Discovery Channel Multimedia and Maris Multimedia continue to market a series of CD-ROM based encyclopedias of military aircraft and aviation under the WINGS label. Capitalizing on the success of the highly popular television series of the same name, this series of multimedia programs provide a unique reference source on the dramatic advances in technology and tactics that have transformed air combat during the past eight decades.
All of the above titles (except for WINGS - Over Europe which is the product of another company and differs substantially from the other WINGS editions) are based on Maris' WARPLANES CD-ROM. As a result, they share the same organization, features and interface. Each includes a wealth of historical and technical information, vintage photos and movies, as well as an extensive, searchable database of aircraft and weapon systems. The three Maris titles also feature a proprietary virtual reality engine that combines 360° panoramas with full-motion 3-D animation. Without any additional hardware requirements, the user is able to explore historic airfields and aircraft with unprecedented freedom.
WINGS - Midway to Hiroshima (WMH)
The earliest version currently available, this release covers the period fr)om 1942 to 1945. Although the title seems to suggest extensive coverage of the Pacific theater of operations, the majority of the product is devoted to the European and North African campaigns. There is some discussion of US operations against the empire of the Rising Sun; however, aside from a short glimpse at kamikaze operations, coverage of the Japanese war effort is practically non-existent.
The user maneuvers around the various sections of the encyclopedia using a navigator menu that is reminiscent of WWII aircraft controls. The function of the various buttons and gauges is in most cases self-evident, but in order to clarify any confusion, a small read-out window at the bottom of the screen provides a short identification whenever the user pauses the mouse pointer on the object. As with any multi-media product, there are ample opportunities to get additional information about a certain event or aircraft through various embedded links. In general, this interface is easy to use; however, the novice can get lost in all the layers of information and find it difficult to get back to the starting point.
The product is divided into six main parts, but this may not be evident to the user. The individual segments are integrated into a seamless whole, and once the exploration of the WMH begins, the boundaries between the sections of the program are, for all practical purposes, invisible. The first and most important area, and the one that contains the majority of links to the rest of the product, is the "Visit Air Base" segment.
 
There are five bases to explore, and each is characteristic of a theater of operations or a particular year during the war. The tour starts with the Luftwaffe's desert strip at Tmimi, then pursues the war through two Allied bases in England at the height of operations against the German industrial heartland, and concludes with a "late war" Soviet airfield and the US Navy carrier Essex operating in the Pacific during the final months of the war.
My favorite facility to tour was the home of the US 93rd Bombardment Group at RAF Snetterton Heath, December 1943. The base has five locations that can be explored through a virtual reality panorama featuring the sights and sounds of this historic location. Even though the scenes are not animated, nearly all the buildings, vehicles and aircraft (such as the Lightning, the Liberator and the Flying Fortress) feature links to multimedia war reports, animated combat sequences, photorealistic models, and even a flight simulator of a B-17 mission over Germany. This is a particularly well though out section and will immerse the user in the lives, experiences and aircraft of the WWII bomber crews in a dramatic fashion that few text based books could hope to reproduce.
The war reports are a series of narrated sequences built around rare photographs and video sequences of the warbirds in action. The sequences describe not only the outcome of the air battles, but their impact on the ground war as well. These reports are relatively short, yet they manage to capture the essence of the information they intend to communicate. For example, a segment on Soviet Ground Attack underscores the importance of medium and short range close air support and anti-tank aircraft to the success of the Soviet army against the German Wehrmacht. The absence of strategic targets in Russia made four engine heavy bombers less important to the air campaign than on the Western Front. Various aircraft, intended for other roles, were pressed into service supporting the Soviet ground troops until the arrival of the legendary Il-2 Shturmovik. The video footage of these anti-tank aircraft in action shows the three-ship formation in which they conducted their attacks in order to maximize both the destructive firepower of their main armament and the self-protection of their rear facing machine guns.
The animated combat sequences show a detailed observer's view of one of the characteristic airborne attacks of the period. They describe not only how the aircraft maneuvered for the attack, but also how they released their ordnance, and how they egressed the target area. One such animation shows a Ju-88 dive-bombing mission in the Mediterranean theater of operations, and the excellence of its information proves that a picture is indeed worth a thousand words.
