Attention To Detail

[Poochnboo]

I was in my P-38 over the Kuban map. After taking off I noticed a slight vibration in the airplane. I thought I'd do a quick external look. Maybe my flaps didn't retract all the way. No, they were all the way up and so were my landing gear. Then I saw it. My window was open. I'd slammed shut the hatch, but hadn't rolled up the side window. Once I did, the vibration stopped. You have to love that kind of attention to detail. The Lightning is beautifully modelled. It's without a doubt my favorite airplane in the game. It's the airplane that I was most looking forward to and I'm glad it didn't disappoint.

[II./SG.1-MarkWilhelmsson]

1 hour ago, Poochnboo said:

I was in my P-38 over the Kuban map. After taking off I noticed a slight vibration in the airplane. I thought I'd do a quick external look. Maybe my flaps didn't retract all the way. No, they were all the way up and so were my landing gear. Then I saw it. My window was open. I'd slammed shut the hatch, but hadn't rolled up the side window. Once I did, the vibration stopped. You have to love that kind of attention to detail. The Lightning is beautifully modelled. It's without a doubt my favorite airplane in the game. It's the airplane that I was most looking forward to and I'm glad it didn't disappoint.

 

Airflow over and into surfaces and orifices including the props, cowling, inlets/outlets, etc seems to be modelled very well. We can see how well it is modelled by the fact that if you run out of fuel and have an unpowered prop, it will spin faster if you dive and gain speed and slow down if you climb and lose speed. Now I just wish there was a way to pop the clutch and stop it from free spinning and creating tons of drag when my engine is off so that I can glide further without power hahaha.

[AndyJWest]

The buffeting is straight out of the P-38 pilots' manual:

[Mika_87]

This is the plane I look most forward to play when I buy battle of bodenplatte premium. Maybe later on this year. I liked it very much in janes ww2 fighters.

[Fritz_X]

2 hours ago, Poochnboo said:

The Lightning is beautifully modelled. It's without a doubt my favorite airplane in the game. It's the airplane that I was most looking forward to and I'm glad it didn't disappoint.

 

I second this.

 

The P-38 is, along with the entire Spitfire family, my favorite airframe. It looks, flies and fights absolutely beautiful.

 

Props to the devs for going with a late J version instead of the initially announced P-38 L. And of course for creating such an amazingly detailed model.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Fritz_X

[BlitzPig_EL]

4 hours ago, ProfesseurDePhysique said:

 Now I just wish there was a way to pop the clutch and stop it from free spinning and creating tons of drag when my engine is off so that I can glide further without power hahaha.

 

Feather the dead engine's prop.  The key binding for it is in the engine controls section.

[Sublime]

5 hours ago, ProfesseurDePhysique said:

 

Airflow over and into surfaces and orifices including the props, cowling, inlets/outlets, etc seems to be modelled very well. We can see how well it is modelled by the fact that if you run out of fuel and have an unpowered prop, it will spin faster if you dive and gain speed and slow down if you climb and lose speed. Now I just wish there was a way to pop the clutch and stop it from free spinning and creating tons of drag when my engine is off so that I can glide further without power hahaha.

As blitzpig said you can feather engines what are you talking about? I do it all the time if my 110 is hit or 38 is hit

[Diggun]

You can only feather the engines that could be feathered. Many early war soviet designs didn't offer this quality of life (extension of life?) functionality, because in soviet Russia engine feathers you.

[216th_Jordan]

50 minutes ago, Diggun said:

You can only feather the engines that could be feathered. Many early war soviet designs didn't offer this quality of life (extension of life?) functionality, because in soviet Russia engine feathers you.

 You can put the RPM governor on the lowest setting before the engine dies for coarsest pitch. 

Edited April 24, 2020 by 216th_Jordan

[II./SG.1-MarkWilhelmsson]

8 hours ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

 

Feather the dead engine's prop.  The key binding for it is in the engine controls section.

 

8 hours ago, Sublime said:

As blitzpig said you can feather engines what are you talking about? I do it all the time if my 110 is hit or 38 is hit

 

I'm talking about in a single engine fighter. Usually gliding without gas or something. I wish hitting the engine start key would clutch the motor so that it would lock up.

