one.

 

Thanks in advance for your help

Sam.

SamVimes,

     I must say I'm a bit confused by the issue you wrote about.  The only two maps I've used is Stalingrad for the very first mission and the rest have been on the Kuban map set to Autumn and using Off-Winters desert MOD.  Make certain you have these maps installed and that should clear things up for you.

Falcon41

[Elem]

Firstly, thank you so much for your hard work on this campaign. It is something a little different.

 

However, I have just flown mission two, the First Combat mission. We came across the PT boats and I allowed my flight to make the first attack. None of them released any bombs or rockets against them! I made my attack and sunk one boat with rockets and damaged another that subsequently sank. The flight leader then ordered a return to base, all of them still carrying all their ordinance! Why is this happening? I hope this doesn't continue through the rest of the missions. Any fix available?

[Sandmarken]

37 minutes ago, Elem said:

I allowed my flight to make the first attack.

Did you order them with the command option? I find giving the AI any commands will actually make them not do much of anything. That said, making the AI attack ground targets is a little hit and miss if they want to do it. 

[Elem]

1 hour ago, Sandmarken said:

Did you order them with the command option? I find giving the AI any commands will actually make them not do much of anything. That said, making the AI attack ground targets is a little hit and miss if they want to do it. 

No, not possible as I wasn't the flight leader.

[Falcon41]

5 hours ago, Elem said:

Firstly, thank you so much for your hard work on this campaign. It is something a little different.

 

However, I have just flown mission two, the First Combat mission. We came across the PT boats and I allowed my flight to make the first attack. None of them released any bombs or rockets against them! I made my attack and sunk one boat with rockets and damaged another that subsequently sank. The flight leader then ordered a return to base, all of them still carrying all their ordinance! Why is this happening? I hope this doesn't continue through the rest of the missions. Any fix available?

Elem,

      I know it can be frustrating not to have the entire flight attack; however, I found that when constructing and testing the mission there were times when the entire flight would attack and others as you described.  It may be just how the game is constructed, but you may try letting the flight leader attack first and follow him.

Falcon41

[SamVimes]

On 10/24/2025 at 3:16 AM, Falcon41 said:

SamVimes,

     I must say I'm a bit confused by the issue you wrote about.  The only two maps I've used is Stalingrad for the very first mission and the rest have been on the Kuban map set to Autumn and using Off-Winters desert MOD.  Make certain you have these maps installed and that should clear things up for you.

Falcon41

Thanks for getting back to me @Falcon41, it can be difficult to understand what people are trying to say without images sometimes. So I have added two screenshots from my mission number 16. It's a P-47 mission that starts from the Anapa airbase. I have found the map fragment and it is the very top left corner of the Lapino map I can't zoom out any further nor can I move the map left or right but I can move the map down a little bit to see as far down as the 05 row. As you can see from the modules I have bought I do have all the maps installed and I was not having any trouble with the other missions in your campaign before I got to the first of the P-47 missions, the earlier P-40 missions did not have this issue. I have not been using the Off-Winters desert MOD either.

 

Thanks again for your support, I appreciate it,

Sam

[Falcon41]

Sam,

     I understand your frustration, however, really don't have a solution for you.  Clearly you have the Lapino map being shown, but I can assure you that I've not used that map for the campaign so the issue must be something else as the cockpit picture shows the Anapa airfield but the mini map shows Lapino.  I'm at a loss?  Perhaps some of the more computer literate members of our community could take a look. 

Falcon41

On 10/26/2025 at 8:50 AM, SamVimes said:

Thanks for getting back to me @Falcon41, it can be difficult to understand what people are trying to say without images sometimes. So I have added two screenshots from my mission number 16. It's a P-47 mission that starts from the Anapa airbase. I have found the map fragment and it is the very top left corner of the Lapino map I can't zoom out any further nor can I move the map left or right but I can move the map down a little bit to see as far down as the 05 row. As you can see from the modules I have bought I do have all the maps installed and I was not having any trouble with the other missions in your campaign before I got to the first of the P-47 missions, the earlier P-40 missions did not have this issue. I have not been using the Off-Winters desert MOD either.

 

Thanks again for your support, I appreciate it,

Sam

 

Edited October 30 by Falcon41
Correction to comment

[Falcon41]

Sam.

   I was going over my missions and discovered that I may have mistakenly selected wrong GUI map for mission 16.  Go into the ME and select mission 16 and under mission properties make sure that the kuban-autumn and summer are selected.  Good Luck

Falcon41

[LF_Mark_Krieger]

First of all, thank your very mucch to @Falcon41and all who collaborated in this campaign. I'm having some problems with the skins of the IA in the first 4 missions that I played. I can't see markings in a lot of them or they use the british desert skin of the P-40. Perhaps besause I am using the 9.0a versions of the desert mod instead of the 8.0?

[Falcon41]

3 hours ago, LF_Mark_Krieger said:

First of all, thank you very much to @Falcon41and all who collaborated in this campaign. I'm having some problems with the skins of the IA in the first 4 missions that I played. I can't see markings in a lot of them or they use the British desert skin of the P-40. Perhaps because I am using the 9.0a versions of the desert mod instead of the 8.0?

