About to pilot the U-2 for the first time

[sergio_]

... but before I do, this is yet another boring post with some appreciation.

After some months diverted to XPlane to get some semi/real life instruction, fortunately, I made it here before the sale end and, while this is not the most expensive product (specially while on sale), and I'm certainly not the most complete collector, I'm having one of those moments in which I want to share how glad I am for having a new toy.

I cannot go to my neighbor or to my wife, they will never understand, so here I am.

 

That's it for my "hey guys! look at the new toy I just got!" moment and sorry for the interruption.

I'm now gone to do some reconnaisance (and maybe to remap the controls that I have for sure outdated since my last flight).

[Flashy]

Good choice on getting the U-2 . Its probably my favourite plane in IL-2 (and yes, I know that makes me weird) because the type of flying and missions you can do with it is so different from most of the other planes. Plus, its great fun to skim along a road or river or between the trees at 10ft and then pop up to attack some poor unsuspecting tank or vehicle who never saw or heard you coming. And then there is the awesome night flying you can do with it as well. I just wish we could land it almost anywhere like they did with the real thing..

[Sandmarken]

11 minutes ago, Flashy said:

 I just wish we could land it almost anywhere like they did with the real thing..

I once managed to land on the road inside a town to hide from a 109. Then take of again when it was gone. ??

[Lusekofte]

I was one of the  vocal supporters of U2 and do fly it a lot in SP quick missions. 

Once I flown it in mp. 

Problem in mp is the mission length. 

I flew from the start going after a train. Second target was depot. Could not find the ? 

and the 100 kg bombs could not penetrate the dugouts. 

And mission ended before I could land at homebase. 

[Jade_Monkey]

I was testing a mission i built and i crashed twice because i was having too much fun flying treetop level in the Kuban mountains in VR. 

It's a very fun plane if you dont come with the same mentality as a 109 pilot.

[Lusekofte]

1 minute ago, Jade_Monkey said:

I was testing a mission i built and i crashed twice because i was having too much fun flying treetop level in the Kuban mountains in VR. 

It's a very fun plane if you dont come with the same mentality as a 109 pilot.

 

I really want VR when flying this plane

[Flashy]

1 hour ago, Sandmarken said:

I once managed to land on the road inside a town to hide from a 109. Then take of again when it was gone. ??

Yeah, you can land it on a road, and also a frozen river. The issue is that as soon as you go off the road, the plane bogs down and you get stuck, and most roads are very narrow, so its very difficult to try turn around again. The Prokhorovka map is much better for this because the roads are quite a bit wider, and if you find an intersection you can actually turn around pretty easily. But its still not a great situation..

[Lusekofte]

43 minutes ago, Flashy said:

that as soon as you go off the road, the plane bogs down and you get stuck

 

This is actually its achillesheal of this plane. It should be able to take off from all flatland with reasonably firm soil. It kind of take away its strength. But I guess it is part of a bigger issue

[Flashy]

46 minutes ago, LuseKofte said:

 

This is actually its achillesheal of this plane. It should be able to take off from all flatland with reasonably firm soil. It kind of take away its strength. But I guess it is part of a bigger issue

Well, apparently the issue was that players were taking off in every direction on airfields, and not bothering to taxi to the runway, so the devs made all non-runway/airfield terrain have very high friction so that they would no longer be able to do that. But that was a bit of ham-fisted approach to the problem because it creates issues with planes that should be able to land and takeoff from flat fields, like the WW1 planes, the U-2, as well as any similar planes (Storch? Tiger moth? Those Japanese and German copies of the Tiger moth.. ) they implement in the future. I think a  more sophisticated approach is needed, whereby the speed of the landing plane (as well as perhaps wheel size?) is taken into account to determine the friction that the terrain should present. Whatever the solution, it should be realistic in that it represents the reality that landing a fast fighter plane in a field was pretty dangerous and often resulted in a flip-over, whereas landing a slow biplane in the same field was far less dangerous.

 

On a side note, I would like to find out more about exactly how the U-2 squadrons prepared these forward landing fields during combat operations. Surely there was some preparation necessary to ensure the fields were flat and firm enough to allow planes to operate from them? Does anyone know anything about how they actually did this?