WMH includes twenty 3-D aircraft models for the user to explore in detail. These beautiful sequences show the aircraft in their actual surroundings and allow for a better understanding of significant recognition and aerodynamic features. Each model represents an important aircraft or technological advance that impacted the war. All airframes, including the Hs 129B anti-tank aircraft, can be inspected in either a head-on or top-down view at various magnifications in full 360° view. The essential components of the airplane are labeled, and the user can easily switch to the database where additional information about the aircraft type can be found.
The product contains an extensive database of over 600 warplanes of all types, including fighters, bombers, transports and even such little known aircraft as the German Kolibri reconnaissance helicopter. Each aircraft is shown in one or two photos, while some are featured in historic video footage or a 3-D exploration sequence. The well researched narratives include a discussion on such topics as variants, crew, powerplant, electronics and performance. The library does contains a wealth of information that ought satisfy the most ardent enthusiasts, but many will be disappointed by both the poor quantity and quality of video footage. No more than 20% of the aircraft are featured in movie segments (that are restricted to less than quarter screen size), and even these are not much more useful than a photograph since they merely show the aircraft in a 10-15 second clip of straight and level flight.
There are three flight simulators included with the product; however, I would not recommend that anyone purchase this WINGS title for its perceived gaming value. The designers claim that these simulations (B-17 bombing run, Hellcat fighter against an Okha suicide bomb, Hs 129B on a tank busting mission) are designed for realism as opposed to action. It may turn out that I do not have the required appreciation for a highly detailed flight simulator since just I found them of poor overall quality and of limited entertainment value. The games can only be controlled by the keyboard and the low resolution graphics seem woefully obsolete by current standards. There is no tutorial and the program provides no assistance should the player miss the objective. The whole thing is reminiscent of a very early DOS simulation that I can only recommend to the player who is highly resistant to carpal tunnel syndrome.
VERDICT. WMH is a slick production and an absolute treasure trove of information on period military aircraft. Although the flight simulators are a weak component of the title, they do not detract from the overall excellence of the rest of the product. The presence of these three "games" is not central to the purpose of WMH, and I am therefore inclined to glance over them.
After all, WINGS is predominantly a well researched and illustrated military aircraft reference encyclopedia. It covers a period of history when air power came into its own and began to influence the outcome of the war as much as any other branch of the services. Even though it largely ignores the Pacific theater of operations, WMH still presents a comprehensive picture that does much to bolster the claim that the war against the Axis was in fact won in the air.
WINGS - Over Europe (WOE)
This installment in the series is not a Maris product. It is the creation of Magnet Interactive Studios and differs substantially from the other three titles both in organization and content.
The main control screen in WOE is a generic Allied briefing room from WWII. Short QuickTime movie segments introduce the major navigational controls of the product. These are concentrated around a projection screen next to the podium and a series of propaganda posters scattered around the room. These instructional movie segments become exceptionally repetitive. Fortunately, they can be disabled with the a single click of the mouse.
Unlike WMH, where the organization of information centers on a group of airbases, the content of WOE is structured around the eight aircraft that had the greatest impact on the outcome of the air battles over Europe. The list includes such famous warbirds as the Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber and the Supermarine Spitfire fighter. Selecting one of the aircraft leads to a video documentary which highlights a period of the war that the airplane was most active in. The documentary segments are narrated compilations of archival footage that serve as an excellent source of information on the pilots, aircraft and tactics of the aerial engagements.
The selected aircraft can be also viewed as a digitized image from any angle by using a "flight stick" type of control. The stick is not very responsive (mostly because it is controlled by the mouse), so it is difficult to line up the aircraft correctly. In addition, even though the airplane can be displayed in a number of historic camouflage schemes, only the "default" marking is available when the airframe is maneuvered in a particular direction. The interactive section is rounded out by two audio segments that allow the user to listen to the aircraft's engine and guns in action. This part of the product is a nice effort but hardly breaks new ground. The small size of the graphics, the abstract backgrounds and the poor 3-D controls can not replicate the dynamic experience of the airplane images and sounds found in the WINGS titles produced by Maris.
