How much fuel do you guys take and why?

[KatieLuna]

As in the title. I always take full fuel (except when the plane can't take off with such a load).

Edited March 29, 2018 by TheTacticalCat

[seafireliv]

About 70% especially if carrying bombs.

 

I do it so I can manouever with a bit of an edge. Can be dicey if I don`t manage my engine right though as I`ll run out of fuel a bit too soon..

[Herne]

well it depends ! 

 

In the career mode I tend to take whatever I am given. I figure that my commander would not give me the freedom to customise "My Countries" expensive planes, until perhaps such time as I am in command of the squadron and then perhaps I will be more hands on in this area.

 

In MP it depends what objectives I set myself, and what I am flying, and how deep I intend to go beyond enemy lines. If I get a fuel leak I at least want a little bit extra to get me back over the lines to ditch bail in friendly territory.

 

for most fighters I'll take 60 - 65 %  I16 i always take 100% 

Edited March 29, 2018 by =FEW=Herne

[Rjel]

Short of there they were being scrambled under enemy attack I can't imagine many pilots ever taking off knowingly while low on fuel. Doing so in the sim just negates the idea of this simulating real life. 

Edited March 30, 2018 by Rjel
grammer

[=EXPEND=Tripwire]

100% almost always. I might be wrong but I feel that it would have been rare for the planes to not be filled up before each sortie and I hate running low on fuel and either not making it home due to having a fuel leak, or not having enough for that last dogfight to help out your wing men.

[-SF-Disarray]

I tend to go out on full tanks. My primary reasoning for this is I don't want to be forced from my AO with ammo in the plane. This is when I'm in a fighter; the way I see it I'm in a fighter so I should fight people and I can't do that with no gas. There are some advantages to lowering the weight of the plane I'll grant but I feel time on target is the greater concern.

 

In bombers I take as much fuel as I can and still get off the ground, though this is only ever a concern in German bombers I've found and I don't fly them often. In let's say a PE 2 or an IL-2 the chances of taking a hit are fairly good so it is nice to have lots of extra fuel to leak all over the map on the way home.

[Wolf8312]

Full! I am a bad navigator so always be prepared!

[SCG_Tzigy]

70-100% fighter

30-40% jabo

[Wolf8312]

Out of interest did pilots on the russian front have a specified fixed amount that they had to abide by or was it all very much dependant upon the mission (distance, weather, bomb load etc). 

[seafireliv]

To be honest I think all pilots had to take what they were allocated, which is normally 100%. There may have been individual exceptions for special reasons, like heavy loads, but you took what you were given.

 

To be honest I should stick with 100% or whatever I`m given. 70% is a bit of bad multiplayer internet habit of mine.

Edited March 29, 2018 by seafireliv

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

My first instructor pilot always used to say, "You can never have enough fuel..............................unless you are on fire."

 

In game, I usually take 65-75 percent fuel but I'm only on DF servers so maneuverability is more important than range.

[CanadaOne]

40% in the IL2 in the QMB.

 

Need some speed.

[Blackhawk_FR]

Interesting topic ! 

 

With fighters: Depend on the server. On WOL it's often 70-80%. On TAW, almost always 100%. Btw, if the mission ends in less than 30min, I will take off with 50% of fuel or less.

 

With bombers and attackers: Only the fuel needed to run the mission with a margin (30, 35, 40, depending on the distance from the objective). The goal is to have the lightest aircraft to climb faster (important with a heavy Stuka BK3,7 or for level bombing).

Edited March 29, 2018 by F/JG300_Faucon

[GridiroN]

Depends what I'm flying and the speed with which it burns fuel. 

 

I have found 350l is the best balance between longevity and weight for most planes.

 

For duel engine crafts, I double this. 

 

For radials, I add 50l. 

Edited March 29, 2018 by GridiroN

[sniperton]

SP career, VVS, fighter. 100% for the I-16, 50% for the P-40, and 75% for the rest. I simply don't need more if I want to get back to the airfield, even with a fuel tank leaking.

Edited March 29, 2018 by sniperton

[Royal_Flight]

I'm surprised that so many people carry so much fuel all the way to the target and carry most of it all the way back again.

 

The amount depends on what I'm flying, but I go for 20-25% usually for the Peshka and Ju 88, less for the Boston. 

20% in the Peshka is enough for a 200km round trip (ten grid squares from taxiway to target) at cruise speed and enough left over to evade enemies or deal with a minor leak.

