PE-2 S35 questions

[Bando]

I've been trying to fly the PE-2 S35 in PWCG. So far so good, I just have some questions about the cockpit instruments.

1.

On the right side on the top are 2 indicators that have something to do with the mixture of both engines. What are the correct settings for this, as the number goes up when I lean the mixture. I now fly with mixture fully up, is this correct. What do the indicated numbers represent?

2.

On the right side on the bottom are the fuel indicators. These 2 indicators are (AFAIK) not for engine 1 and 2, but for inner/outer? I can't figure out exactly what each indicator tells me.

 

Hope you guys can help with this, as searching the internet for cockpit PE-2 S35 did not yield the info I searched for.

 

[JimTM]

In this video, Monostripezebra mentions mixture (3:30 to 4:15) and fuel (34:30 to 35:15). In the fuel section, he mentions a bladder tank behind the pilot that does not register on the indicators, so perhaps the indicators are for left/right wing tanks.

 

Update re. fuel further down.

Edited November 6, 2016 by JimTM

[LukeFF]

 

 

On the right side on the bottom are the fuel indicators. These 2 indicators are (AFAIK) not for engine 1 and 2, but for inner/outer? I can't figure out exactly what each indicator tells me.  

 

Could you please post a screenshot showing what you are looking at? 

[Bando]

@ Jim: Thanks for this link. I noticed that Monostripezebra talks about getting that mixture to "the nines (or nineties)", but he never said what it is the number tells me.

About the fuel: He mentions another tank behind the pilot. Maybe that's some sort of reserve. He does not mention what tanks are indicated by the instrument panel (see pic below).

 

@ Luke: I'm looking at the red circled indicators. The mixture settings on top represent something I don't know and the fuel indicators on the bottom are not left/right I believe.

I started with 50% fuel and this is what is shown:

 

 

If they were left/right tanks there would be a very unbalanced aircraft standing on the runway. This must be inner/outer or something. I don't know.

 

Edit: Typo

Edited November 4, 2016 by Bando

[Dutchvdm]

Do i need set the altitude in every aircraft when taking off...? I never did that   

[JimTM]

@ Jim: Thanks for this link. I noticed that Monostripezebra talks about getting that mixture to "the nines (or nineties)", but he never said what it is the number tells me.

...

 

From what I can determine, the top gauges register "air-fuel alpha", which is a percentage that relates to the fuel to air ratio (i.e., mixture). 100% is the perfect mixture (14.7:1) but the linked article says that going slightly richer "reduces combustion temps. which reduces your chances of preignition or detonation". Readings below 100% are richer (more fuel) and readings above 100% are leaner (less fuel). It appears that 0.9 (90%) gets you peak rpms in the Pe-2.

 

Any gear heads out there, please correct me if I got this wrong. 

Edited November 4, 2016 by JimTM

[Bando]

Thanks!!

 

That was a very informative read.

Now I know what I look at on that indicator.

 

Only the fuel gauges left to go.

 

Oh, and that white flashing (sometimes even steady shining) white light on the left top side of the cockpit. No clue what it's there for.

 

I've been looking for cockpit drawings like Luke made for other aircraft, but for this particular plane I could not find any. Plenty for the S87, none for the S35.

[JimTM]

...

 

Oh, and that white flashing (sometimes even steady shining) white light on the left top side of the cockpit. No clue what it's there for.

 

...

 

The light is near the elevator trim control and it lights up when the trim is at the 0% (neutral) setting. Not sure why yours is flashing; maybe you have your trim on an axis and there's a bit of noise in the reading. 

Edited November 4, 2016 by JimTM

[Bando]

Aha, thanks.

[JimTM]

...

 

Only the fuel gauges left to go.

 

...

 

This post by Han has the following line in the Pe-2 series 35 section:

 

 "Airplane has three fuel gauges which shows the level in the fuselage fuel tank, left wing tanks and right wing tanks."

 

I found the third gauge tucked under the two gauges shown in your picture. Not sure which is which.

 

Edited November 5, 2016 by JimTM

[Bando]

Holy s***.

Never saw that indicator before. Good find!

[Bando]

I took another look at this. I'm still puzzled at the fuel indications.

This is from Han's latest "Aircraft Flight and Technical Specifications and Operational Details" Link: http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/25993-aircraft-flight-and-technical-specifications-and-operational/?view=getlastpost

 

For the PE-2 S35 this is said about the fuel: Fuel load: 1129 kg / 1505 l

 

That would indicate when I see this picture:

 

 

that there are 3 fuel tanks, each containing 500 liters and with the shown amount (60%) it shows 1 empty tank, 1 tank at 70% and 1 fully loaded tank. This all adds up to 60% fuel total, so this is correct.

 

If it is indeed so that there are three tanks in this aircraft that are labeled starboard, port and fuselage, wouldn't we have a tremendous imbalance in this plane? I do not know which tank is what on the shown picture, but the imbalance is obvious.

 

BTW: I had to make this screenshot from the 1st gunner position, as a pilot it was impossible to see the lowest fuel indicator.

 

I hope anyone knows.

[JimTM]

This picture shows inner and outer wing tanks and a fuselage tank. I wonder if the right gauge is outer wing, left gauge is inner wing, and bottom gauge is fuselage?

[Bando]

Nice find. I think you may well be right. It would make sense. First drain the outer wing, then inner wing, then fuselage.

It'll work for me  

[JimTM]

Do i need set the altitude in every aircraft when taking off...? I never did that   

 

As Monostripezebra indicates in his video (1:00 to 2:15), for level bombing, you should set your altimeter to 0 using the keybind for "Altimeter: reference pressure toggle". Technochat will indicate "Altimeter reference pressure: nearest friendly airfield elevation" (aka "QFE" in real life). That way, your altimeter indicates your height above your departure airfield. If your target is reasonably close to the height of your departure airfield, your bombing will be reasonably accurate. For example, Yantar is about 42m below Lapino, so a bomb run on Yanter would probably work OK without the 42m correction in your bomb sight altitude setting. It will be interesting to see what happens in Kuban though, with the hilly terrain.

 

If you set your altimeter to "Altimeter reference pressure: standard atmosphere" (aka "QNE" in real life) in Technochat, your altimeter reads your height above mean sea level under ICAO Standard Atmosphere (ISA) conditions. In this case, you would need to subtract your altimeter reading before takeoff from your altimeter reading over the target to get your approximate height above the ground (assuming fairly even terrain heights on a map). You specify the height above ground in your bomb sight. Having to subtract the takeoff height is not as convenient as using the "nearest friendly airfield elevation" setting mentioned earlier.

 

Note that if conditions differ from ISA, your "standard atmosphere" altimeter reading will be lower or higher than the actual height of the ground. For example, I ran a mission at -15C (30 degrees lower than standard) and 760mmHg pressure (standard). My altimeter reading at Lapino was 170m, which is about 19m higher than the actual height of 151.15m.

Edited November 7, 2016 by JimTM