There are few things in gaming quite as satisfying as taking something old and making it feel alive again. Aviation history is full of machines that once represented the cutting edge of human ingenuity, only to become museum pieces as technology marched relentlessly forward. Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Local Legends Pack 1 gives ten of those remarkable aircraft another chance to take to the skies, allowing us to experience their character rather than simply looking at them behind glass. More than a collection of additional planes, this is a lovingly assembled celebration of an era when flying still felt like an adventure and every aircraft seemed to have a personality of its own.
The ten aircraft gathered here span a fascinating period of aviation development. From the pioneering Junkers F 13 to the enormous and wonderfully eccentric Latécoère 631, there is an extraordinary variety in both design and purpose. You have elegant early airliners, rugged utility aircraft, luxurious flying boats, and machines that look as though they were designed by someone who had only just discovered that humans could leave the ground. That variety is what makes the pack so enjoyable, because jumping between these aircraft isn’t simply changing the shape of your virtual aeroplane. It changes the entire character of the flight.
A Journey Through Aviation History
The beauty of Local Legends Pack 1 is that every aircraft tells a story. The Junkers F 13 represents one of the earliest successful all-metal passenger aircraft, while the Fokker F.VII evokes the pioneering days of long-distance aviation, when crossing continents was still an extraordinary undertaking. The Boeing 307 Stratoliner takes us into another chapter, introducing pressurisation and a more modern approach to passenger travel, while the venerable Junkers Ju 52 demonstrates why ruggedness and reliability can be every bit as important as speed.
Then there are the flying boats, perhaps the most fascinating members of the collection. The Dornier Do J Wal and Savoia Marchetti S.55 look gloriously unconventional by modern standards, yet their designs make perfect sense when you consider the world in which they operated. Before extensive runways became commonplace, water offered an enormous natural landing surface, and these machines turned rivers, lakes and coastal waters into airports.
The Latécoère 631 takes that idea to an almost absurd scale. It is enormous, imposing and unmistakably French, with the kind of presence that makes you stop and stare before even starting the engines. Flying it feels like piloting a piece of lost aviation history, and that is precisely where this expansion excels.
Ten Aircraft, Ten Personalities
The collection’s greatest strength is that none of these aircraft feels like a simple reskin of another. The Beechcraft Model 18 Twin Beech is a very different proposition from the DHC 4 Caribou, despite both being twin-engine aircraft. The Cessna 195 Businessliner has its own distinctive character, combining a wonderfully old-fashioned appearance with the sort of charm that makes you want to spend an afternoon simply hopping between small airfields.
The DHC 4 Caribou is particularly enjoyable for pilots who prefer getting their hands dirty. This is an aircraft designed around practicality rather than elegance, and its ability to operate from shorter, less conventional airstrips gives you plenty of reasons to seek out destinations where a modern airliner would feel completely out of place. Suddenly, a simple flight across the simulator becomes an expedition into remote territory.
The Boeing 307 Stratoliner offers a very different experience. There is something deeply satisfying about sitting inside that vintage cockpit and imagining what commercial aviation must have felt like when pressurised passenger flight was still a remarkable technological achievement. It isn’t the fastest or most convenient way to travel in the simulator, but convenience isn’t really the point.
Flying Before Computers
Modern aircraft have transformed piloting into an extraordinary blend of automation, electronics and precision. These historic aircraft remind you just how much work pilots once had to do themselves. Instrumentation is simpler, cockpits feel more mechanical, and engine management becomes much more noticeable.
That doesn’t necessarily make every aircraft brutally difficult to operate. Instead, it changes the rhythm of flying. You become more attuned to what the aircraft is doing rather than simply monitoring a collection of digital displays. There is something wonderfully tactile about it, particularly when you are flying through changing weather and have to rely on your instruments, experience and judgement.
For newcomers to historical aircraft, there may be a small learning curve. The reward is that once you start understanding how each machine behaves, you develop an appreciation for its quirks. That is something a more modern aircraft rarely provides to the same extent.