If there's further to go, add a bit more but I haven't needed more than 27% or so.

I've never run dry unless it was due to enemy action. 

 

All the weight saved goes towards higher speed. Flying with a full fuel load as well as bombs vs flying with as little fuel as possible, it's easy to notice the difference. The aircraft at max weight handles much more sluggishly, responds slower, and takes a fair bit more nerve-wracking effort to get off the runway.

Also it's much harder to pull out of dive-bombing attacks, and following your ordinance straight into the target at 500mph is definitely a suboptimal outcome.

The Ju 88 particularly is almost unmanageable with too much fuel.

 

With twin-engined bombers and attackers, you can always take much more fuel than you'll ever need so definitely worth cutting back. 

[Riderocket]

too many people use %'s in this game, i always look at the numbers behind the %.

 

for example when talking about fuel i always look at how much Litres i have if its in wings of liberty i always take 300-350 L per engine, on dogfight servers or short missions i take around 100L this means in some planes i take a higher % then others.

[Lensman]

I can assess the required fuel by looking at the distance to the mission objective. If it's most of the way across the map (and back) then full fuel otherwise 75%. If they gave me a mission to defend my own airfield then 30%. Basically you need fuel to get there and back AND enough extra to run in combat mode for 10 to 15 minutes at least. One way of judging it is to use the supplied fuel on missions and then see on average how much is left when you get home then adjust accordingly. The lighter you are the better you will perform.

[III/JG53Frankyboy]

20 hours ago, Wolf8312 said:

Out of interest did pilots on the russian front have a specified fixed amount that they had to abide by or was it all very much dependant upon the mission (distance, weather, bomb load etc). 

Fighters , full fuel load - the most easternfront single engined planes are not longrange (we have no Yak-9DD  )

 

Bombers, groundattack - depends on max startweight - full fuel tanks most times dont work with full loaded bombracks/bombbays

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

For a 20 minutes mission, I take 30 minutes of fuel. For a 30 minutes mission, 40 minutes of fuel.

 

Taking more fuel than needed gives no advantages. I have seen Youtube videos on "Why do I always take full fuel", saying they could dive better, which I consider placebo or false. Here is why:

 

1) A full plane enters a dive (rapid velocity change) much slower, since inertia, at large delta velocity, remains much stronger than the gravitational pull + drag. The energy put into the equation by a fully powered engine fighting the drag is much more important.

 

2) After the dive at already high velocity close to a constant, the delta velocity remains a tiny value, so the full tank gives almost no benefit through inertia. Take the light Bf-109, and compare inertia for 2600kg and 2700kg. It gets quickly irrelevant compared to what drag does, when in the same aircraft with only the small difference in weight by fuel.

 

3) And if I get shot up early, my first worry is making it out alive in which less fuel helps, and second worry only to RTB and keep enough fuel for that.

 

4) The pretty good pilots I have seen don't fly with 400L fuel if 200L is enough. When checking stats, please remember Wings' statistics always show 100% since 3.001. Better take last TAW campaign's stats for reference.

 

5) I went and tested it.

 

 

For 1) and 2) the study of physics/technical mechanics is not necessary, I encourage anyone not believing it to test it themselves with clear boundaries, a Flight Record, same plane, dive from same speed and altitude at maximum powaa, then pull up after 1.5km. Then compare speeds at definite points of time afterwards, with a stopwatch.

 

Happy flying

Edited March 30, 2018 by SCG_Fenris_Wolf

[Feathered_IV]

I have a phobia about fuel leaks, so I take 100% for most aircraft.  Ask me in two years though when there’s a P-51 or A6M2 and I may answer differently.

[dburne]

7 minutes ago, SCG_Fenris_Wolf said:

 

 

3) And if I get shot up early, my first worry is making it out alive in which less fuel helps, and second worry only to RTB and keep enough fuel for that.

 

 

 

Only caveat to that would be if you sustained a fuel leak after getting shot up.

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

Sorry, but I disagree. I first want to make it out of harm's way, for which a lighter aircraft helps tons. Then I RTB anyway. If I fly a 109 home at 0.6ata, it dramatically reduces fuel consumption, even when keeping the Kommandogerät active. In Russian aircraft I lean the mixture as well.

 

 

I understand this may be a caveat for those bomber pilots, who wouldn't drop their bombs immediately when under fire, and try to hit their original target, to then return home with more drag and shot-up wing surfaces. Please be aware I am not speaking from this perspective, but from a Jäger's.

