The player is Dee Dee, a skilled female pilot who starts out by smuggling whiskey to desperate Allied forces but after a few wrong turns ends up helping in the fight against the Axis armies. The campaign spans from 1941 to 1945 and takes her to places in Africa and Europe. While the story primarily focuses on World War II, during some flashback missions which tell the story of her father, several World War I missions will have to be flown as well. During WWII missions, the player earns points by destroying any kind of enemy targets, even if they aren't part of the mission. These can be used to buy upgrades such as plane endurance, agility or leadership.

By playing campaign missions, new planes of British, German or Russian origin are unlocked. Missions vary in nature and consist of escorting and protecting enemy bombers, protecting ground troops and helping them advance, dogfights, taking out key ground installations, smuggling weapons and parts, dropping off paratroopers, bombing enemy tanks and infantry and more. The main weapon types are machine guns, bombs and rockets. Rockets aren't guided and it may take a lot of luck to hit enemy planes, but ground targets are much easier to hit. Depending on the plane type, only a certain number of bombs and rockets will be available, although they slowly replenish after use. By holding the fire button the bomb or rocket camera can be activated to see if the target has been hit, although the sound of the explosion itself should be an indicator as well. Fighter bombers and bombers also have a rear machine gun, which is not very effective, but will let the player repel enemy planes that try to sneak up from behind or sideways.

The game can be played from a behind or 1st-person view, the latter either from the nose of the plane, or from the cockpit. Aside from the campaign, there is also a quick mission select, which lets the player choose the type of combat, place and in some cases weather.