AIRBORNE WINGS 2026

Flying: Push the throttle up for speed. Hold ↓ to climb and ↑ to dive. Roll left or right to turn, then let go and the plane levels out by itself. If you fly too slowly you will stall and the nose drops, so keep your speed up!

Take off: throttle all the way up, steer with ← → to stay on the runway, then press ↓ when you are fast enough. Press G to raise the wheels: with them down the plane is much slower, because they catch the air.

Fighting: hold Space to fire your guns. Press M to fire a rocket (Kestrel) or a missile (Vortex): it chases the nearest enemy by itself. In the Vortex you can pick a different enemy by keeping it inside the yellow box until it turns red and says LOCK. A plane that turns hard can still dodge them. Red marks show where enemies are, and the radar shows them all around you. Running low? Fly through a green supply crate for more bullets, missiles and repairs (enemies sometimes drop them, and one is dropped near you when you're low), or land at a base and stop on the fuel pad to fill right up.

Bombs: press V to drop a bomb. The Kestrel carries 6 small bombs and the Vortex carries 10 big ones. The big bombers (PLANES, then BOMBERS) carry far more: 14 in the Warden and 24 in the Titan. They're slow to turn, so line up early, and their gunners shoot at enemy fighters by themselves. In Free Play, planes with weapons can still fire and drop bombs, but there's nothing to fight. On a bombing mission a yellow bomb sight on the ground shows where your bomb will land. When it turns green and says DROP!, it's over a target, so press V! Fly level or dive gently to see it. Stop on a fuel pad to load more bombs.

Smoke trail: in the biplane press T to turn on air-show smoke. Press it again to change the colour (white, red, blue) or turn it off. The smoke hangs in the sky for about four and a half minutes, so you can draw loops and patterns!

Lights: at night, or in rain, storms or fog, press L to switch on your plane's lights: a bright landing light on the nose that lights up the runway ahead, red and green lights on the wingtips, a white tail light and flashing strobes. Press L again to switch them off.

Fuel: a full tank lasts about 5 minutes at full throttle, longer if you fly slower. Watch the FUEL bar! If it runs out the engine stops and you have to glide down to land. Land at any base, taxi to the yellow FUEL & AMMO pad next to the hangars and stop on it to refuel (and rearm and repair in War and bomber raids). A yellow marker shows the way when you're low.

War: pick WAR at the top of the main menu, then choose a mission. In Enemy Waves, enemies come in waves, a bigger one each time. Shoot down every plane in a wave and you get a short break before the next. Beat the last wave to win! On the WAR SETUP screen you choose how many waves, how many enemies, and how much fuel, bullets and missiles you start with.

Missions: in the other War missions, take off from Base Alpha and land at Base Bravo, then stop. Follow the arrow at the top of the screen. Enemy patrols attack if they spot you, so fly low or behind hills to stay hidden. Land quickly without much damage for 3 stars. In a bomber raid, take off and shoot down the bombers before they reach Base Alpha. Land and stop on the fuel pad to rearm if you run out of bullets. In an escort, catch up with the jumbo jet (the blue marker) and shoot down the fighters attacking it until it lands at Base Bravo.

Story: pick STORY at the top of the main menu, press START STORY, give your pilot a name, and fly the chapters one by one: shooting down fighters, stopping bombers and escorting jumbo jets and jets further and further from home. Finish a chapter to open the next one, and earn promotions as you go.

Coming home: in bomber raids, escorts and story missions, finishing the job isn't the end. You must fly back, land safely at a base and stop (the arrow and LAND HERE marker show the way). Crash on the way home and the mission is lost!

Landing: line up with the runway, slow down (the airbrake, / or B, helps, and so do the wheels), put the flaps down with F (press it again for FULL), press G for wheels down, and come down gently with your wings level. Hold . to brake. To land safely you must be slower than the plane's landing speed, come down at a gentle angle, and not point the nose down too much. Near the ground with the wheels down the HUD shows LAND UNDER (your speed) and APPROACH (your angle): green is good, red is not. Flaps let you fly slower without stalling and stop you speeding up as you come down; half flaps also help you take off sooner.

Taxiing: on the ground, keep the throttle low (under 30%) to roll along slowly, and steer with ← →. The lower the throttle, the slower you go, and with it right down the plane slows to a stop by itself. On Easy you can even turn on the spot when you've stopped. On Easy, once you're low with the wheels down the plane helps you: it raises its nose and levels its wings so you settle gently onto the runway.

Modes