Some love for the Dolphin!

[Diggun]

So, personally, I'm very much looking forward to the return of the Dolphin. Four (4! Count 'em) guns, an actual field of view, and just altogether a fantastic looking, quirky plane.

 

Plus.... I've got the most difficult bit... Shouldn't be too hard to knock up the rest in the garage, right?? 

[Chief_Mouser]

Excellent prop. The big question must be, however, is why are you in a churchyard with it?

[Garven]

You'll break your neck kid.

[Feathered_IV]

Barbarian! You display you victims in your front yard!?

[unreasonable]

I hate the Dolphin.

[Diggun]

In the churchyard installing the memorial for tomorrow's rememberence service. It makes a nice centrepiece. Also, according to the 1917 Eastern Daily Press (not the most reputable of news organs), Albert Ball rented a house in the village I grew up in while training in Narborough. I have been unable to confirm this anywhere else. Maybe local newspapers have always been full of 'alternative facts'... 

[Diggun]

2 hours ago, unreasonable said:

hate the Dolphin

But whyyyy? 

[unreasonable]

It offends my aesthetic sensibilities.  It just looks wrong, very horrid. The wings look wrong, the guns look wrong, the nose looks wrong. If it were a woman it would be a bitter old spinster.  Well maybe not, since you are so fond of it. 

 

[Diggun]

Thing is, with the ugly birds, if you treat them right they're ever so grateful... 

[Garven]

The problem with the RoF Dolphin is that it is just kind of "Meh" at everything while at the same time trying to kill you when low speed maneuvering or landing.

[Diggun]

I just find the ability to keep eyes on a target as you pull behind them - no top wing getting in your way- is just such an advantage.

[Zooropa_Fly]

1 hour ago, Diggun said:

I just find the ability to keep eyes on a target as you pull behind them - no top wing getting in your way- is just such an advantage.

 

.. and when you check your 6 ?

 

[ZachariasX]

3 hours ago, unreasonable said:

If it were a woman it would be a bitter old spinster. 

Never mess with bitter old spinsters that carry 6 machineguns! fantastic mopping up Gothas. And anyone seeing their good fortune in a zoom climb.

[Diggun]

Just now, Zooropa_Fly said:

when you check your 6 ?

Yes, there's usually several heavily armed Germans hanging around keen to use my nipples for target practice... 

[BMA_West]

1 hour ago, Garven_Dreis said:

The problem with the RoF Dolphin is that it is just kind of "Meh" at everything while at the same time trying to kill you when low speed maneuvering or landing.

 

Easy to overcome, just practice Requiems falling leaf for keeping the nose up and you’ll (almost) never pancake again landing.

Also change position before landing by lowering your vantage point and you’ll survive.

However its spin is vicious.

All by all a very underrated plane cause of its quirks however once you overcome that rather powerful.

[unreasonable]

1 hour ago, ZachariasX said:

Never mess with bitter old spinsters that carry 6 machineguns! fantastic mopping up Gothas. And anyone seeing their good fortune in a zoom climb.

 

I would avoid them if they had 6 machineguns; two large bazookas on the other hand... 

 

As for the zoom climb: do they look better from the rear?

[ZachariasX]

22 minutes ago, unreasonable said:

As for the zoom climb: do they look better from the rear?

Generally, I‘d stay away from hairy situations. 

[HagarTheHorrible]

That's why they invented Veet !

The more Veet you have the less hairy the situation is likely to be.

 

WARNING:. Don't touch your joystick................just don't.

You WILL(Y) crash and burn.

Edited November 10, 2018 by HagarTheHorrible

[Zooropa_Fly]

1 hour ago, ZachariasX said:

Generally, I‘d stay away from hairy situations. 

 

Does that include my masseuse ?

[ZachariasX]

35 minutes ago, Zooropa_Fly said:

Does that include my masseuse ?

That has a scary note to it on several levels. Not sure if Veet helps.

[[N.O.G.F]_Cathal_Brugha]

I like the Dolphin.

 

In RoF I found the Dolphin fast in level flight, although it takes some time to gain speed, dives ok, looses lots of speed in a climb, does not climb fast, goes into an unrecoverable spin without warning when you turn to tight or whenever it feels like it, and will flip over upon landing unless the tail is buried in the ground.

[ZachariasX]

The Dolphin holds energy in tight level turns better than most aircraft and beats in a sustained turnfight about all German fighters besides the Dr.I. As long as you are maintaining a certain minimum speed, if can go forever where both D.VII and Albatri lose speed to the degree of stalling off. If they didn't get you after one full turn, chances are good that you'll be reversing the situation. If you added the oblique guns as well, then you can really hurt them when they try to get abouve you in the first turn. As soon as you put some holes in them and they have to come down, they are done for. It is quick, climbs with all but the best, has by far the best view of all planes and it has the best armament. I mean, what else do you want?

 

The poroblem with it is that it is modelled in RoF in a wver frail manner (not as the SE5a) when in fact it should be a plane at least as sturdy as the SPAD.
 