The user also has access to a well organized graphical hyperindex leading to a number of related topics: generally similar adversary aircraft, an important air battle, or a significant technological advance. These sections are text only but contain invaluable information and statistics. WOE includes extensive coverage on the development of various aircraft models, including an anecdote on the French test pilot who on the eve of the war destroyed the sole prototype of a new fighter when he forgot to lower the landing gear on the approach to the runway. These educational segments are the strongest feature of WOE and make it a superior source of information on the period, in many ways even better than WMH.
WOE includes another link that points to a stylized period magazine. Typically, this illustrated document focuses on the exploits of an extraordinary personality of the war (individuals like Hans Ulrich Rudel, who became an ace in a ground attack aircraft during the course of flying over 2500 combat missions and personally destroying 519 Soviet tanks). The "magazine" contains several photos that transform into documentary footage of the individual or the aircraft they flew. Although this sort of thing is not longer a novel approach to multimedia technology, I still think that Magnet deserves kudos for the overall smoothness and quality of the execution.
 
On the entertainment side, the product includes four games of skill that revolve around correctly identifying a number of aircraft silhouettes in a limited amount of time. These distractions are fun and challenging, even if the replay value is minimal. As with WMH, I would not recommend that anyone purchase this product primarily as a gaming experience.
VERDICT. Both WMH and WOE cover essentially the same time period and theaters of war. WMH has a definite edge in terms of the size of the aircraft database and the overall quality of the graphics that depict the planes and the bases they operated from. On the other hand, the educational content of WOE is much more diverse and inclusive. The documentary clips are longer and better designed, containing an abundance of combat footage that show the aircraft in combat. The supporting text segments are cross referenced and contain a number of embedded links. Although navigation between these sections is not exactly a flight of fancy, the excellence of the contents makes it easy to overlook this.
WOE contains the best overall reference information on World War II military aviation. It impressed me repeatedly not only by the depth of the content but also by including such overlooked topics as the "Night Witches" — female combat pilots who flew for the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. If I were asked to select only one of the two WINGS titles covering WW II, on the merits of historic content, WOE would be the one.
WINGS - Korea to Vietnam (WKV)
WKV covers approximately 30 years of military aviation history. It may come as a something of surprise that despite the fact that this is the longest time period assigned to any of the four CDs in the series, this installment is the most comprehensive, fact filled, and visually pleasing example of Maris' wizardry. I have to give the design team even more credit considering the large number of significant events — Korea, the Cold War and Vietnam — that they were able to capture in such detail and cram on a single disc.
MKV adds a seventh section, time lines, to the organization that I described for WMH. It is a welcome addition that provides an excellent way to display the chronology of the period and to provide perspective on the significant events that framed this tumultuous period of history. The time lines can be displayed on a number of different topics, such as significant biographies and conflicts. My favorite subject in this area remained the maiden flights chronology, which proved to be more than just an interesting curiosity when I realized that nearly every US aircraft type that participated in Desert Storm was almost 20 years old.
Although the aircraft themselves are clearly the primary focus of WKV, the history and the circumstances of the air battles in which they participated are given nearly equal billing. Air Combat animations and War Report multimedia presentations describe the conditions and the outcome of the battles these aircraft fought, including such classic confrontations
as the -86 Sabre vs the Mig-15 Fagot.
In addition to the major conflicts that defined the period, this edition also covers such flare-ups of the Cold War as the invasion of the Suez Canal and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Additional discussion focuses on the tactics and deployment of air assets by the protagonists as well as the balance of power between the air forces of the East and the West at the height of the NATO-WARSAW PACT conflict.
WKV features all the gorgeous Maris graphics. Five airbases are included; three from Vietnam and one each from Korea and the Cold War periods. The first difference that becomes readily evident is the lack of panoramic views of the airbase. A single panel contains all the links that transport the user to various areas of the program. The effect may not be as glitzy as actually exploring the airbase from various locations on the tarmac, but I did not miss it terribly. This is mostly due to the fact that the designers did not compromise on the most important aspect of the WINGS design: the airplanes themselves, which continue to be represented in a breathtaking 3-D perspective.