[BlitzPig_EL]

Real aircraft don't have a clutch like a car.  Either you can feather the prop, or you can't, that's just how it is.  If you cannot feather the prop, the best you can do is go fully coarse on the prop pitch (lowest percent in tech chat), and close your radiator, and hope for the best.  Or just bail.

[danielprates]

5 hours ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

Real aircraft don't have a clutch like a car.  Either you can feather the prop, or you can't, that's just how it is.  If you cannot feather the prop, the best you can do is go fully coarse on the prop pitch (lowest percent in tech chat), and close your radiator, and hope for the best.  Or just bail.

 

Wait, close the radiator? Won't that cause more drag on the side that already lost an engine anyway? 

[RedeyeStorm]

Open radiators CAUSE drag. So by closing all openings on the destroyed engine reduces drag. I did think that windmilling props would give less drag then setting your props to course? After all with course on the props you put them more perpendiculair to your flight path so I assumed more drag?

[BlitzPig_EL]

Fine pitch produces the most drag, as the blades are flatter to the oncoming airflow.  As blade pitch is coarsened, the edge of the blades are turned more into the airflow.  A feathered prop is, in essence set at the coarsest possible pitch.  That is, it's leading edge is directly facing the airflow.

[RedeyeStorm]

Clear I reversed course and fine pitch in my head. Thanks.

[II./SG.1-MarkWilhelmsson]

22 hours ago, BlitzPig_EL said:

Real aircraft don't have a clutch like a car.  Either you can feather the prop, or you can't, that's just how it is.  If you cannot feather the prop, the best you can do is go fully coarse on the prop pitch (lowest percent in tech chat), and close your radiator, and hope for the best.  Or just bail.

 

I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure how the 109s prop is driven. When the engine is off and prop is spinning simply due to airflow, is it still actually driving the crankshaft? I was under the impression that it wasn't and that clutching the drive system to a dead (not damaged) engine would drastically slow or even stop the prop from spinning because now it's dragging pistons and etc. Guess I need to hit the library hahaha. 

[BlitzPig_EL]

No clutches.  The crankshaft is directly connected to the reduction gearbox, the output shaft of which has the prop and it's variable pitch mechanism bolted to it.  Note when watching real aircraft start that their props turn when the engine is cranked by the starter.

[danielprates]

On 4/25/2020 at 4:26 AM, [Pb]RedeyeStorm said:

Open radiators CAUSE drag. So by closing all openings on the destroyed engine reduces drag. I did think that windmilling props would give less drag then setting your props to course? After all with course on the props you put them more perpendiculair to your flight path so I assumed more drag?

 

I would imagine that when shutters are open, the air flows through or around the radiator, thus less drag, and if the shutters are closed, the air collides against the shutters and generates more drag. I would like to be convinced otherwise! Now of course, if we are talking cowl flaps, it is the opposite as they deploy/retract against the airflow, which is the opposite to shutters.

 

Edit: well, come to think of it, I guess it depends on what plane we are talking about. On the Pe3 for instance the shutters open against the airflow so open equals drag. But in the me110, its that kind of underwing radiator within an enclosed box around it, and shutters on the front. There at least closing should increase drag.... or not?

Edited April 27, 2020 by danielprates

[Elem]

5 hours ago, danielprates said:

 

I would imagine that when shutters are open, the air flows through or around the radiator, thus less drag, and if the shutters are closed, the air collides against the shutters and generates more drag. I would like to be convinced otherwise! Now of course, if we are talking cowl flaps, it is the opposite as they deploy/retract against the airflow, which is the opposite to shutters.

 

Edit: well, come to think of it, I guess it depends on what plane we are talking about. On the Pe3 for instance the shutters open against the airflow so open equals drag. But in the me110, its that kind of underwing radiator within an enclosed box around it, and shutters on the front. There at least closing should increase drag.... or not?

Full article here...

 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/cooling-drag

[danielprates]

Interesting @Elem,  I always though it had to do only with the shutters positioning themselves against the airflow. I never considered that the heat exchange transfers energy and thus, generates drag. Thanks.