WARBIRD WEDNESDAY – ITALY WEEK!
Sardinia – Crank 'n Bank, Italian Style
Wednesday 2 September 2026
With the recent MSFS 2024 Italy City Update giving us the perfect excuse to head south, ITALY WEEK continues with Warbird Wednesday!
And what better place to unleash some of the finest WWII prop fighters in the sim than Sardinia? Mountains, rugged coastline, military history, low-level flying and over 400nm to stretch the legs of our warbirds.
Sounds suitably sensible. 
FLIGHT DETAILS
Location: Sardinia, Italy
1st Leg: 188nm
Elmas Mil (LIEE) → Costa Smeralda (LIEO)
Coffee Stop: Costa Smeralda (LIEO) – approx. 10 minutes
2nd Leg: 216nm
Costa Smeralda (LIEO) → Fenosu (LIER)
Touch & Go’s
1st Leg
- Tortolì (LIET)
2nd Leg
-
Aviosuperficie Stintino (LISJ)
-
Fertilia (LIEA)
Target Speed: 240 knots / 275 mph / 445 km/h
Required Altitude: No terrain on the route exceeds 6,000ft, so 7,000ft should keep you safe
Suggested Aircraft: The best WWII prop fighters in the sim…
Sim Settings: Live time and live weather please
Online Flight Planner
THE FLIGHT
With the release of the Italian update this week and the demand polite request (First warning, say five “Hail Joerg’s” and we’ll say no more about it – Ed.) from our tyrannical dictator benevolent leader (one more and I’m limiting you to 5 waypoints per flight – Ed.) that we set our plans there this week, I’ve come up with a lap around the island of Sardinia in the finest WWII-era fighters the sim has to offer.
Sardinia lies off the western coast of mainland Italy, immediately south of the French island of Corsica. It’s the second-largest island in Italy after Sicily and, rather fittingly for a Warbird Wednesday flight, has an extraordinary military presence.
Despite accounting for less than 10% of Italy’s total territory and only around 2.5% of its population, Sardinia hosts a huge proportion of the country’s military installations and training areas, making it one of the most heavily militarised regions in Italy—and a rather appropriate playground for us today.
Although we’ll try to leave the live ammunition at home.
Probably.
LEG 1 – CAGLIARI TO COSTA SMERALDA
We begin at Elmas Mil (LIEE) in Cagliari, Sardinia’s capital at the southern end of the island and, importantly for Italy Week, one of the locations to benefit from the recent update.
Before picking up the magenta line, I strongly recommend taking a quick sightseeing lap around Cagliari. The updated city looks fantastic and deserves a proper look from the cockpit before we point our noses north.
Leaving Cagliari behind, we’ll head inland and pick up our first major POI:
Su Nuraxi di Barumini
One of Sardinia’s most important archaeological sites, Su Nuraxi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site centred around an ancient Nuragic defensive complex dating back thousands of years.
From there, things get considerably more Warbird Wednesday.
We’ll dive into the mountains running along Sardinia’s eastern side, where the combination of terrain, valleys and 240-knot WWII fighters should provide ample opportunity for some proper crank 'n bank flying.
After a quick touch & go at Tortolì (LIET), we’ll head back towards the coast to check out some spectacular cliffs and Mediterranean scenery before turning once again into the mountains.
Eventually we’ll emerge at:
Costa Smeralda (LIEO)
Time to park the warbirds, stretch the legs and give the engines—and possibly the pilots—about 10 minutes to cool down.
LEG 2 – THE NORTH & WEST COAST
Coffee consumed, engines restarted and questionable decisions resumed, we’ll depart Costa Smeralda (LIEO) and head across the northern end of Sardinia.
We’ll continue collecting the remaining POIs along the route before reaching our next challenge:
Touch & Go – Aviosuperficie Stintino (LISJ)
From there we’ll work our way around the north-western corner of the island before another touch & go at:
Fertilia (LIEA)
Then it’s southbound for the final run down Sardinia’s western side before eventually arriving at our destination:
Fenosu (LIER)
Around 404 nautical miles, mountains, Mediterranean coastline, archaeological sites, three touch & go’s and a whole lot of WWII piston horsepower.
That should do nicely.
SUGGESTED AIRCRAFT
The main star of this week’s flight is the FlyingIron Spitfire Mk.IXc.
With its impending retirement following the arrival of FlyingIron’s native MSFS 2024 Spitfire pack, this seems like the perfect opportunity to give the old girl as good a send-off as possible.
So expect to see plenty of Spitfires on the ramp.
However, don’t feel locked into the Spitfire.
I’d love to see the best WWII fighters that MSFS has to offer turn up for this one.
Some suggestions:
-
FlyingIron Spitfire Mk.IXc
– our featured aircraft -
FlyingIron Bf 109 G-6
-
FlyingIron Fw 190 A-8
-
Blackbird Simulations A6M5 Zero
-
Asobo/Reno P-51D, particularly with @Randall’s P-51D Improvement Mod and the Echo19 Mustang sound pack
-
Or any other WWII-era warbird you think deserves to be there
Mustangs, Messerschmitts, Focke-Wulfs, Zeros, Spitfires…
Bring your favourites.
The target cruise speed is 240 knots, so pick something capable of keeping up with the pack.
SUGGESTED SCENERY
Given the recent Italy update, there isn’t much extra scenery required this week.
The one addition I would recommend is Mamu Design’s Powerlines and Solar Farms.
Sardinia is well covered by the mod, and the extra infrastructure adds a surprising amount to these low-level, fast-moving crank 'n bank flights.
It’s also available through the in-sim Marketplace and SimMarket.
So fire up your favourite WWII fighter, make sure you’ve got enough fuel for 400+ nautical miles of Sardinian misbehaviour, and join us as ITALY WEEK continues.
Sardinia awaits.
Warbirds encouraged.
Coffee compulsory.
ALL HAIL MASSIVE SIM 32
(5 waypoints AND Airbus A320s – Ed.)
