Assembled in one package for the first time, Hawker Heroes offers you the chance to fly four of the most iconic aircraft ever to take to the skies. Included in this release are the Hawker Fury, Hawker Hurricane, Hawker Typhoon and Hawker Tempest - each comes complete with various different liveries. And, as a bonus for FSX owners there are a number of missions to get your teeth into...

Hawker Heroes is a compilation of four of the finest aircraft ever to be designed by the legendary Sir Sydney Camm and the Hawker design team. Included in this compilation are the Hawker Fury, the legendary Hawker Hurricane, the Typhoon and Tempest. Each of these aircraft played a major role in aviation history and the history of 20th Century warfare.

First flown in 1931, the Hawker Fury set the template for all fighter aircraft that would follow. The first fighter aircraft to exceed 200 MPH in level flight, the Fury held the world in awe with its incredible handling. With a climb rate in excess of 2400ft per minute and manoeuvrability that was the scourge of enemy aircraft the Hawker Fury defined a standard in military aviation.

The Hawker Hurricane was the hero of the Battle of Britain, changing the course of World War 2 by being responsible for more enemy kills than any other aircraft. Beloved by her pilots and feared by her adversaries, to this day many believe that the Hurricane is the finest fighter aircraft ever built. With our breathtakingly realistic simulation, now is your chance to confirm that assessment.

Whilst the Hurricane was rolling of the production line, Sir Sydney Camm and the Hawker Company were already planning the replacement aircraft, the Hawker Typhoon. The Typhoon quickly became one of the most formidable ground attack aircraft of the war years. By the end of World War 2 the RAF were operating 18 Typhoon squadrons equipped with deadly rockets. Pressed into service on D-Day to turn back the tide of armour on the Normandy beaches the Typhoon was instrumental in the liberation of Europe.

The Hawker Tempest entered service in 1944. Developed by Hawker to have incredible performance characteristics, the Tempest had outstanding acceleration with excellent climb and dive performance. Its introduction was fortuitous being one of the few aircraft able to intercept and shoot down the V1 flying bomb. Sortie after sortie was flown to keep the rocket powered marauder at bay.

Each aircraft has been painstakingly recreated to offer the ultimate in simulation. As with all First Class Simulations add-ons, the attention to detail is impressive and the interactive cockpit view is always a winner.

FSX owners also get a couple of missions to play through, both for the Hawker Fury, with the added bonus that if you register at First Class Simulations website there is the promise of future missions for all aircraft that will be downloadable for free.

This collection also comes complete with free digital PDF documents. These include a general manual, as well as a history and tutorial for each aircraft. What would have been useful is some sort of guide (even a short PDF document) to explain whether the sounds are authentic and if so a little of the history of the aircraft that was used for the recording. It would also have been interesting to know whether these aircraft have been authentically designed so that they handle like the real thing - for all we know the planes included are merely skins which are placed over the controls mechanisms of planes already programmed into FS 2004 / FSX.

If, like me, you prefer your Flight Sim aircraft to be prop driven then this is a collection that's worth seeking out.

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Darren Rea