That's something that didn't actually happen, you may have noticed, as that particular campaign takes place along an alternate timeline.
ACTIVATE A JOYSTICK ON IL 2 STURMOVIK 1946 SERIES
The 46 static campaign is clearly of most interest to fans of the series, one series of missions putting you in the pilot cap of one Hauptmann Schlammer, offering you the chance to assist in the assassination of Hitler. And yes, that includes the prototype Heinkel He-L-IIIB-2 Lerche, so you can put your hands down now. The most noticable aspects of the new content revolves around the inclusion of some late entries to the battlefield. It also contains three new expansions of its own: PE-2, Sturmoviks Over Manchuria, and 46 (after which the collection is half-named, confusingly) - all mercifully merged into a single installation. IL-2 1946 is a collection of all things IL-2 up until this point in time: every add-on, every campaign and every plane, over 300 of the things by the last count. So what the hell, you might be thinking, is IL-2 1946? Throughout its lifespan, IL-2 spawned many expansions, some stand-alone and some not, creating a family tree as complex and confounding as that of a gypsy. It's always been a joy to play for closeted and hardcore flight simmers alike, and, as its friends no doubt drunkenly state in its absence, it's an all-round great game who'd never steer you wrong. It's renowned for realism so unforgiving that it would totally hold a grudge forever if you just bumped into it on the tube by accident one time, for the sort of comprehensiveness that makes those really thick dictionaries look pamphlet-like in stature, and for thoroughly exposing the oft-ignored Russian side of the war.
Alongside Lock On 4.0 and Microsoft Flight Sim, it forms the highly-successful third pillar in the 'let's pretend we're flying' triptych. IL-2 Sturmovik is a series which has been running (or flying, if you must) for around half a decade now. So what the hell happened to all of the World War II planes? Because, according to the latest expansion pack for Oleg Maddox's inescapably excellent combat flight sim, 1946 was positively teeming with them. The sandwich you had for lunch becomes a monument to our civilisation, and the chair you sit on becomes a much, much older chair, for people who live in the future. The future, they say, is filled with the relics of today.