Edited March 30, 2018 by SCG_Fenris_Wolf

[RothbardVso1*3]

Flight time is the best way to calculate the fuel required, if you know your fuel burn rates. Pick a conservative number of liters/gallons/pounds/Kilos (online conversions help) which will cover your time aloft, plus a reserve. In real life, 30 minutes is considered short but legal for daytime VFR in the USA. In the sim, I think SCG_Fenris_Wolf's 10 minutes is sufficient.

 

Is anyone looking at actual useful load when figuring fuel, especially with the bombers/ground pounders? It can be quite easy to exceed maximum gross weight on most aircraft by topping off the fuel tanks and adding additional load, whether it's butts in seats, luggage or full bomb racks.

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

il2missionplaner.com ist a gut Ding e.g. for Coconut/TAW/RE, if you head out in a Schwarm it helps tons to take 2 minutes, and map a route. For a Fighter Schwarm and bombers alike. You can enter the cruise speed of your formation, e.g. 400km/h for a group of Messerschmitts, and get the travelling time directly.

 

 

For example: 16 minutes travel time to Combat Patrol on 1.0ata.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2018 by SCG_Fenris_Wolf

[Lusekofte]

On 29.3.2018 at 6:31 PM, =EXPEND=Tripwire said:

100% almost always. I might be wrong but I feel that it would have been rare for the planes to not be filled up before each sortie

 

In fact operational aircraft had the fuel needed for range and bombload. This is why they almost never had full bombload and fuel with them. Fuel itself consume fuel by its weight. This was on missions planning. I fly PE 2 with 60 % fuel, (never see the % I usually take 900 L on a long trip. JU 52 I take far less maybe 30 % and same with HE 111 . You can fly around the map for hours in it. P 40 simply do not need more than 300 l same with P 39 . IL 2 around 70 % on longer trips. Having full fuel load make your climb ratio and speed lower - Make sure you manage the mixture during flight

Edited March 30, 2018 by 216th_LuseKofte

[Solmyr]

To me depends on how much time am I supposed to spend over enemy controlled territory, how deep am I about to go over there : because I fear a fuel leak, I want at the very least to be able to evacuate the plane over friendly territory of course.

[[DBS]Browning]

Four times the amount in litres equal to the distance in KM to the target for bombers and ground attack planes.

100Km to target? 400L fuel.

50Km to target? 200L fuel.

Bombers and attack planes tend to fly at 0.9-1.6L/Km, so that gives me plenty of safety margin.

 

[Royal_Flight]

51 minutes ago, Browning29th said:

Four times the amount in litres equal to the distance in KM to the target for bombers and ground attack planes.

100Km to target? 400L fuel.

50Km to target? 200L fuel.

Bombers and attack planes tend to fly at 0.9-1.6L/Km, so that gives me plenty of safety margin.

 

 

That's not a bad rule-of-thumb. 

[curiousGamblerr]

22 hours ago, SCG_Fenris_Wolf said:

il2missionplaner.com ist a gut Ding e.g. for Coconut/TAW/RE, if you head out in a Schwarm it helps tons to take 2 minutes, and map a route. For a Fighter Schwarm and bombers alike. You can enter the cruise speed of your formation, e.g. 400km/h for a group of Messerschmitts, and get the travelling time directly.

 

 

For example: 16 minutes travel time to Combat Patrol on 1.0ata.

 

 

[pic]

 

Warm fuzzies 

 

Reminder to folks its integrated into all those servers (thanks to fantastic cooperation with all the respective admins, been a pleasure) so you can get all the targets imported automatically, e.g. https://il2missionplanner.com/#coconutexpert

 

I inquired about adding fuel calculations to the planner a while ago but folks in the know explained it was probably too complicated to be worth the trouble- using flight time or distance from the planner as solid input to a fuzzy estimate on actual fuel load usually works just fine, if you're familiar with the aircraft's range.

 

To answer the topic question, I always take 80-100% in a fighter and as little as possible in a fighter or bomber, estimating enough to survive a moderate fuel leak.

Edited March 31, 2018 by 19//curiousGamblerr

[Wolfram-Harms]

On 29.3.2018 at 4:48 PM, TheTacticalCat said:

As in the title. I always take full fuel (except when the plane can't take off with such a load).

 

A Bf 109 G-10 pilot from EADS said in his interview, that it doesn't really matter, wether the tank is half full or full.

But how is the simulation handling this? Interesting question.

I often decided to use between 60 and 100 percent - but honestly: not sure if it made a difference...