Beginner: Countering Torque BF109

[The_Sparrow]

Been really enjoying the game! This is my first flight sim. I have a x55 Rhino HOTAS.

 

I have a question about level flying. I've spent time watching youtube videos of pilots flying the bf109 F4 and G2. I enjoy the fighters and love the boom and zoom tactics. However, I'm having trouble staying level during flight and executing loops, the Split S, and the Immelman along one axis without veering to the left. Videos of pilots seem to be much more stable than I can achieve. I feel like I am constantly fighting the engine's torque (and losing). 

 

I realize much of this is likely experience in flying the BF109s. How do you best counter this to effectively fly the aircraft? Perpetual rudder to the right? Perpetual roll to the right? I have flown russian craft, and with their trims am able to neutralize the torque effect, but I have no such luck in the BF109. Any tips would be appreciated!

 

For clarification I have dead zones set up so that my controls are not sending inputs when I feel they should not. I have my pitch axis sensitivity to 50%, and my roll to 30%. 

Edited November 24, 2015 by The_Sparrow

[indiaciki]

There's an article of an experienced british pilot trying a loop in a 109E... he couldn't keep her straigt. Warplanes wer not built to fly aerobatics in a manner of what you see today in aerobatic planes. If you're in combat your maneuvers are more "dirty"... You fly to stay alive. It's not ballet. And it doesn't make sense trying to do the perfect whatever maneuver. It's more about having tactical advantage. You have to know your plane and the opponent in terms of I'm better at vertical maneuvers than him or the other way round. Don't worry about perfect execution. Worry about energy superiority. Speed, altitude, postion and avoid predictibility.

Edited November 24, 2015 by indiaciki

[andyw248]

The various Bf-109 models require different kinds and amounts of rudder input during the different stages of flight:

• Power-on flight (e.g. takeoff, climb): right rudder
• Power-off flight (e.g. descend): left rudder
• High speed flight (in particular high speed descends): more left rudder

You can read about this for example at: http://www.virtualpilots.fi/en/feature/articles/109myths/, or at: http://www.pilotfriend.com/flight_reports/reports/33.htm.

 

There is a sweet spot where airspeed and power are at a balance and no rudder is required (around 8 - 10 ata and 400 kph).

 

Now when you fly more complex maneuvers, such as a loop or a split-s, you will go through different regimes of flying - you first climb power-on, then descend power-off at high speed, or vice versa, and so on.

 

So the best approach is to practice the rudder input required for the different scenarios in an isolated way first - i.e. just transition from a power-on climb to a power-off descend, and see how you need to change rudder to keep the ball centered. After doing this for a while it will be ingrained in your brain/foot coordination, and you will always move your left hand (throttle) and your feet (pedals) in a synchronized way. Actually, after a while you won't have to look at the ball anymore because you will get it right intuitively.