Mark,

     I've listed various skinners whose skins I've used in the campaign for planes of the 99th FS in the first post above.  Addionally, if you're using Off-Winters desert mod version 9a you'll need to modify the mod as described by Off-Winters below so you can use the tactical codes:

 

"G’Day Bill,

 

yes mate, you can easily get the codes working again. if you open the mod folder and go to data/graphic/textures/common

 

and you will see a lot of image files towards the bottom of the list with something like tac-code in the names. Just take all those files out of the folder and reinstall mod. 
 

The way I removed the tac-codes was to place a 100% alpha channel into the file. Which makes the image in game invisible.

I’m away from PC so the file name may be a bit different to what I said above, from memory there’s a response to this question in the post I made about my individual Tac-Code removal mod.

 

And your missions are an extremely valuable part of this mod mate. They bring it to life…

 

I wish more people would take up the art of mission building for the desert environment."

 

     Upon changing the MOD as described above you should select the first number 7 default plane which is a US plane with the colors and marking for the N African campaign and add tactical codes for the 99thFS, i.e., A and a number.

 

Good Luck

Falcon41

 

 

[LF_Mark_Krieger]

On 11/1/2025 at 8:41 PM, Falcon41 said:

Mark,

     I've listed various skinners whose skins I've used in the campaign for planes of the 99th FS in the first post above.  Addionally, if you're using Off-Winters desert mod version 9a you'll need to modify the mod as described by Off-Winters below so you can use the tactical codes:

 

"G’Day Bill,

 

yes mate, you can easily get the codes working again. if you open the mod folder and go to data/graphic/textures/common

 

and you will see a lot of image files towards the bottom of the list with something like tac-code in the names. Just take all those files out of the folder and reinstall mod. 
 

The way I removed the tac-codes was to place a 100% alpha channel into the file. Which makes the image in game invisible.

I’m away from PC so the file name may be a bit different to what I said above, from memory there’s a response to this question in the post I made about my individual Tac-Code removal mod.

 

And your missions are an extremely valuable part of this mod mate. They bring it to life…

 

I wish more people would take up the art of mission building for the desert environment."

 

     Upon changing the MOD as described above you should select the first number 7 default plane which is a US plane with the colors and marking for the N African campaign and add tactical codes for the 99thFS, i.e., A and a number.

 

Good Luck

Falcon41

 

 

Oops. I didn't see the instructions. Thought it was automatic. I'll have a look to correct it, because I find it is key for immersion when the planes have the historical skin and tactical codes. Thank you very much!

Edited November 6 by LF_Mark_Krieger

[SamVimes]

On 10/31/2025 at 1:43 AM, Falcon41 said:

Sam.

   I was going over my missions and discovered that I may have mistakenly selected wrong GUI map for mission 16.  Go into the ME and select mission 16 and under mission properties make sure that the kuban-autumn and summer are selected.  Good Luck

Falcon41

G'day @Falcon41,

 

Thanks for this, that was the problem. Mission 15 and 16 had the Lupino map as the GUI map. Changing it to the Kuban map solved all the issues. Thank you for your help with this, I appreciate it.

 

[LF_Mark_Krieger]

On 11/1/2025 at 8:41 PM, Falcon41 said:

Mark,

     I've listed various skinners whose skins I've used in the campaign for planes of the 99th FS in the first post above.  Addionally, if you're using Off-Winters desert mod version 9a you'll need to modify the mod as described by Off-Winters below so you can use the tactical codes:

 

"G’Day Bill,

 

yes mate, you can easily get the codes working again. if you open the mod folder and go to data/graphic/textures/common

 

and you will see a lot of image files towards the bottom of the list with something like tac-code in the names. Just take all those files out of the folder and reinstall mod. 
 

The way I removed the tac-codes was to place a 100% alpha channel into the file. Which makes the image in game invisible.

I’m away from PC so the file name may be a bit different to what I said above, from memory there’s a response to this question in the post I made about my individual Tac-Code removal mod.

 

And your missions are an extremely valuable part of this mod mate. They bring it to life…

 

I wish more people would take up the art of mission building for the desert environment."

 

     Upon changing the MOD as described above you should select the first number 7 default plane which is a US plane with the colors and marking for the N African campaign and add tactical codes for the 99thFS, i.e., A and a number.

 

Good Luck

Falcon41

 

 

I followed your instructions, but happenned the same. All the flight uses the sgt. Burney RAF skin. In fact, the default skin is the same as Burney RAF skin, instead a clean USAAF one. The leader has tactical codes over it and number 3, too.

Edited Friday at 01:21 AM by LF_Mark_Krieger

[Falcon41]

Mark,

     You'll need to change the aircraft skins and numbering in the Mission Editor.  Open the mission editor and select the mission in which you want to change the skins.  Once you've done this find the aircraft in the group you're in, then open the available skins and select the first number 7 skin which should be the US skin used in North Africa.  Once selected, drop down and place a tactical code for the 99th FS, e.g., A 23.  Good Luck

 

Falcon41