The warplane exploration section contains 15 3-D designs, including the US AC-130 Specter Gunship and North Vietnamese Il-28 Beagle medium bomber. One of the more unusual and visually striking aircraft featured as a 3-D design is a Vulcan B. Mk 2 bomber of the Royal Air Force's No. 44 Squadron. This exotic, delta winged, tailless bomber was the backbone of England's nuclear capable bomber force during the 60's and the 70's. It's design appears modern even today, although the last example was retired over a decade ago.
Like the other Maris products, WKV also comes with three flight simulators. Once again the designers claim that even though the designs are not very flashy, these simulations are nonetheless highly realistic. I can't vouch for the F-86 Sabre or the Vulcan simulation, but I have sat in an F-4 cockpit, and the image on my computer screen was not even close. About the only people who would confuse these "mini-games" with a detailed and realistic flight simulation are the same myopic individuals who a few years back could not tell the difference between a Ford Fairmont and a Mercedes-Benz.
The database section is exhaustive on the period and includes over 60 experimental aircraft that contributed to the advances in military airpower. In addition to such curiosities as wingless, tailless, mixed-powerplant and tilting wing designs, it also contains excellent information on the definitive aircraft models of the period. Designs such as the F-4 Phantom II and the MiG-21 Fishbed — that engaged each other in aerial combat repeatedly during the 60's and the 70's — were fielded in greater numbers than any other aircraft since WW II. It is a testament to their success that both aircraft remain in front line use despite the fact that they both entered production in the 1950's.
The database suffers from the same shortcomings as WMH. Even for the more modern aircraft designs the pictures are of low overall quality. There are few video segments included and even these are straightforward and nondescript. There are some exceptions, including a short segment featuring the MBB BO 105 attack helicopter that highlights the exceptional maneuverability of this potent anti-tank helicopter.
VERDICT. Even considering its minor faults, this is an exceptional product and is my personal favorite of the series. The coverage of the events of the period and the impact of airpower on the outcome is expansive, educational, and intelligently presented. MKV contains fewer 3-D animation sequences, but the space saved by this design decision is filled with excellent information and strong educational content. I strongly recommend this product for all airplane enthusiasts as well as anyone building a CD-ROM reference library.
WINGS - Saigon to the Persian Gulf (WSPG)
WSPG covers the last 20 years of military aircraft development. Somewhat mistitled, the product's coverage not only includes the air war over Iraq, but also extends to more recent events such "Operation Deny Flight" over the skies of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Other major topics covered include the plenitude of Arab-Israeli conflicts, the air campaign in the Falklands War, and such short duration engagements as "Operation El Dorado Canyon," the F-111 airstrike against Libya on April 14, 1986.
This most recent WINGS release follows the general outline of the Maris products discussed above, with one major exception: the time lines section, which I liked so much in WKV, has fallen victim to the designers' decision to provide more eye-catching, but less informative 3-D graphics. There are some chronological segments included, but these are difficult both to navigate and follow, especially when there are few geographical cross references for the events. The space saved is used for graphics that are lavished primarily on panoramic views of the four airbases and their associated aircraft (a total of 10 models are included).
The quality of these images shows minor improvements from the previous releases, including animations embedded in the 3-D views (i.e. a rotating radar antenna in the background of the Soviet airbase). These exploration segments, especially the ones of the aircraft models, are positively stunning. The images do require a certain amount of raw computing power to pan smoothly, but for those who are limited to older or less capable machines, the graphics can be displayed in less than full screen size.
The air combat animations depict these modern aerial war machines in the heat of action. Some of the segments, such as A-10 Warthog anti-tank sortie and F-4 Phantom II anti-radar missions, are well thought out and combine actual combat footage with the animation sequence. The resulting presentation provides an excellent understanding of the employment of the weapon systems and the devastating results of their attacks.
