U2-VS engine start mid air

[=FEW=Hauggy]

Hi there!

I just bought the U2-VS and did some tests. I was very surprised to find out that I could not restart the engine after having it turned off while flying regardless of the speed I was flying at.

The engine would start again only after landing and any attempt would cancel itself in the air with the propeller not moving by an inch.

Is that a glitch or is it working as intended? I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that the so called "night witches" would turn the engine off in a dive and turn it back on later in order to attack without getting spotted because of the sewing machine noises that the engine would produce.

[AndyJWest]

It isn't possible to airstart an actual U2 engine. The night witches didn't turn it off, they idled it.

[=FEW=Hauggy]

Ok thanks!

[Voyager]

4 hours ago, AndyJWest said:

It isn't possible to airstart an actual U2 engine. The night witches didn't turn it off, they idled it.

If the blades are rotating and the mags are firing, introducing fuel will make the engine run again. Whether is is air, an external starter or a very long elastic band does not matter. (Yes, the last one was a thing...) 

 

The question we need to ask is, should the slip stream provide enough energy to turn the prop even when the gas is off. 

 

The old 'can't restart in the air' came about in the original Il-2 as a way to stop people shutting off the engine to hear other planes. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Voyager

[AndyJWest]

Actually, the question to ask is whether the slipstream can turn the prop fast enough for the magnetos to produce a spark. Remember, the U2 has a fixed-pitch propeller, and most of the blade is going to be stalled if the engine isn't turning. And getting it to turn at all requires sufficient force to overcome compression. And the thing is, if the slipstream can do that,  why does the engine stop turning in the first place? 

 

The 'turning off the engines to attack' thing is almost certainly a simple misunderstanding and/or mistranslation. 

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

I remember that in RoF you can restart engine again in midair but not in FC I think.

[LukeFF]

The whole "shut off the engine while flying" topic was discussed on the Russian forums a while ago. Long story short, it didn't happen, because they wouldn't have been able to restart it.