Blenheim ferry flight over the rooftops of London - new youtube vid by me...
 

Ok, here's a new video. No fighting this time, just a sightseeing trip at low altitude over London.

http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/5YY88tx9xWg/default.jpg
(Click image for vid)

The Blenheim is a hefty lady to fly around in. Really different from the fighters I've tried so far, and also a good deal heavier on the controls than the Bf-110. Force-feedback really comes into life with this plane. And it is great fun to throw around the sky, though sometimes a bit nerve-wracking too, when you are too low, heading into the ground and the inertia of the plane just takes you ever downward... Auch!

I didn't find start-up and take-off to be as big a deal as I had read on the forums, but maybe there have been improvements with the patches...

Anyway, enjoy! - and comments always very welcome!

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Here are my previous CoD movies:
http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/G90yZNZtU_I/default.jpg.http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/wZLZiYGiCds/default.jpg.http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/s73zSerW6-Y/default.jpg.http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/xv4NBoj7Afg/default.jpg.http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/04atCxtxVug/default.jpg
(Click images for vids)

Playahs without the game appreciate your efforts.

My game doesn't fly like this, one day. In the meantime ;)...thanks for the vids mate

you're welcome guys, my pleasure!

Freycinet, gotta say...love it when I log on and am greeted by a post indicating that you've made another video! Enjoy them immensely, thank you! Hawk

lol nice video as always bro. One thing i noticed about the graphics is that the reflection of structures in water is not rendered.

Heheh, nice video! It seems you've got some cool blokes in yer crew ;).

A couple of Questions, however:
a) What are the first names/nicknames of your crew?
b) Didn't you set up compasses and stuff @ take-off? I'm not really familiar with the blen, so maybe it's not even necessary...
c) You seem to be rough on your throttle! Go easy, man! :lol:
d) You flew a little banked most of the time. Is this a certain blen specialty?
e) Crossing tower bridge below street level is the new black! You should know! :cool:
f) What did the CO say after the flight?

Ahh, soo much possibilities in this sim, and sooo many bugs (the Radio contact to tower is directly, and gravely missed in this vid...)! No really, nice video, I like those little roleplaying intermezzi, preferrably comedic in nature ^-^

Gorgeous video Freycinet! Congratulations! At times it feels like being there, love these big radials.

:-)

MAC

wonderfully entertaining, and inspiring, as usual.
thank you.

[QUOTE=Redroach;289096]Heheh, nice video! It seems you've got some cool blokes in yer crew ;).

A couple of Questions, however:
a) What are the first names/nicknames of your crew?

Ehh, none so far, sorry!

b) Didn't you set up compasses and stuff @ take-off? I'm not really familiar with the blen, so maybe it's not even necessary...

Set up the compass!? - I wouldn't know how! - And, anyway, I have a highly competent navigator with me, as you could see...

c) You seem to be rough on your throttle! Go easy, man! :lol:

What!? - I was really babying it! - Above 65% and the engines are toast. Not easy...

d) You flew a little banked most of the time. Is this a certain blen specialty?

Hmmm, I guess I might not have trimmed out my aircraft correctly.

e) Crossing tower bridge below street level is the new black! You should know! :cool:

I'll do that in a He-111 next time round... ;)

f) What did the CO say after the flight?

<expletives deleted>!!!

Ahh, soo much possibilities in this sim, and sooo many bugs (the Radio contact to tower is directly, and gravely missed in this vid...)! No really, nice video, I like those little roleplaying intermezzi, preferrably comedic in nature ^-^[QUOTE]

Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTRC0sY67Pg
that's how it works, at least in the spit/hurri - I don't know about the blen's specialties, though

Sadly, I've found that video after I nagged around with this for a long time. And it's still highly awkward to use, especially without TrackIR. Not that it works like a breeze with TIR, though. :rolleyes:

Nice vid as always Frey, The bloke who owned my local pub was a navigator in Blenhiems based in England then later the pacific during the war, "whispering death" he said they called them, sadly he passed away about 2 years ago, still miss having a beer and listening to his stories on a quiet sunday. On a side note he hated Winston Churchill with a passion, told me WC addressed them from the back of a lorry telling them they couldnt return to Australia to fight the japanese as they were needed in Europe, he never forgave WC for that, though he eventually ended up in the pacific anyway.

