Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (SWOTL) was a World War II flight simulation created and designed by Lawrence Holland, who would go on and make his name in the acclaimed X-Wing/TIE Fighter series of space combat simulations.
The premise of SWOTL was a focus on some of the experimental aircraft used by the Luftwaffe at the end of the war.
It allows the player to fly missions for the Luftwaffe and also the opposing USAAF. True to history, most of the the Luftwaffe missions involve stopping USAAF bombing raids or as the USAAF, escorting bombers or performing fighter bombing runs to destroy German ground targets.
Player-flyable aircraft for the Luftwaffe:
- Bf 109 Versions G-6 and G-10.
- FW 190 Versions A-5 and A-8.
- Me-163 Komet.
- Me-262 Schwalbe.
- Go229 Flying Wing
- He162 Volksjager (expansion disk).
- Do335 Pfeil (expansion disk).
Player-flyable aircraft for the USAAF:
- P-47 Thunderbolt Versions C and D.
- P-51 Mustang Versions B and D.
- B-17 Flying Fortress.
- P-38 Lightning (expansion disk).
- P-80 Shooting Star (expansion disk).
The B-17 was the most unique aircraft, and as similar to Microprose's dedicated B-17 simulation also released in the early 1990s, it allowed the player to control all aspects of the B-17 combat flight, including pilot, all the gunners as well control of the bomb sight.
Along with one-off 'Historical' missions and a pilot career mode (where you could emulate the Memphis Belle and be a B17 pilot that survived 25 missions - and the right to go home), the game also featured a full-fledged campaign mode where you could control the Euopean air war and what targets to attack, or if you were the Luftwaffe - defend.
Technically, the game's flight model was fairly forgiving, and the game offered a 3D environment and 3D ground targets but only 2D sprites for aircraft.
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