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OK chaps, make yourselves comfortable and listen in. That bounder Von Roubach and his Red Boxkites have made these parts a bit of a no-go area for flyers. But I know you chaps are up to a little hun-bashing, right? Good egg.

Now then, this is what we need to do. A little bird tells me that there's a big fuel dump just a few miles east of Haque-sur-Rive, and that if we can do a bit of knockout work on it, old Jerry will be in for a hard winter. Got that? Super.

Now we're going to use a pretty standard flight pattern, with four Slopworth Llama bombers, protected by a Mincing Queen fighter. Abbot, Ruddle, Marston and Theakston will be the bomber pilots, and you, Roger Wilco, are going to be pushing the Queen. No fancy tricks, now, just get in there, bomb the dump and come straight back out again. No problems? Good show.

Richardson of Supply reckons that we've got too many bombs, by the way. So if you do happen to fly over anything that looks useful to the enemy, don't hesitate to give it our love. OK? Whacko.

We go at 1300 zulu. Best of British, chaps. Dismissed. Er, Roger, will you stay behind for a minute? Thanks, old man. Now this isn't going to be an ordinary Queen you'll be flying. The boffins at HQ have fitted some new hush hush gadgets, and this is going to be the very first time they've been used. Sorry to spring this on you, but it could just swing things our way in this damned war. Good man.

I'll just go over the controls. The joystick's still standard enough, but the compass is all new. All you have to do is keep it cantered and you'll miss all the flak and keep on course to boot. Try not to do any detours; you'll only have enough fuel to go there and back like the proverbial crow.

What? Oh, very good. Raven mad indeed. Anyway, pay attention, man. Now those hods have also fitted meters, you can see how much damage you've sustained and how much ammo and how many bombs you and the crew have. Rather neat, I think.

Now flying this crate should be an absolute doddle. Even I could do it, hawhawhaw, All you have to do is point it and squeeze a few shots off at, the Bosch should he appear. The Queen should keep herself level at all times, no pedals or any of that stuff,

And they've linked up some sort of map to the compass and prop, they think it should tell you where you are at any time. You'll have a little sort of picture thingy, that's you and the rest is all standard symbols.

Clever stuff. Don't know how they do it, I'm sure.

Last thing before you go. You've been chosen because you're good. And we need you to be good - I've heard that Von Roubach has got company, and I'm afraid it's the Black Baron. He got Tramiel, he got Sinclair, he got Woz. Don't let him get you, eh? Good lad. Off you go. And good luck.

Durell has long had quite a reputation for airborne simulations of various types. This one tries to keep the flying side as simple as possible and make the dogfighting the main attraction.

And it almost is. It might have been quite good a year or so back, but by the best of today's offerings it all lacks a certain something. Speed mostly. But if Biggles wasn't enough, then have a go.

Lemme at this game, I've read all the Snoopy books. Oh no, the books were more fun. Slow, jerky aircraft and a low rate of fire. I know that WW1 planes flew slowly but this is a real disappointment.

The landscape looks good, the gun emplacements and houses add a touch that many combat games lack but, up in the air where the action is, it isn't.

If you're the sort of person who likes flying around dropping bombs here there and everywhere, then this is the game for you.

You are flying a World War I fighter (that's where the phrase dead accurate came from - if you weren't one, you'd surely be the other). Yaw left to avoid a mountain (I said yaw, not yawn!) Nothing out of the ordinary, but quite a fun game on the whole. Baron Von Richtofen, eat your heart out!