Game improvement proposal - automatic calculation of the optimal fuel load

[Kur12]

It is very important to take the optimal amount of fuel in flight. Take less - not enough to complete a combat mission. If you take more, the plane will lose speed and maneuverability.
Therefore, I suggest the following:
For each aircraft, the tank capacity and the duration of the flight with a full tank are known.
For example:
Mig-3 24, tank capacity 480 liters, flight range 875 km, fuel consumption 1 liter per 1.82 km.
P-40E-1, tank capacity 560 liters, flight range 980 km, fuel consumption 1 liter per 1.75 km.
Bf 109 F-4, tank capacity 400 liters, range 910 km, fuel consumption 1 liter per 2.27 km.
A-20B, tank capacity 1468 liters, flight range 1190 km, fuel consumption 1 liter per 0.81 km.
Data on all aircraft are in the game in the characteristics, I can provide the EXCEL table (if necessary).

 

When creating a mission, the total flight length is known. For each type of aircraft, we divide the total length by the fuel consumption and add a margin in case of combat.
For linear bombers, a reserve of 100 liters is sufficient.
For fighters in air missions - 150 liters.
For attack aircraft and fighters in missions to attack ground targets - 200 liters.
(as an option, the fuel supply for each type of mission can be taken out in the CONFIG of program)
And then the resulting volume of fuel is divided by the capacity of the tank.

 

Example:
The total length of the mission is 190 km.
Linear bomber A-20B: (190 / 0.81 + 100) /1468=0.227, round up to 25%.
Fighters in air mission:
Mig-3 24: (190 / 1.82 + 150) /480=0.529, round up to 55%.
P-40E-1: (190 / 1.75 + 150) /560=0.461, round up to 50%.
Bf 109 F-4: (190 / 2.27 + 150) /400=0.584, round up to 60%.
Fighters in a mission to attack ground targets:
Mig-3 24: (190 / 1.82 + 200) /480=0.634, round up to 65%.
P-40E-1: (190 / 1.75 + 200) /560=0.551, round up to 60%.
Bf 109 F-4: (190 / 2.27 + 200) /400=0.709, round up to 75%.

[AndyJWest]

I've seen nothing much in the way of evidence to suggest that WW2 fighters generally operated like that - you often didn't know in advance what you were going to encounter, or when. Or where ground control might send you. For long-range bombing, the calculation tended to involve calculating necessary fuel plus a margin, and then seeing what bomb load you could carry without exceeding the max takeoff weight. And you can't just divide range by capacity like that to arrive at fuel consumption - there are too many variables involved (airspeed, altitude, wind...), and the 'range' figure given may assume very different parameters for different aircraft types.

 

As for adding 'automatic' calculations,  I suspect most mission designers would prefer to make the decision themselves.

[Kur12]

15 минут назад, AndyJWest сказал:

IAs for adding 'automatic' calculations,  I suspect most mission designers would prefer to make the decision themselves.

In PWСG, there is an opportunity to change the load manually, it will simply be the recommended value initially.

 

17 минут назад, AndyJWest сказал:

I've seen nothing much in the way of evidence to suggest that WW2 fighters generally operated like that - you often didn't know in advance what you were going to encounter, or when.

You are talking about the link on duty, it was always 100% filled with fuel. If we are talking about a predetermined task, then it is quite possible to load fuel for a specific task.

[PatrickAWlson]

If I knew fuel burn per km for every aircraft as i know the round trip distance.  However, it is more complicate than that.  Fuel burn will vary greatly with weight and other parameters, so I would need to take that into account too.  Maybe if I just knew fuel burn at max load.  That would allow me to calculate a safe fuel load.

 

[Kur12]

1 час назад, PatrickAWlson сказал:

If I knew fuel burn per km for every aircraft as i know the round trip distance.  However, it is more complicate than that.  Fuel burn will vary greatly with weight and other parameters, so I would need to take that into account too.  Maybe if I just knew fuel burn at max load.  That would allow me to calculate a safe fuel load.

 

The accuracy of the calculation up to 1 liter of fuel is not needed at all. In the formula I have given, everything is taken into account. I got it empirically and have been using it for several months now. There has never been a shortage of fuel, usually about 100 liters remain by the time of landing.

Edited August 24, 2020 by Kur12

[PatrickAWlson]

It was a bit late last night when I replied: yes, you are providing the necessary data.  Please post the spreadsheet.

[DD_Fenrir]

Whilst this might be prototypical for bomber operations, I would strongly suspect that fighter ops would have been full tanks or nothing; the only discriminator as to whether drop tanks were required or preferable, something GBS dos not deal with currently.

[jokerBR]

On 8/22/2020 at 5:38 AM, Kur12 said:

Data on all aircraft are in the game in the characteristics, I can provide the EXCEL table (if necessary).

 

Hi. I would like to have it (spreadsheet) if available. Thanks.

[Reggie_Mental]

Nah. I mostly get it right by SWAG (scientific wild ass guess) and running out of fuel in sight of the runway adds a frisson of excitement to the mission. 

 

Looking at your fuel guage over the target helps you decide what you can or can't do.  

[Kur12]

Data on the planes that I have.

fuel consumption.zip

[Kur12]

Alternatively, the fuel supply can be calculated in the number of minutes of additional flight.
For example, for linear bombers - 30 minutes (0.5 hours)
For fighters in air missions - 45 minutes (0.75 hours).
For ground attack aircraft and fighters - 60 minutes (1 hour)

Then the above example would look like this:

The total length of the mission is 190 km.
Linear bomber A-20B: (190 / 0.81 + 216) / 1468 = 0.306, rounding to 35%.
Fighters in aerial missions:
MiG-3 24: (190 / 1.82 + 144) /480=0.517, round up to 55%.
P-40E-1: (190 / 1.75 + 150) / 560 = 0.461, round up to 50%.
Bf 109 F-4: (190 / 2.27 + 115) / 400 = 0.496, round up to 50%.

Fighters in a mission to attack ground targets:
MiG-3 24: (190 / 1.82 + 192) /480=0.617, round up to 65%.
P-40E-1: (190 / 1.75 + 200) / 560 = 0.551, round up to 60%.
Bf 109 F-4: (190 / 2.27 + 154) /400=0.594, round up to 60%.

Edited August 24, 2020 by Kur12

[Kur12]

Returning to the issue of incomplete refueling of the fighter tank. Here is proof that during the war, the tanks of fighters could not be completely filled.

 

Here is an excerpt from an interview with the pilot Ivan Ivanovich Kozhemyako ( https://iremember.ru/memoirs/letchiki-istrebiteli/kozhemyako-ivan-ivanovich/ )

- As I understand it, you also flew Yak-9D and Yak-9DD. And how do you like them?
- Good. They were good fighters. We never refueled them all tanks (the Yak-9D had four, and the Yak-9DD had five tanks). Usually only two tanks were filled.
Our regiment did not carry out such tasks, where it would be necessary for them to do a full refueling.

 

And a little further:

 

If the Yak-9D and Yak-9DD are fully refueled for our regular flights, then they will become useless for air combat: they simply will not have time to develop "excess" fuel.