Edited July 14, 2019 by Flashy

[356thFS_Melonfish]

A fab little plane, she's slow but deadly in the right hands, load up quick mission with infinite ammo, load up the rockets and get practicing, she's deadly if you're accurate (because she's so slow)

be warned on multiplayer missions though, they'll likely end before you RTB if you're not careful (again, because she's slow)

difficult to shoot down too, though you can shoot the enemy down if you time it right from your rear mounted gun, kind of fun to leave the plane on auto and sit in the back pooping off at 109's who can't make slow enough passes to shoot you.

 

[Sublime]

Im also interested in the question above. As the little I have read about it says theyd move to a new field every day and fly missions all night until dawn.

Naturally this made me curious as to how they found their way around constantly moving with the front, and other questions..

[Arfsix]

On 7/14/2019 at 1:48 PM, Flashy said:

Well, apparently the issue was that players were taking off in every direction on airfields, and not bothering to taxi to the runway, so the devs made all non-runway/airfield terrain have very high friction so that they would no longer be able to do that. But that was a bit of ham-fisted approach to the problem because it creates issues with planes that should be able to land and takeoff from flat fields, like the WW1 planes, the U-2, as well as any similar planes (Storch? Tiger moth? Those Japanese and German copies of the Tiger moth.. ) they implement in the future. I think a  more sophisticated approach is needed, whereby the speed of the landing plane (as well as perhaps wheel size?) is taken into account to determine the friction that the terrain should present. Whatever the solution, it should be realistic in that it represents the reality that landing a fast fighter plane in a field was pretty dangerous and often resulted in a flip-over, whereas landing a slow biplane in the same field was far less dangerous.

 

Bumpetty-Bump-Bump

 

     Has any progress been made or any attention been paid to the problem of aircraft landing and taking off on non-runway/airfield terrain? It would appear that players taking off in every direction on airfields, and not bothering to taxi to the runway is only a problem in multiplayer that should be handled by the server operator (banning comes to mind).

     If there are more single players than multiplayers, then let's have the majority rule and lose the terrain high friction feature!

[SAG]

5 hours ago, Arfsix said:

 

Bumpetty-Bump-Bump

 

     Has any progress been made or any attention been paid to the problem of aircraft landing and taking off on non-runway/airfield terrain? It would appear that players taking off in every direction on airfields, and not bothering to taxi to the runway is only a problem in multiplayer that should be handled by the server operator (banning comes to mind).

     If there are more single players than multiplayers, then let's have the majority rule and lose the terrain high friction feature!

 

 

i also think terrain should be revised.

 

banning might not be the solution, just put objects around for them to collide into

[Feathered_IV]

Ive been hoping that the ground handling gets reworked too.  The ability to take off and land from unprepared ground is such a major part of the Po-2s real world functionality.  It greatly limits what can be done with the aircraft in-game.   

[BraveSirRobin]

On 7/14/2019 at 2:48 PM, Flashy said:

Well, apparently the issue was that players were taking off in every direction on airfields, and not bothering to taxi to the runway, so the devs made all non-runway/airfield terrain have very high friction so that they would no longer be able to do that.

 

That never actually happened.  In fact, it was the opposite.  Early in the BoS early access period your aircraft would bog down as soon as it left the runway or taxiway.  Eventually that was changed.

 

[ShamrockOneFive]

Grass fields might be a problem but I did several tests landing a U-2VS on roadways, turning around and taking off again. So field ops are possible wherever you can see a road.

[Flashy]

3 hours ago, BraveSirRobin said:

 

That never actually happened.  In fact, it was the opposite.  Early in the BoS early access period your aircraft would bog down as soon as it left the runway or taxiway.  Eventually that was changed.

 

Ah, I stand corrected then! thanks! But the "normal" terrain was obviously changed from the RoF days when you could pretty much land anywhere (obviously hills and bumps could still tip you over) to what it is now at some early point in the BoX dev cycle. . 

 

2 hours ago, ShamrockOneFive said:

Grass fields might be a problem but I did several tests landing a U-2VS on roadways, turning around and taking off again. So field ops are possible wherever you can see a road.

yeah, this does work quite well (and frozen rivers and lakes too!) but most roads on the map are very narrow and its pretty hard to land and takeoff on them reliably. If you go off the road by so much as a foot you bog down and become stuck. Interestingly, the prokhorovka map has wider roads than the others, so its quite a bit easier to do that on those roads..

Edited August 30, 2019 by Flashy