I've recently been on a bit of a resurgence of interest in WWII warfare and as always, in flight combat.
A long time ago when I was much younger, games like Aces of the Pacific and Aces Over Europe consumed my time. Sure the sound was bad, the graphics were low detailed polys, and smooth shaded polys made my 386 25mhz cry in anguish but damn was it fun.
Microsoft has a new Combat Flight Simulator 3 coming out and it looks pretty dang spiffy (have a look:
http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs3/)
I'm just wondering if anyone has played any of the previous versions. I want to know how easy it is to jump in and play. I also want to know if the realism settings are adjustable. I don't mind some realism, but I'd rather not spend three hours flying over the English channel to get shot down by the first FW190 that finds my tail.

, I'd rather be able to take off...pull up the landing gear, hit a key, get to my target area (or get intercepted) and then go home and do it in 10-20 minutes.
So I want to know what previous versions were like and if this game is for me?