The funny part is that back in the very early days of flight sim, they used to measure performance in seconds per frame. Now we’re complaining if we can’t get 30 frames per second.
Geoff Crammond’s Aviator for the BBC Micro in 1983, around the same time as the very first version of Elite.
Line graphics, were big in those days. 
OMG when sound cards were a big deal!
Good ole Soundblaster and MS Dos prompt configurations 
Mine was Aces of the Pacific and Aces Over Europe by Dynamix. I tried forever to get it working on a 286, but couldn’t squeeze enough out of Memmaker. Finally got a 486 and played these two titles for hours before getting a copy for MSFS 5.0.
Cutting edge IFR on the Sinclair ZX series circa 1981. And I splurged for the additional RAM brick that hung off the back.
f-117 or f-15 ega graphic
I don’t have a screen shot, but it was MS Flight Sim on an AT&T desktop (8086 processor), with a green-screen monitor which simulated 16 colors in shades of green. No depth perception … landings were HARD!
FS9, with the default 737. Good old days!
Those two were brilliant. The whole Aces series. Especially liked Aces of the Deep.
I started with Flight Simulator II on a monochrome Atari ST
And two years later I graduated to F/A18 Interceptor. Brilliant for its time
I never played Aces of the Deep, but I do remember seeing it on shelves.
still got the manual on my book shelf Has some nice historic background in it. It’s 208 pages thick …
Good old MS FS 2. On the XT (8088) with green monochrome screen and a whopping 640KB of RAM (which was more than the usual 512KB). I even had a joystick, but no mouse (mice were not a thing then).
mine was a sim on a “compilation” tape of a game called NITE FLIGHT on the ZX Spectrum. It was amazing.
before that was B52 Bomber on the Intellivision console around 81/82.
never looked back
This!
“Jimmy Jet” circa 1961. It even had a moving map of sorts!
My first computer flight sim was Sublogic’s on the Commodore 64 in 1984.
My all-time favorite in that era was “Flight Assignment ATP”
I’ve owned everything in the MS franchise since FS5, and currently have MSFS (of course), P3D 5.1, XP 11.50 and Aerowinx PSX.
“Night Flight” on the Dragon 32.
Now I feel young… Unless you count things like Microprose F-19, I didn’t start out until FS2000. Gosh.
This is one of the best threads I have seen. Great job.
That was my first FS experience too! I spent a lot of time in that 182. I could never fly the Learjet though, as a 12 year old using a keyboard, it was just too much for me haha.
It’s kinda scary how much power one game had in shaping the rest of my life, considering I’m lucky enough to fly for a living now.