I first played on a date with my girlfriend at the time back in college in 2003-4 at the EAA Museum, they were having a "Flight Sim Day" there. (She thought this was cool, lucky me
I knew from reading many reviews that IL2 and Forgotten Battles was THE ww2 flight sim to get, but I was in college and at the time had a mid 90s pc I bought at a garage sale for $50 as my web browsing/homework computer.
I got a low end Dell computer around 2004, which allowed me to at least play some pc games at lower specs. I went to Gamestop and saw IL2 Forgotten battles "Gold" that came with the Aces Expansion Pack, I bought it used for $15 bucks. What a deal.
I've been hooked ever since, even thought now I've moved on to CloD.