All the animation and gorgeous graphics can not overcome the fact that WSPG contains a number of obvious inaccuracies. These go beyond minor typos that merely detract from the quality of the product and contain misinformation that is either misleading or totally inaccurate. For example, the labeling of the graphics for the F-15A Eagle fighter claims that it is a two seat aircraft (which it is not), and that it is equipped with an advanced APG-70 radar (with which it isn't.) This seems to be more of a design glitch (a case where the program accesses the wrong labeling information for the graphic), then something reflecting poorly on the accuracy of the research (the database specifications for the F-15A are listed correctly.)
The educational segments of the product are a series of presentations on the major air battles of the period. There is heavy emphasis on Desert Shield/Desert Storm, especially from the US side. The segments are composed primarily of narrated slide presentations, but some also include video footage and gun camera film, including that of the impact of a 2000 lb bomb released by an F-117 Nighthawk after it was guided down the ventilator shaft of the Iraqi Air Force Headquarters.
The other major subjects covered in considerable detail are the Arab-Israeli conflicts from 1967-1983. The coverage is factual and free of information tainted either by ideological or religious preference. In some cases, the designers are forced to simplify issues and chronology, but they do provide good coverage of the major air battles, including that which resulted in a lop-sided Israeli victory over the Syrian Air Force above the skies of the Bekaa Valley.
The database of WSPG is as complete as in the other releases; however, it failed to impress me. My biggest objection is that it is essentially a rehash of the database included with WKV, right down to the grainy photos and video segments. While this had a certain period feel to it in the edition that covered the 50-60's, it seems very out of place for this more recent release of WINGS. This is even more noticeable knowing that the programmers had greater access to information after the collapse of the Soviet Union, especially since the design team operates out of an office in Moscow. In MKV, considering the context of the time period, I was ready to accept a poor quality video segment of MiG-27's on a bombing run that appeared to be lifted from an old Soviet propaganda film. I am less willing to be placated by this same footage now that the aircraft have been seen close-up at international air shows. Even aircraft like the Ju-87 Flanker, that have repeatedly dazzled the west with their maneuverability, are shown only in "vanilla" photographs that fail to highlight their distinctive capabilities — such as the "cobra" maneuver.
The ubiquitous flight sims are included in this edition of WINGS as well. They include an anti-drone mission, an A-4 Skyhawk Shrike sortie, and an A-10 Thunderbolt II on a tank-busting profile. They are about the same mediocre quality as the sims described for the other two Maris products.
VERDICT. I had hoped that Maris would either improve the quality of the flight simulators or replace them entirely with additional video and exploration segments. As it is, the simulators do not add measurably to the entertainment value of WINGS, they merely take up space on the CD that could be used for other purposes. I can only hope that Maris revises this portion of WINGS prior to the next release.
Despite these minor complaints, enthusiasts who are interested in the role and employment of modern airpower, as well the aircraft and weapons that implement the doctrine, will find WSPG a rewarding experience. It has some shortcomings, and it does rely on reformatted information that was already presented in other Maris titles. Still, it remains an affordable and informative CD-ROM on modern military aviation that features a comprehensive database on the aerial arsenal of practically all the nations of the world.
Conclusion on WINGS
Maris intends to provide a complete history of military aviation with the addition of future releases. Two titles currently in development include WINGS-World War I to the Rise of Hitler and WINGS-London Blitz to Pearl Harbor. Once complete, the WINGS titles will provide an incomparable library of information on the military aircraft that played a significant role in the conflicts that shaped the history of our world.
The WINGS CDs have a terrific appeal to a broad target audience. I highly recommend these products to educators, students, and of course, even the most ardent military buff. This later group may find the historical contents of the WINGS CDs somewhat narrow in scope for their particular interests, but they, too, will be awed by the extensive database and the gorgeous graphics of the airbase exploration sequences. All those with an interest in military aviation, the history of aerial conflict, or the development combat aircraft will find it a highly engrossing product. This is a rich and rewarding experience that showcases what a wonderful education and reference tool a multimedia CD-ROM can truly be.
