Propeller pitch in the Bf 109 E-7

[343KKT_Kintaro]

Hi all. I'm a happy possessor of both Bf 109 E-7s... the 109 E-7 in "IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Moscow" and the 109 E-7 in "IL-2 Sturmovik: Desert Wings - Tobruk". I have two questions on the handling of the manual propeller pitch:

 

1) In "Battle of Moscow" (Great Battles series), the lowest pitch position of the propeller's blades blocks up to 12:30 on the dashboard clock.

 

2) In "Desert Wings - Tobruk" (Dover series), the lowest pitch position of the propeller's blades blocks up to 12:00 on the dashboard clock.

 

FIRST QUESTION = Why the above difference? What about the historical facts? How this device, the manual propeller pitch, did work on the 109 E-7s back in the early 1940s?

 

SECOND QUESTION = Dealing with the control settings in "Battle of Moscow", I only can move my blades in my 109 E-7's propeller by means of the controls named "Propellers: high pitch" and "Propellers: low pitch". This is fair enough to me because I'm managing to fly my E-7 properly but... the control on the list that is named "Propeller RPM control" has absolutely no power on my propeller...  why is that? I assigned a small wheel on top of my HOTAS throttle, thus an axis... it is because of that, because of attributing an axis?

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, 343KKT_Kintaro said:

SECOND QUESTION = Dealing with the control settings in "Battle of Moscow", I only can move my blades in my 109 E-7's propeller by means of the controls named "Propellers: high pitch" and "Propellers: low pitch". This is fair enough to me because I'm managing to fly my E-7 properly but... the control on the list that is named "Propeller RPM control" has absolutely no power on my propeller...  why is that? I assigned a small wheel on top of my HOTAS throttle, thus an axis... it is because of that, because of attributing an axis?

 

Because prop pitch could only be adjusted with the rocker switch on the throttle. 

[343KKT_Kintaro]

Thank you for your kind response Luke.

 

 

13 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

Because prop pitch could only be adjusted with the rocker switch on the throttle. 

 

 

Oh yes, sure, this is what I do with a backwards & forwards two-positions button on my throttle and it works pretty well. But then, in the control settings what is the "Propeller RPM control" line for?

[LukeFF]

5 minutes ago, 343KKT_Kintaro said:

But then, in the control settings what is the "Propeller RPM control" line for?

 

It's for planes with an RPM lever, which for example you will find in most of the Soviet planes. 

[Beazil]

Different teams, different designs and different simulation engines.  That is the answer to your question, Kintaro.  While they share the name of "IL2", Great Battles and CLOD/Tobruk are different in many ways.  The design described by LukeFF was a design decision this team made (for Great Battles).  A different decision was made (in the original 2011 release of CloD).  Hope that helps a bit explain some of the differences.  But thanks for pointing out those differences on the clockface.  You've made me curious too.  o7

Edit: I also assume (perhaps wrongly) that RPM and Prop pitch are separate controls, although some sims appear to combine the two into one control identifier, in the same way some sims make the trims of planes the same (like how your FW is trimmed with different controls than say an HE111 in this sim but not in CloD)

I could be speaking out of my butt here... someone smarter can chime in I hope.

Edited October 21, 2020 by JG51_Beazil

[messsucher]

RPM and Prop Pitch are separate controls. Prop pitch changes the angle of the propellers, which affect top speed and acceleration and can cause huge stress to the engine by either letting the engine rev too high or demanding too much torque of the engine. RPM governor try to set the RPM of the engine to which prop pitch automatically adjust itself. So in theory RPM governor is better, it allow you to set the optimal RPM for the engine, and the governor changes prop pitch accordingly. In practice a skilled pilot may disagree.

[Sokol1]

4 hours ago, 343KKT_Kintaro said:

How this device, the manual propeller pitch, did work on the 109 E-7s back in the early 1940s?

 

Not the (Bf 109) E-7 propeller pitch controller, but give you an idea. Early versions have the control switch in panel instead in throttle knob.

 

https://youtu.be/qIpZAu61OM8?t=390

 

[343KKT_Kintaro]

Thank you guys for your kind responses. I need to check all of this more in detail. Then, like Terminator... I'll be back... at least in the present thread. Thank you!

[FeuerFliegen]

On 10/20/2020 at 9:13 PM, 343KKT_Kintaro said:

1) In "Battle of Moscow" (Great Battles series), the lowest pitch position of the propeller's blades blocks up to 12:30 on the dashboard clock.

 

2) In "Desert Wings - Tobruk" (Dover series), the lowest pitch position of the propeller's blades blocks up to 12:00 on the dashboard clock.

 

FIRST QUESTION = Why the above difference?

 

I might assume that unfortunately, one of the sims got it wrong, unless there were earlier or later versions of the E-7 with this modification made to allow the prop pitch to be slightly finer in one over the other.

 

I notice other discrepancies between the two sims, such as the Bf109 F4 prop pitch; when you turn the prop pitch to it's most coarse setting, Tobruk allows you to basically feather the prop like usually seen on a twin engine plane such as the Bf110, but in the Great Battles series, you can only feather it so much, but only about halfway to the fully feathered position.  The E7 in Great battles allows you to do this though, but not future 109 variants.