You can even draw your own nose art, should the fancy take you

In the early '50s the Americans were fighting the Russians and Chinese in Korea. WWII just five years before had seen rapid developments in aerial combat, with the introduction of jet-engined aircraft but this conflict is regarded as the birth of jet warfare. Empire take you back with their latest flight sim...
Andy Smith

Warfare in jets? That's just firing homing missiles at radar blips isn't it?
Not in this game it's not. Although modern fighter aircraft do indeed use sophisticated targeting systems and weapons, they weren't widely available in the '50s.

Good point. So we're back to 'dagga-dagga-dagga' dogfights then?
Sometimes. Technology had advanced enough to make rockets a viable option but most planes were still fitted with machine guns and cannons for air-air and air-ground attacks.

But these combat flight sims have become very specialised. Who's done this one?
If you're into these games, you'll recognise the developers Rowan Software. They're the bunch behind the hugely popular Flying Corps and Dawn Patrol, amongst others. Does that mean anything to you?

Certainly does! Flying Corps was excellent.
And MiG Alley could well be even better. Rowan have gone for an all-new games engine and ramped up the game's AI as well as increasing the terrain tenfold, from 150x150km to 1500x1500km.

Wow. That's a lot of ground to fly over. How will I know where to go?
The full game is campaign-based, and you can plan missions in detail or leave the PC to handle all the strategy while you decide which plane to fly in which squadron. For more immediate fun there are the historical missions, head-to-head options and mini-campaigns which re-create key episodes in the Korean War - such as the UN's desperate defence of the Pusan perimeter.