This is a downloadable sim that costs $29.99 for a 255mb download from Thirdwire. The sim is classed as a "lite" sim which means you will be able to run it well on older computers without having to pay for expensive upgrades. First Eagles has had fair success in the PC games market, although its impact has a lot to do with the game having an 'open architecture' allowing others to modify and improve aspects of it and add new planes, terrain, weapons etc. There are lots of very good quality downloads available from several sources and an active user support base.

Red Baron 3D

It is possible to download Red Baron and all the necessary patches to update it to the latest Red Baron 3D standard. Why would you want to do this? Well, some say this is still the definitive WWI flight sim and is still much more immersive that the rest. It is also available for free these days and has a huge fan base who are always ready to give hints and tips. Be warned though, it will take you a while to set it up and those fan sites will be visited. One of the best resource sites that you can visit for anything to do with anything WWI and also to download the RB3D files is Wings of Honor.

Richtofens Skies

Richthofen's Skies aims at creating a community based W.W.I Server for the Targetware ®™ engine. Richthofen's Skies authentically simulates part of the early 20th century aviation environment - the aerial combat during WW1. This mod is designed to be both appealing and challenging to anyone interested in tactical air combat of the period.

This looks like a very well thought out and detailled simulator for those flight sim buffs who are big on authenticity. It can be downloaded directly from the above mentioned site, and subscrition is currently free from Targetware. They also do Target Tobruk, Target Rabaul, and Target Korea.

Microflight

This sim is one that I would always have on my netbook for when I go travelling. You can download some photoreal sceneries for it, and in its latest incarnation available from Quality Simulations it is a sailing/flying/gliding/driving sim. This VSF version is free as it is a beta version. Microflight 5.0 and Virtual Sailor are both available as downloads from the site for $30 each. They do not take up many resources and there is a selection of user created ships, sceneries, planes and other vehicles that will be guaranteed to appeal to everyone. On my last vacation I flew from my home in Adelaide, South Australia to California, and visited places such as the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and San Francisco before getting on board the Celebrity Infinity for trip down the Mexican Riviera and through the Panama Canal to Fort Lauderdale. I flew the Grand Canyon, San Francisco, and Panama and also transitted the canal by cruise ship before I ever got there using Microflight and Virtual Sailor!

Dawn of Aces III

Dawn of Aces is a subscriber based WWI sim that is availabe to play online for $15 US per month. For the money you also get to play Armoured Assult Tank Simulator and Warbirds WWII simulator. That is 3 sims for the price of 1. To quote from their website "Dawn of Aces brings the air war of WWI right into your living room with all the hair-raising thrills and adventure that implies. Relive the "in-close" dogfights of the heroes who flew and fought in the War To End All Wars". You get 1 months free trial at the moment if you want to check it out first and more information is available from Totalsims. They also did the Flyboys game that was based on the movie Flyboys from a couple of years back.

Rise of Flight

One sim causing a lot of interest is Rise of Flight. This title from Russia has some of the best graphics ever seen in a sim. For more information visit their website at Rise of Flight.

If you have FS2004 or FSX then you can experience the joys of flying those old WWI machines by buying WWI Dogfight from Abacus Publications. I ordered that title plus Battle for Zeebrugge and Day of the Zeppelins from them for a total cost of $36 US in one of their regular sales. The missions only work in FSX but the visuals are pretty good with the exception of the propellor disk that looks bad on my PC. As always, MSFS graphics are awesome but resource hungry. You get a Sopwith Pup, An Avro 504, a Nieuport 17, a Fokker DR-1 and a Zeppelin to play with.

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulators II and III