It helps to lock the tail wheel. That way you won't be fishtailing on the deck and wasting energy. Prior to releasing chocks, set flaps to "combat" and when halfway down the deck, lower them to "takeoff" or "landing". It's also critical that sometime after this point your tail is already in the air. Once you cross the threshold, immediately raise your gear, and correct for torque since your nose will be pointing upward.

Typically I can takeoff from most carriers with a maximum load this way. Escort carriers are another matter, but you shouldn't have to take a full bombload from those anyway.

Another thing that seems to make a slight difference when taking off from a carrier is timing the chocks release relative to any roll the carrier has. If you are starting from the left side of the carrier, you will want to move right as you start your run, to ensure you don't go over the edge, and if you wait until the carrier starts rolling to the right this will help.

Alright guys, thanx for the input.


@Romanator: Was this the way they did it IRL?

good point

i dont usually use flaps at all till the last 1/3 of the carrier deck, and then quickly set them to takeoff at the last possible moment (there is a slight delay with flap responses in il2, as there is in RL, and it means by the time you are at the last 10% of the deck you should be getting the right lift from takeoff flaps without having wasted drag in the earlier part of the run)

there are some limitations oleg had to work with under those parameters (moving carrier, wind modeling, aircraft speed etc..) and it didnt fully allow him to 100% correctly mimic TO speed and loadouts iirc, but you should be able to takeoff with the correct loadout in most missions now

I don't know at the moment. Pilots always used the tail wheel lock when available, and you should too. I promise, you won't be a noob if you do. :) Pilots also had to be very conscious of torque and other forces and anticipate them.

But I'd be skeptical that pilots would occupy themselves with lowering flaps while accelerating down a narrow and short deck. They probably set "landing" flaps prior to launch. The method I describe gets you accelerating faster as it reduces drag. I should also mention that I'm designating the flap designations loosely in the way that Il-2 describes them, and that in reality the pilot set flaps marked by degrees.

The F-4U was regarded as a very difficult aircraft to takeoff and land from a carrier. Huge numbers were lost to accidents. Don't be hard on yourself if it takes a while to get used to. Practicing in a Hellcat can help a great deal. It has stronger gear, better visibility, and in my opinion, is a better fighter anyway.

is the carrier pointed into the wind, and moving? carriers gotta be moving pretty quick to get a heavy sair up...

heavy sair up...on pancakes....don't forget the butter


if you are not familiar with the mission builder - get familiar - because then you can set the carriers speed and direction (into the wind) for easy takeoffs...

to set players plane to takeoff from a carrier - you first place the carrier...give it speed and direction - then place your aircraft near it on the map - then select 'target' and click on the carrier - that sets your plane on the carrier for take off

in two weeks ,patch 4.10 there will be a catapult on carriers

'Two weeks'?

'A catapult on carriers'?

I don't suppose you have a link to where you got that, Icewolf?

Don't bother. By the time you slowly and agonizingly taxi up to the precise catapult point (using unrealistic external view because it is impossible to do it from the cockpit view), if you're lucky enough to find the precise spot your squadron mates have long gone. Or you'll miss the exact point, and have to restart the mission.

I would be happy to taxi up to the catapult, say, within a couple of metres of it and then hit a key to lock on. No. No such hotkey. For all their genius (which is considerable), the modders (for my install UP3.0) seem to have excluded such an option.

I do this: I don't fly F4Us, only F4Fs and F6Fs. When the deck is clear enough I release the chocks, slowly taxi to the centre of the deck near my start point, re-engage chocks, rear wheel centered, set trim and cowl flaps, unfold wings, wing flaps to take off, throttle up to full, release chocks again and then zoom down the deck (perhaps with a slightly sickening dip at the end).

Ignore the useless catapult, for goodness sake.