War Thunder Dev Server Shows Off More 1.49 Content Today, British FAA Line Makes its Debut

If you've missed our War Thunder 1.49 Update coverage, you can get up to speed here with the announcements from last week and yesterday's report on Dev Server (1.49.1.0) opening.

Today, the developers have re-opened the Dev Server (1.49.2.8) from 1400 GMT to 1700 GMT for another round of content update, showing off the remainder of the content outlined but not shown yesterday.

Other updates include reworked shell mechanics that will affect all tanks and effectively making armor angling much more effective against kinetic rounds, as well as extensive flight model updates for planes. Note that all these are still on the Dev Server builds, and might change closer to the final release.

New Vehicles

Some notable additions to the vehicle line-up in 1.49 (aside from those already announced over last week) include:

• Early model of Bf 109 for Germany, the B-1 Late version that fought in the Spanish Civil War and armed with 2 x 7.92 mm MG
• Captured Il-2 (1942) premium for Germany, with the VYa-23 cannons and bombs but lacking the rockets in the Soviet model
• Two new premium fighters for the British - Plagis’s Spitfire LF. Mk.IX and Prendergast’s Spitfire FR.MK.XIVe, part of the 'Weapons of Victory' lineup
• Several new and unannounced FAA planes (more on that later)

We also got to see several new vehicles from Japan, the J2M2 Raiden fighter and the Ki-21 bomber, and the Arado 234 C-3 with some guns. For ground forces, the StuH 42 finally gets a drive out along with some of the new Soviet and US premium tanks that missed the cutoff yesterday.

FAA Tree Revealed

The highlight of the day has got to be the FAA reveal, with an entire new branch of planes available in the British plane tech tree, from biplanes all the way to jets, along with some unannounced surprises.

The FAA gets the Nimrod and Sea Gladiators already in-game, with some slight modifications for Tier I. At Tier II, two Sea Hurricanes fill the gap, including the Mk. Ic variant armed with four Hispano cannons available early on (this should be fun).

Tier III is staffed by the two variants of Firefly fighter-bombers, which should handle closer to heavy fighters with its potent armament of four Hispano cannons as well, but also possess a decent ground strike capability.

Tier IV is where the British get more of the good stuff they already had in their previous trees, with navalized versions of the late-war Spitfire (Seafire Mk. 17) and Tempest (Sea Fury FB Mk. 11), along with a curious-looking Spitfire FR Mk. 47 with contra-rotating propellers (see above image). Tier V is rounded off with the Supermarine Attacker, giving the FAA line its first jet.

Looks like War Thunder Update 1.49 is shaping up to be one of the more substantial ones in terms of content!