Should I climb with a trim - BF109

[Tipskin]

Hi thanks for the your advice.

 

I would like to know if in order the squeeze the maximum climb performance out of my plane should I use the Trim?
At times I think I am climbing faster with the trim. At other times; I have an equal or larger energy and extending from my target but eventually the enemy can catch up my shallow trim climb. (normally I use G-2,F4, or G4)

If for example I start my climb at 500KPH: I normally trim to the desired shallow angle, and then keep adjusting my trim slowly to keep the same angle without needing to pull back the stick. Is that the right way to do it?  I think I might be trimming too much when the speed gets to 300KPH. (from -50% to about 10%)

 

Please if you have an advice how to reach the maximum sustained climb with the trim or should I ignore the trim and just pull back my stick to the angle I want to keep.

My experiments is not consistent to any result.

 

Thanks.

 

[von_Tom]

Trim.  Get to around 270km/h climb rate and you're at roughly the best climb rate/speed ratio.  In a combat zone I'd climb at around 350  400km/h unless I was absolutely sure the area around me was clear, which is never.

 

In the situation of extending away from an enemy I'd always use trim to avoid the drag of using the elevator.  But there is  a trade off because don't forget with "trim" in an F or G you're moving the whole stabiliser.  I still find that trade off is more beneficial than using the elevator.

 

Bear in mind that you need to be in a really shallow climb to get away from some VVS aircraft.  If I'm running (which is often) I'm usually either in a shallow dive or a very high speed climb (450km/h+).

 

von Tom