I have noticed as I have read various issues of Wargames Illustrated that many of the photographs of the nicer looking games have an aircraft or two flying around somewhere in the picture. Therefore I proceeded to hunt down as many model kits as I could think of that would be neat to have to strafe and bomb my fellow gamers into oblivion.

My first kit was, as any sane gamer knows, a 1/72nd scale Stuka B. I built a stand for the model, painted it and used in in several one sided "lets clobber some poor French victim" scenarios. The satisfaction was too horrible to resist! I proceeded to assemble a Potez bomber for the French. True carnage! In the next game it was fun to watch both the Krauts and the French take a pounding from above (yes, French aircraft did fly many one-way missions).

Adding one or two aircraft to a side (or both) can be good for some serious fun for everybody. Most rules I have played portray aircraft fairly, that is, they are not too overbearing on the game. Besides it looks really cool. Usually a limited number of missions per model works really well.

I have also expanded into using spotter aircraft for most of the armies I play, like the Fiesler "Storch" for the Krauts. They can call down doom upon your enemies from your favorite 105mm battery much more effectively than ground spotters.

The scale you use depends upon how picky you are. For 15mm armies you should use 1/100th scale models. For 20mm armies use 1/72nd scale. I use a lot of 1/72nd scale models for both sizes since there aren't too many 1/100th scale kits out there.

The time frame you play doesn't always mean one side always has control of the air. If you are a big 1944 WW2 fan you can still use some Ju88's and Fw190's to strafe the British. Keep in mind the anti-aircraft units in your armies - I always include them, even in 1940. In 15mm scale I use the Japanese 20mm autocannon offered by Quality Castings for French anti-aircraft units. With a little work they are perfect, since the Japanese gun was of Hotchkiss manufacture.

So give it a shot, I think many gamers out there can build some really nice models for use in their games that will make gaming even more fun for everybody. We will have some great examples of aircraft models for the Vietnam game that will be put on by Tim McNulty and myself, so come by and see.

Editor's Note: 15mm players might want to consider 1/144th scale aircraft models for their games. Many common ground-attack planes, both modern and WWII, can be found in this scale as plastic kits. Besides being cheap, they also have the advantage of being lightweight, which makes them easier to mount on a 'flight' stand. On the down side, they are a bit smaller than the 15mm stuff.