[[N.O.G.F]_Cathal_Brugha]

I found the Albatross and D.VII easily out turn the Dolphin, sustained turning or not. I use the oblique guns more than the main guns, but they are hard to aim. Usually I end up flying it like a (weak) SPAD. Guess I will get on RoF later and try the sustained turn, and see what I can do.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Cathal_Brugha

[ZachariasX]

3 minutes ago, Cathal_Brugha said:

I found the Albatross and D.VII easily out turn the Dolphin, sustained turning or not. I use the oblique guns more than the main guns, but they are hard to aim. Usually I end up flying it like a (weak) SPAD. Guess I will get on RoF later and try the sustained turn, and see what I can do.

Try that. The Dolphin has a sweet spot in tight turns, where it keeps the speed and keeps on turning where everyone else is bleeding speed. A D.VII takes usually 1-2 turns to get in coffins corner (people pull too much often, facilitating the task) and the Albartos D.Va about 2-3 turns to make is "stop & drop".

 

What you cannot do is doing these chandelle-like turns while stalling out. The Dolphin needs some minimum speed, but then you notice it has more power than the Albatros and then he's yours. That the D.VII is easier to shoot down (talking MP here mostly) is that most people pull way too much until the one stops, relying on the superior control of the Fokker. Oblique guns can be useful, also for nor running in the Alb or the Fokker when the slam the brakes and you can still shoot them down.

[Cynic_Al]

4 hours ago, Cathal_Brugha said:

goes into an unrecoverable spin without warning when you turn too tight or whenever it feels like it

 

With sufficient altitude no spin is unrecoverable.  With the Dolphin, pull the stick right back and in the direction of the spin. You'll note the rotation speed becomes irregular; at the slowest point in the rotation, keep the stick over to the left/right and hold it fully forward. I'm assuming it will behave the same way in F.C., assuming it materialises, assuming any of us are still here to find out.

[[N.O.G.F]_Cathal_Brugha]

@ZachariasX So I tried what you said with the Dolphin, and the Albatross easily kept the turn with me and chopped me up. I did find a sweet spot where it maintained a tight turn and kept speed up, but the Alb had no trouble following. Maybe I don't have it right yet, I will keep trying. 

@Cynic_AlI have done what you said, but have yet to recover from any spin in the Dolphin. The irregular speed in the rotation is the closest I have come to recovering. This is another thing I will keep trying.

Don't get me wrong, I still like the Dolphin.

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

Don't forget to put your head inside cockpit in case of pancaking

[[N.O.G.F]_Cathal_Brugha]

I wish I could. My neck twinges and I get a headache every time I come in for a landing.

 

[BMA_West]

On 11/11/2018 at 11:53 PM, Cathal_Brugha said:

...

@Cynic_AlI have done what you said, but have yet to recover from any spin in the Dolphin. The irregular speed in the rotation is the closest I have come to recovering. This is another thing I will keep trying.

….

 

Seems to work for me on every try with as well a left or right spin, but with the throttle cut.

 

Edit 20/11:

Ups forgot to mention counter ruder that CA  beside throttle cut did not mention either ...

But go with 4-speeds’ explanation underneath for the whole deal.

You might also try those instructions once out in normal flight to experience what it mounts up to;

Edited November 20, 2018 by West

[-NW-FourSpeed]

The RoF Dolphin can definitely be recovered from any spin provided three things:

A> an undamaged aircraft

B> sufficient altitude

C> proper recovery technique

 

With regard to C all of the planes that you can spin in RoF, can also be recovered, usually with some variation of P.A.R.E...  In most (RoF) cases, the most common variation is usually:  Power - Idle, Ailerons - into spin direction, Rudder - Opposite spin direction, Elevator - full forward.

 

In some cases, Elevator position may need to be less than full forward (or in a couple extreme cases - Pfalz DXII, slightly aft of neutral), or you may need to rock the elevator back and forth to add some oscillation to the nose (Sopwith Pup, Camel, and SPAD 7-150). Still, these are just slight variations on the basic PARE technique.

 

There may be some quicker recoveries that some folks have found for specific aircraft, but the above is usually the most reliable approach for most of the aircraft. Some of course, simply won't spin at all unless you force them to (HP400. S22), or they'll recover by themselves if you just let the controls go  (Dr-1, Sopwith Tripe).

 

Regards,

4 ~S!~

Edited November 18, 2018 by -NW-FourSpeed

[EAF19_Marsh]

I hope the 2 errors from RoF - the bizarre spin and landing roll-over insta-death - are removed for FC. I have never seen any mention of the former in pilots' accounts and the myth of the latter is easily explained by a quick Google.

 

It's a very particular aircraft that I enjoyed flying, mainly because the cockpit layout made a lot of sense and the view was superb in most directions.

[BMA_Hellbender]

Ah yes, Flipper the Dolphin.

 

Because she flips on landing... ???

 

[ZachariasX]

2 hours ago, EAF19_Marsh said:

I hope the 2 errors from RoF - the bizarre spin and landing roll-over insta-death - are removed for FC.

The Dolphin was also built solid. Like a SPAD. The "oh, there go my wings" episode should be of the past as well. Same for the SE5a I hope.

[EAF19_Marsh]

Yep, 2 bays per wing she should be in the top tier of robustity.

[JGr2/J5_Hotlead]

On 11/23/2018 at 6:58 AM, ZachariasX said:

The Dolphin was also built solid. Like a SPAD. The "oh, there go my wings" episode should be of the past as well. Same for the SE5a I hope.

So no more of this? 

 

That would be grand. ?