BF 110 compas function

[Wintergoose]

Just had a long ride in the 110 but there must be somthing wrong with the compas I made 3 readings
Magnetic 185 148 107
Repeater 190 164 113
Directional 107 81 27
Preset 113 86 33

The simular readings below for each compas type. Shoulden it be simular for all compas? The readings were done when the 110 had been stabel on coure for a while.
It is impossible to set the autocompas on corect degree. If I put in corect digits I will hardly find England and way out of course.
Shouldent I read the magnetic and repeater compas and set that reading into the directional compas turn on the auto and they should hold the same readings ?

[335th_GRAthos]

Happy reading...


Finally, you need to map controls for the various compasses that govern the autopilot. The plane won't fly itself while you look through the bombsight scope you know...well it actually will, as long as you follow the correct steps

You can also click on the relevant instruments in the cockpit with the mouse, but it's one of those things that i prefer to have on keys so that i can adjust them while looking through the bombsight scope or while flying the aircraft.

These controls are:
increase/decrease course setter (optional, this is just a "remind me what heading to keep" dial that has no effect on the autopilot)
inc/dec directional gyro
course autopilot mode previous/next
course autopilot left/right

From here on out the autopilot is referred to as AP to save me typing, because my fingers are starting to hurt

Having the mouse cursor enabled helps a great deal here (default toggle key is F10), because of the tooltip pop-ups that give you instrument readouts.

In short, the AP works by comparing your actual heading (read from the gyrocompass, otherwise known as directional gyro or DG for short) to your intended heading which you set via the course AP left/right commands on a secondary compass card readout similar to the DG. The AP compares the two compass cards (DG and desired heading) and turns to match them.

Mind you this is no Airbus with bank limiters and angle of attack safety algorithms, if you engage the AP with a high offset between these two values the bomber will bank way too much and you'll end up in a diving spiral (if you don't collide with your wingmen first), so go easy on the corrections.

It's also where the final part of our troubles start: to prevent wild maneuvering upon engaging the AP, we first need to match our desired heading with the one displayed on the DG.



The entire sequence goes like this:

1) Once completing the turn from the IP to the target, adjust your power settings as desired and trim for level flight so that the bomber flies almost hands-off. You might want to let it settle a bit, pick up the speed it lost during the turn etc, retrimming as required.

2) Look to your right, on the starboard cockpit wall you'll see the magnetic compass. With your aircraft flying steady, straight and level, hover your mouse over it to get a tooltip telling you your magnetic heading.

3) Using the inc/dec DG controls, turn your DG's compass card so that it matches the heading displayed by the magnetic compass. Up to this point, this is a drill you should be doing anyway throughout the flight, because the DG is easier to read. It needs readjustment every 10-15 minutes or after violent maneuvers because the gyros suffer from precession but it's definitely worth it. So, calibrate your DG once before takeoff and then every 15 minutes during the entire flight

Important: If you are accelerating or exerting any kind of substantial force on the airframe the magnetic compass is affected too and you'll get wrong indications. This is especially true if applying throttle and stepping on the brakes while on the ground, you can see the needle going crazy. So calibrate your DG when your aircraft is more or less steady. Calibrating while in a steady climb with wings level is ok, while barrel rolling it's not.
Absolute precision is neither possible nor necessary, just get it within 5 degrees or so and cross-reference your course with landmarks on your map and outside the aircraft.

4) You should now have a calibrated DG. Now use the course AP left/right controls to match the desired heading to the DG, so that when you engage the AP it won't start banking like mad.

There's an important note here and i don't know if it's a bug or a realistic feature: the desired heading and the DG compass cards are not completely aligned, they have a 5-7 degrees offset.
So, if you are flying due north and set both to 0 degrees, instead of flying straight like expected the bomber will slightly bank left and right, finally settling on a heading between 5 and 7 degrees off (heading specified by the DG not the magnetic compass).

To correct for this you can apply a correctional offset yourself. In the below schematic the top row is the DG compass card and the bottom row is the desired heading compass card that the AP will try to achieve, it should look like this:
---N---
------N---

If the instrument is reversed in-game (i don't really remember which compass card is which right now), then reverse your inputs as needed. I'm not entirely sure about the direction the offset should be since it's been a while since i last tested it, but you can click on my nickname and search my posts with the keyword "level stabilizer" and "gyrocompass" for another thread where i explain it correctly. I'll probably edit this post tomorrow and get it all right once i have a chance to test it.

5) You should now have a properly calibrated DG and your desired heading should be aligned with it, correctional offset included. Go ahead and use the course AP mode previous/next commands to finally engage the AP.
This switch has three functions: AP off, course AP (displayed with its proper German name) and R31 (or a similar abbreviation).

The first just turns it off, the second is what we want. As for the third, i have a hunch it's got something to do with the Lorenz blind landing system and/or radio guidance for night raids. In other words, until a mission builder comes up with a night raid mission that features radio navigation transmitters i can't really test it out (i'm not that good with the FMB).

Provided you did things correctly up to this point (NEVER skimp on trimming the aircraft, it's probably the most important step), the AP should engage as soon as you set it to course mode, the bomber might wiggle slightly left and right while the gyroscopes in the system stabilize and then you'll be flying via autopilot.

6) Go to the bombardier's position.

7) Configure your bomb distributor settings like we explained above.

8 ) Calibrate your bombsight like we also explained above.

9) Spot your target. More likely than not, you won't be right on course.

10) Use course AP left/right commands (the same ones we used to align the desired heading compass card) to make small course corrections (a couple degrees at a time, nothing drastic) and line up with your target (vertical line of the scope crossing the target area).

11) Slew the scope up/down with the inc/dec bombsight distance controls until the crosshairs is on the target.

12) Engage bombsight automation, open bomb bay doors, arm your bombs and wait.

If you've done everything correctly up to this point, the bombsight will automatically release bombs, you close your bomb bay doors, turn for home and some time later (depending on how high you were) you'll see the fireworks.

Hope it helps. Phew, that's another one for the FAQ



P.S. This is for almost full realism settings (in total full real you can't switch to other crewmen's positions, you're supposed to have other human players operating those in multiplayer). If i'm not mistaken, you can skip at least the bombsight's speed calibration if you turn off realistic bombing in the options, then you only need to input your IAS straight from your airspeed dial and it will work out things on its own.



Extracted from:Cliffs of Dover FAQ, subject to change due to patches
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=24782

~S~