Ace of Aces

Climb into the cockpit of a de Havilland Mosquito and fly daring missions over wartime Europe. Ace of Aces online flies from this page for nothing — the 1986 DOS release is emulated inside the tab, so there is no disk to find, no setup program and no account. This classic World War II flight-combat game loads in seconds and puts you in command of Britain's legendary twin-engine fighter-bomber across bombing runs, dogfights, and submarine hunts. Its cockpit is split across panels you swap between using keys, which is why a keyboard serves it far better than a touchscreen.

How to Play Ace of Aces Online

Getting airborne takes seconds:

1. Press Play; Artech's 1986 release is a small program and reaches its menu quickly.
2. Give it a second or two to settle on the mission menu before you start pressing keys.
3. Click inside the frame so the station-switching keys register here instead of triggering browser shortcuts.
4. From the menu, choose a mission type and difficulty.
5. Switch between cockpit views to fly, navigate, and engage your targets.

Ace of Aces is about managing your aircraft — move between cockpit stations to handle flying, gunnery, and bombing.

Controls

Ace of Aces is played with the keyboard, switching between cockpit panels:

The heart of the game is switching between cockpit stations — front view for flying and shooting, map for navigation, and the bomb sight for attacking ground and sea targets.

What Is Ace of Aces?

Ace of Aces is a combat flight game developed by Artech Digital and released in 1986 for MS-DOS and other home computers. It places you in the cockpit of the de Havilland Mosquito, the famous British twin-engine fighter-bomber of World War II, flying a variety of missions over occupied Europe — intercepting enemy bombers and V-1 flying bombs, attacking trains and U-boats, and completing strategic bombing runs.

The game is notable for its multi-panel cockpit design, which was ambitious for its time. Rather than a single action view, you move between different stations — the flight view, navigation map, fuel and damage gauges, and bomb sight — to manage every aspect of your aircraft and mission. This blend of action and light simulation gave Ace of Aces a distinctive feel and made it a memorable entry in the early wave of home flight-combat games.

How the Game Works / Gameplay Basics

You fly the Mosquito by switching between cockpit views, each handling a different part of the mission. The forward view is where you fly, aim, and fire your guns and rockets at enemy aircraft; the navigation map helps you locate targets and stay on course; the gauges let you monitor fuel and damage; and the bombing view lets you line up and drop ordnance on ground and sea targets like trains and submarines.

Missions vary in objective and difficulty — some focus on air-to-air combat against bombers and flying bombs, others on ground and naval attack. Success comes from balancing all these tasks: navigating to the right location, managing your fuel and aircraft condition, and engaging targets effectively before returning home. It's a game of multitasking and situational awareness rather than pure reflexes, rewarding players who learn to move smoothly between stations and plan their attacks.

Beginner Tips

• Learn the cockpit stations. Knowing which key shows each view is the key to the whole game.
• Watch your fuel. Long missions require you to manage range carefully.
• Use the map. Navigation matters — line yourself up before engaging targets.
• Pick your missions. Start with simpler interception runs before tackling complex strikes.
• Aim deliberately. Both gunnery and bombing reward careful lining-up over rushing.
• Monitor damage. Keep an eye on your aircraft's condition and head home if it's failing.

Why Play Ace of Aces Online?

Artech shipped this in 1986 with a printed manual that told you which key opened which cockpit station, because the game itself never does. That manual is the one thing you genuinely need, and the controls table above stands in for it. Everything else that used to sit between a player and the Mosquito — the disk, the compatible machine, the configuration — has been dealt with in advance.

A sortie is short by design, so this is a half-hour visit rather than a project. And because nothing is installed, you can fly a mission on a computer that isn't yours and leave no trace of it behind.

Troubleshooting

• Game won't start? Give the page a second load and wait until the mission list is on screen; picking a sortie while the program is still coming up can leave the menu unresponsive.
• Keyboard not responding? Click on the game area once; the function and number keys that swap cockpit stations need the frame focused.
• Running slowly? Close other tabs and background apps — Ace of Aces is a light game, so persistent stutter usually points at something else competing for the processor.
• No sound? Check the tab isn't muted, since engine and gunfire cues tell you what's happening outside whichever cockpit view you're in.
• Screen too small? Go fullscreen so the fuel, damage, and navigation gauges stay readable at a glance.
• Lost during a mission? Switch to the navigation map to reorient yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Ace of Aces free to play online? Yes. This was a boxed 1986 release for home computers; the same missions now cost nothing to fly, and there is no paid tier hiding behind the mission menu.

Do I need an emulator or a download for Ace of Aces? No. The DOS emulator is part of the page and starts along with it, so you never handle a disk image or install anything yourself.

Can I play Ace of Aces on mobile? You can, but flying it means jumping between the forward view, the navigation map, the gauges and the bomb sight using function and number keys, and a pop-up touch keyboard makes that both slow and cramped. A laptop is the better cockpit.

What aircraft do you fly? You pilot the de Havilland Mosquito, the famous British twin-engine fighter-bomber of World War II.

What kind of game is Ace of Aces? It's a WWII flight-combat game where you switch between cockpit stations to fly, navigate, shoot, and bomb.

Can I save my progress? The game is mission-based, so you play through individual sorties rather than saving a long campaign.

Wartime skies and the legendary Mosquito await. Load it up and fly your first mission.