A formation of WWI biplanes led by a crimson Fokker triplane crosses a golden sunset sky

Est. 2001 · Restored 2026

The Aces Fly Again. Red Ace Squadron: Definitive Edition brings the 2001 WWI arcade dogfighting classic to Windows 11. Widescreen, repainted, and coming back online.

The year is 1917. High above the trenches, courageous fliers are locked in a duel to the death, and you've just been posted to the squadron. No jets, no computers, no heat-seeking missiles. Just the wind in your struts and blazing machine-guns. One mouse, a few keys, and the purest dogfighting ever put on a PC.

The Definitive Edition

Restored, Not Replaced.

The Red Ace Squadron title screen, 2001 original beside the 2026 hand-repainted Definitive Edition — Drag the brass handle to compare the 2001 title screen with today's. Every screen of interface art was repainted.

Drag the brass handle to compare the 2001 title screen with today's. Every screen of interface art was repainted.

A workshop propeller, half stripped and half freshly varnished

True widescreen: gameplay and the all-new menus at 2560×1440
All 64 interface screens hand-repainted in a 1917 officers'-club style
Terrain textures AI-remastered at 4× across all three worlds
Rock-solid on Windows 11, with the classic crash-freeze permanently fixed

Same physics. Same missions. Same soul.

The Worlds

Three Theaters of War.

Three worlds, each with its own skies, water and weather. In multiplayer, the squadron votes between the Countryside, Islands and Desert arenas.

The Islands: Lagoons, reefs and coastal villages under amber cloud. — The Islands Lagoons, reefs and coastal villages under amber cloud.

The Desert: Red-gold mesas and dune fields with long violet shadows. — The Desert Red-gold mesas and dune fields with long violet shadows.

The Mountains: Snow-capped peaks above a sea of sunset cloud. — The Mountains Snow-capped peaks above a sea of sunset cloud.

The Aircraft

Eleven Aircraft. All 1917. All Yours to Master.

Eleven real WWI aircraft, from the Sopwith Camel to the great Gotha G.IV bomber. Nine of them are flyable, eight selectable in multiplayer, and every machine handles from its own real stats: the Junkers is the fastest thing in the sky and the most fragile, while the Nieuport 17 out-turns everything, if you can unlock her.

Every aircraft has its own page in the Hangar, with the real stats behind the stick.

Visit the Hangar

A painted Sopwith Camel banking against warm sunset cloud, from the Definitive Edition hangar — The Sopwith Camel, the squadron's signature fighter, painted for the Definitive Edition.

Multiplayer

The Dogfights Are Coming Back.

Red Ace Squadron's online play died with GameSpy. In the Definitive Edition it returns over Epic Online Services: no Epic account needed, no patches to the 2001 client, and the connection layer is already verified against Epic's live servers. Up to 8 pilots, map voting, private password servers, your own dedicated server.

In Final Testing

Two WWI biplanes crossing paths in a banking dogfight at golden hour

The Campaigns

Both Sides of the Line.

Two full campaigns

Fly for the Allies or the Central Powers, ten campaign missions in all. Steal a Halberstadt from under their noses in Thief. Hold the line in Counter-Attack. And in the Central finale, face the Red Ace himself.

A brass-and-gold winged medal with a crimson enamel star

Master Mode, and a secret

Four difficulties, Easy to Ace. The game keeps its old promise: “Complete all missions for Master Mode.” Every sortie again, harder. And somewhere past Master Mode there's a wedding that needs an escort, and a Nieuport 17 with your name on it.

Central Powers campaign chapter painting

Learn the trade

Three training missions cover dogfighting, bombing, and your first combat patrol, taking you from the classroom to the flight line before the real shooting starts.

Browse the mission board

Gallery

From the Gun Camera.

Painted Allied victory scene: pilots celebrating beside a Sopwith Camel at sunset — Mission accomplished, Allied campaign

Painted Central Powers victory scene in stoic gunmetal tones — Mission accomplished, Central Powers campaign

Painted defeat scene: a downed biplane smoking in a field at dusk — Mission failed. Walk away, fly tomorrow.

The FLY MISSION brass plaque from the briefing room — The briefing-room plaque

A lantern-lit night hangar with biplanes being readied — The night hangar, from the multiplayer loading screen

A 1917 squadron officers' club desk: sepia photographs, letters, a flying helmet and goggles under lamplight

The Story

Twenty-Five Years in the Hangar.

In 2001, a small British studio called Small Rockets released a WWI dogfighter you could buy and download on the spot, years before that was normal. It found its way onto first PCs and family computers everywhere, and its multiplayer squadrons flew nightly until the GameSpy service that connected them went dark.

Small Rockets closed its doors in 2012 with a farewell letter to its players: “all good things must eventually come to an end.”

Revived in 2026, with the blessing of one of the original developers.

Read the full story

The Squadron

The Squadron Is Forming.

Dispatches from the aerodrome are live now on the news page (there's an RSS feed for the old-school). The squadron Discord opens with the public release. Check back soon, pilot.

Ready for your posting?

Take Flight

For Windows · Release imminent