'A Very enjoyable Sunday afternoon's flying'

[dflion]

In the 'Land of Oz' its Sunday afternoon, its a beautiful day (what am I doing on the computer?) and I have just had an incredible 'crash free' fly with the the Spitfire 1 and Messerschmitt 109-E3 in BOB COD. All the land features have been turned down though the aircraft and airfield buildings are on high.

I have decided to turn everything on in the cockpit and just fly from A to B to familiarize myself with the aircraft. Everything is working well! I started with Ver. 1.00.13716 and have noticed 'Steam' has upgraded me to Ver. 1.00.13820. llya keep those upgrades coming!

For all the doubter's there is certainly some issues with this release, though the potential of IL2 ver.2 will be amazing. Firstly the map is something to behold, even though things don't work properly now, it can only get better. What I really like is the 'geographical relief' at ground level. It is a vast improvement on IL2 ver.1, you can look around and really see the landscape with its valleys and hills. The airfields look real - flat with low undulations.
From the air you can easily follow a large relief map.

Now to the cockpit. Firstly you need to understand where everything is (I have attached a Bf109 cockpit sketch I did for IL2 ver.1 - this might help a few people when all the cockpit features are turned on?). For all the the people having problems lowering the flaps on the Bf109, firstly turn everything on in the cockpit, then 'pan down' to the flap contol wheel (bottom left hand corner) and using your mouse raise or lower the flaps. If you understand the basics of flying a 'piston engined' aircraft you will be a lot better-off in this sim when everything is turned on. For the 'Newbies' some extra study will be very worthwhile.

Finally, you need to map your controls very carefully to make everything work. Sadly there isn't enough published info. to really get you started in this sim. this is a very bad omission?

DFLion

[That_guy]

I would like to fly straight for once instead of holding the joystick becuase the plane always rolls to the right.How did you stop this? I turned off auto rudder which helped a bit but Im still getting the problem.

[bongodriver]

I can speak from first hand experience that aircraft of that vintage were very much 'hands on' the roll effect is true to life in most aircraft, it is just more apparent in aircraft with big propellers and lots of torque, the spiraling propwash creates a further effect on this, so in fact it is just an accurate FM feature and not a bug.

spare a thought for the young men who had to deal with a hell of a lot more than worrying about their hands getting a little tired.

[Meusli]

I would like to fly straight for once instead of holding the joystick becuase the plane always rolls to the right.How did you stop this? I turned off auto rudder which helped a bit but Im still getting the problem.

You need to trim your aircraft, I think all have elevator trim some have rudder trim and aileron trim. you can doe this by mouse control in the cockpit I think or assign the keys to a joystick or keyboard.

[bongodriver]

Just be aware you will need to retrim every time you make a change in power or airspeed

[dflion]

As pointed out very well by 'bongodriver', these WWII aircraft develop a lot of torque and have a tendancy to roll, to the left or right depending on propellor rotating direction. This has been simulated very well by Oleg and Ilya.

I have mapped the autopilot in the controls 'A' and even in the quick flights you can set this control and let the aircraft fly itself, taking in the view. The other important control map is setting up your mouse to give you a view in any direction, inside or outside the cockpit, depending on where you move your mouse - 'toggle F10'. To go back to the 'clickable cockpit' you must turn 'F10' off. Setting up your 'elevator trim' ( up and down)control is another essential when flying any aircraft in the flight sim. I have set up the two trim buttons on top of my Sidewinder joystick, top 'trim down' bottom 'trim up'.

Hope this helps you 'That_guy' have a more enjoyable familiarization flight with each aircraft, before you get into the more serious stuff.

DFLion

[Skoshi Tiger]

My Sunday jaunt involed doing the Cross Country quick mission in a Tiger Moth. Once I'd mapped the compas heading to a hat on my joystick navigation was fairly easy once on track. I flew down the to the coast around South Hampton, followed the coast past Briton and Eastbourne and up to Beachy Head.

From there (Irresponsible I know considering that theres a war on and all) made the trip accross to Le Crotoy and then inland to an airstrip for crossonts and a cup of coffee for morning tea.

The water crossing is quite extend being about 45 minutes at 80Mph so I let the guy in the front seat ( auto pilot ?) fly for most of this leg.

Later I tried to tell my wife about my adventure and she just shook her head and ignored me for the rest of the day!

Cheers!

[scissorss]

Later I tried to tell my wife about my adventure and she just shook her head and ignored me for the rest of the day!

Cheers!

Ha! I just got the same response from my wife after telling her how exciting my last mission was and how I managed to make it home and land safely with part of my left wing missing! "Oh that's nice honey, now could you move? Your blocking my show."

[robtek]

Ahh, the griefs of us armchair pilots. :-D

Usually soon after that i hear: couldn't you spend your time with something useful? The lawn has to be mown..........

[Fusek]

Ahh, the griefs of us armchair pilots. :-D

Usually soon after that i hear: couldn't you spend your time with something useful? The lawn has to be mown..........

I make my point by letting her show how I lawn-dart all my planes in the game ;)