The Joy of Slow Flying
One of the unexpected pleasures of Local Legends Pack 1 is that it encourages you to slow down. Microsoft Flight Simulator can be spectacular when you are hurtling across the planet in a modern jet, but these aircraft invite a completely different approach.
Flying slowly gives you time to appreciate the scenery below. Mountains become landmarks rather than obstacles, coastlines stretch endlessly across the horizon, and small towns suddenly become destinations rather than things you pass over at 35,000 feet. A short flight in the Cessna 195 can be every bit as memorable as a transcontinental journey.
The flying boats take this even further. Finding a suitable stretch of water, approaching carefully, and settling onto the surface feel completely different from landing on a conventional runway. It adds another dimension to the simulator and makes the world feel larger, because suddenly every lake and stretch of coastline becomes a potential destination.
A Beautifully Preserved Fleet
Visually, the aircraft are exactly what you would expect from Microsoft Flight Simulator. The modelling is detailed enough to make these historic machines feel tangible, with rivets, metal surfaces, period cockpits and weathered materials all contributing to their authenticity. There is a wonderful contrast between the old aircraft and the modern simulator environment around them.
It is particularly impressive when you switch between cockpit and external views. From outside, you can appreciate the unusual silhouettes and engineering choices that defined each machine. Inside, the atmosphere changes completely, with old instruments and mechanical controls reminding you that these were working machines rather than museum exhibits.
The sound design is equally important. Vintage radial engines have a character that modern turbofans simply cannot reproduce, and hearing them rumble to life gives each aircraft an immediate sense of identity. The mechanical noises, propeller rhythms and engine changes during take-off and landing make these aircraft feel properly alive.
Where the Pack Could Do More
There is one significant caveat, and it comes down to what you expect from an expansion of this type. If you are not particularly interested in aviation history, some of these aircraft may feel less immediately exciting than a modern fighter or airliner. Their slower speeds and more involved handling won’t necessarily appeal to players who simply want to race across the map.
There is also an unavoidable amount of overlap in what the pack provides. These are ten aircraft, but the simulator itself remains the simulator. There isn’t a major new campaign or a completely different gameplay structure attached to them. The appeal comes from the aircraft themselves, so whether the package feels essential will depend heavily on how much you enjoy exploring historical aviation. For enthusiasts, however, that is hardly a criticism. These planes are the content, and they provide hours of potential flying.
A Love Letter to the Golden Age
What makes Local Legends Pack 1 work so well is the sense that these aircraft have been chosen because they matter. They aren’t merely random vintage planes thrown together to pad out an expansion. Collectively, they represent the evolution of aviation from experimental engineering and daring exploration to the foundations of modern commercial and utility flight.
There is an almost nostalgic quality to flying them, even if you weren’t around when they were operational. You can imagine passengers boarding these machines, pilots preparing their engines, and ground crews working around aircraft that now look impossibly primitive. Microsoft Flight Simulator has always been capable of turning aviation into an interactive history lesson, but this collection makes that feeling particularly strong.
Verdict
Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) Local Legends Pack 1 is one of those expansions that reminds you why flight simulation can be so much more than simply getting from one airport to another. These ten aircraft have character, history and distinctive handling, and together they offer a fascinating journey through some of aviation’s most inventive periods.
The Junkers F 13 and Fokker F.VII capture the pioneering spirit of early passenger flight. The Boeing 307 Stratoliner demonstrates how quickly aviation was evolving, while the Beechcraft Model 18 and Cessna 195 show the practical side of aircraft design. The DHC 4 Caribou brings rugged utility, while the Dornier Do J Wal, Savoia Marchetti S.55 and Latécoère 631 provide some of the most unusual flying experiences in the simulator.
It may not be the expansion for everyone, particularly if your idea of fun involves supersonic speeds and modern avionics, but for anyone fascinated by aviation history, this is a wonderful collection. There is a genuine sense of discovery in climbing aboard an aircraft you may never have flown before and learning how it behaves. More importantly, Local Legends Pack 1 doesn’t simply preserve these aircraft. It gives them somewhere to fly again.
