Combat Pilot - DD #20 - D3A1, A6M, B-17E and 37mm AA Gun + Year End Review

Happy New Year to everyone in our wonderful community! We trust that 2026 will be a fantastic year for our community and Combat Pilot! We wanted to take a few minutes to recap another year of Combat Pilot development, share some new renders and talk about what you can expect next year. 2025 was a watershed year for Combat Pilot: Carrier Qualification development as we were able to reach several important milestones.

EntropyFM

First and foremost, we were able to launch EntropyFM, which is our proprietary flight and physics engine for UE5. This is a first for Unreal as this is not an off-the-shelf or freeware physics engine and more importantly it has been specially developed for modeling vintage warbirds and piston powered aircraft. Even more importantly, we were able to do it relatively quickly and we can utilize modern tools and technology to speed up the creation of accurate and realistic flight-models. The response to EntropyFM so far by our Ace Tier Patreon members has been very positive and we continue to take your feedback into consideration as we further improve it.     

Engine Damage Model

In addition to the flight and physics model we have also introduced an engine damage model for EntropyFM. This is our first step into what will eventually become the overarching Damage Model for the entire sim.  Engine damage is grouped into three major categories: mechanical, thermal, and lubrication. Our system is persistent and cumulative, encouraging historically accurate engine management.

Operating the engine beyond safe limits, such as excessive boost pressure or RPM, causes permanent mechanical wear and damage. This directly reduces engine power and reliability, limiting performance for pilots who over-stress their engines.

Engines are also very sensitive to temperature. Prolonged overheating not only leads to immediate loss of power, but also degrades the mechanical properties of engine components, making them more vulnerable to additional damage or complete failure.

Oil pressure and lubrication play a vital role in engine health as well. Insufficient lubrication primarily affects power output and increases the likelihood of further mechanical damage if the engine continues to be operated with low oil pressure or lubrication.

D3A1 ‘Val’ Model

This year also saw our D3A1 “Val” dive-bomber take its final shape and the result is an amazing piece of art. Never has there been a WWII Japanese warbird, outside of the A6M, modeled in such accurate and awesome detail for any simulation. This was not easy work, but it turned out great. This is the level of detail we hope to achieve for every plane we make. She will take flight in 2026. We now have her external textures ready and here are a few new renders.

A6M2 ‘Zeke’ New Textures

We also took time to re-work our skin textures for the A6M. Below are images of our new pale-olive A6M paintjob that was standard at Midway and early in the war. We previously showed you a green paint scheme from a land-based Zeke in DD#16, but this one is a carrier-based scheme. Finishing the cockpit textures is next up for the Zeke. That effort fell a little behind schedule.  

Aircraft Skins System Progress

As of this month, we can now change aircraft skins in-game. Our texture system is a modern system that relies heavily on painting in 3D using modern apps like Substance Painter. However, we are taking great pains to create a template and texture set that will allow you to make skins the old-fashioned way in Photoshop or Gimp in addition to the new methods available. In other words, we need to convert the 3D method into a 2D method most of you are accustomed to. We’ll have more to say about our skin system soon as we complete the full system and finish the art assets that we’ll share with you to aid in your skin making.

B-17E Progress

We continue to convert the B-17 we have into an E model that saw action at Midway. Here are some renders to give a taste of what is to come. There are some tell-tale external parts that give it away as an E model and not an F or G. Can you spot them?

37mm AA Gun

We have also completed another AA gun that helped defend Midway during the Japanese air raid. We previously showed you the M3 3-inch AA gun with its mobile spider mount in DDs #14 and #15, but now we can also show you the 37mm AA gun and carriage used by the USMC in all its glory. Attacking Midway will not be an easy task! There will be lots of flak to greet you.

Midway Infrastructure

In addition to the guns, we continue to build the infrastructure that was located on Midway. Quonset huts, barracks and other general-purpose buildings were placed all over Sand and Eastern Island in 1942 in a pre-war and early-war buildup.

Hiryu Progress

Our second Japanese aircraft carrier, the IJN Hiryu, is well underway and here are a few updated shots of her mesh. Most of it is ready except the final deck details, aircraft hangar and final textures. She will set sail in 2026.

Alpha Status for Carrier Qualification

The most important milestone achieved this year is that we moved from Pre-Alpha status to Alpha for Carrier Qualification, which our Ace Tier Patreon members have had access to for over a year now. We’ve gone well beyond the initial Experimental Prototype stage and are now working diligently towards Carrier Qualification release. Since we moved to Alpha we’ve released eight timely updates, about one every two weeks. In each update we’ve moved the ball a little further down the field. This includes many back-end items that aren’t obvious to users, but also some publicly released items like Cockpit Instrumentation which we implemented recently for the F4F-4. You can view each Changelog in detail on our Forum.

We will continue to release regular updates to the sim throughout 2026.

And more…

Other noteworthy items we have completed this year, are underway or in internal testing:

- F4F-4 cockpit textures completed
- F4F-4 external skin re-work is underway
- A6M2 cockpit textures underway
- A6M2-N ‘Rufe’ mesh is completed
- B-17E model is underway
- Modeled American and Japanese pilots
- Cockpit instrumentation and basic cockpit lighting
- Implemented initial VR support (more work to be done)
- Changed water engine to support custom ocean regions (lagoon vs ocean) and ocean stamp system
- Implemented new rendering technologies like detail maps and refraction
- Improvements to the user interface back-end (visually still a hot mess)
- Ability to spawn player aircraft in multiple locations on ground and in the air
- Prototyped multiple aircraft flying in the scene
- Invested in more computational power for larger and faster CFD simulations
- Created initial Val, Kate and Devastator flight models
- Created nascent autopilot routines for AI controlled aircraft
- Ships and aircraft can now follow basic waypoints
- Work on our Icons system now underway
- Drop tanks and bombs can drop with proper physics and explosions
- Initial ballistics system implemented and guns can now fire

Next Steps

Our plans are to release Carrier Qualification next year which is tentatively scheduled for Summer 2026. However, we will begin an Early Access phase before then and transition away from our Patreon program and focus on retail sales. We may keep a Patreon for those that really want to support us to the max, but the public will be able to buy CQ as a regular purchase on Steam or direct from us when we launch Early Access.

Our Patreon subscribers have been fantastic and the financial support does not go unappreciated here at Entropy Aero! So, we will be looking at everyone’s contributions and for those that qualify (details to be provided soon) you will get a key code for CQ as thanks for your contribution. But what we can say now is that for those that have gone ABOVE AND BEYOND and subscribed to the Ace Tier from the very beginning to it's soon to be end, you will receive all current and future paid Combat Pilot content for free (mini modules, full modules, special aircraft, campaigns etc.) for the duration of the series. Which of course, we hope it will be a very long one with many future titles for you to enjoy!

All paid Patreon subscribers will have a special thank you in the credits upon release.

If you like what you see here, tell all your flight-sim buddies and squadron mates to get behind Combat Pilot. We’re making the Pacific air war come alive like never before. BACK THE ATTACK!

Enjoy!

For more information about our project, please visit www.combatpilot.com or any of our social media properties.