Just want to add my appreciation for your videos mate...I always enjoy watching, thanks for sharing them.:)

Every time I watch one of your videos I want to buy this game.

Thanks for making them, it's pushed getting a new rig higher on my list of priorities.

Great vids warts and all. I like your commentary the best. To know your thoughts in flight a real blast. I think you may be in a bit of trouble if the house you almost hit when you ditched(in the last vid)) belongs to some one important. You could have killed his gardener or worse his prized hound.:grin:

Great video, as usual!

I was surprised you didn't look at engine temperatures! Those are the ones that get me most of the time, and I have to look at them all the time. They're above the fuel cocks, and should be between 200-250. I'm always adjusting the radiator to keep them in that interval, and if you switch to coarse pitch, the lower RPMs will have an impact on engine temperature! Same thing when you're on approach, the engine might get a bit too cold and run rough, etc.

I also tend to keep carburettor heat at 2/3 for no particular reason, other than I thought once I was doing great and the engine blew up anyway (it was full open).

On the other hand, I never really notice engine oil temps. Can they overheat/underheat?


Great video! :)

above the fuel cocks? - Over to the right and towards the back in the cockpit?

I have had big trouble with the engines when the oil temp departs too far from 40 degrees.

Exactly! In the worst possible location, especially if you have to keep a careful watch on them! I put my mouse near the top-right of the screen so that it falls sort of on there when I look right.

Also, have you noticed a difference between using inner or outer fuel tanks? For no particular reason I only turn the fuel cocks once, for the outer tanks, and I noticed you do it twice. I have no idea what kind of difference it makes.

I've found that the engine oil isn't really a problem, as it tends to stay at roughly the same temperature (not too far from 40) whatever I do. Perhaps having the carburettor heat 2/3 open helped? Not sure if that's what it affects even.

Hadn't even seen those dials, thanks for telling me. Now the question is: how the heck did I manage to fly for so long without knowing of their existence? Ignorance is bliss? :)

Well, my trick was to never go over 60 to 70 % throttle... - I guess that helped.

I noticed that I couldn't start when only turning the cocks once, but that it worked like a charm when I gave them two quarter turns...

Carb heat is mainly for going through clouds, I think.

when the egines are warmed up on the runway, you should disable the carb heating - activated it cost you some rpm (power) :)

i am actually disabling them short after the engines are running.

Having these temperatures in mind and not forgetting to correct the default set rudder trim the Blenheim is actually a nice plane to start with :)
Its a HotRod in comparison to the He111 as example :D

One have just to read the forums about that :D
as a rookie, one would never think about these two features i guess.

And not to forget the impossibility to change positions in the Blenheim online - because the temperatures are set to ZERO with each position switch ....................

I cant imagine how a person who is not active (at last reading) in a CoD forum is able to handle this software in its current state of development :(

Simple: Just fly without CEM :D

BTW, Great Vid as always Freycinet, really enjoyed the commentary :grin:

and get a weird propeller behaving that reduces the possible performance of the planes a lot ............. :D

Enjoyed the video. I liked the way it showed how heavy the plane is and how hard it can be to control, while showing it's not impossible either, thanks.

Thanks for the vid. It was very enjoyable.

Really enjoying your videos too...many thanks for sharing.

I guess you realise now..that everyone will be expecting these on a regular basis...just like Friday updates;)

no pressure:-P

I agree that it must be nigh impossible to fly this sim without checking out the forums too. And that's really too bad.

Thanks for all your nice comments. Without a doubt they are the ones that will make me keep doing vids in the future!

I recently managed to find a PDF copy of the Blenheim Mk.V pilot's notes on the internet (lots and lots of googling around).

It has the same engines as the Mk.IV we have in the sim so most of the stuff is directly applicable (main differences were cockpit and control layouts and that the Mk.V has a constant speed prop while our Mk.IV has a two-stage prop), plus it gives some good advice on carb heat use.

On another note, i noticed you set your mixture full forward in the video. That is actually the lean position (it's clearly marked with "weak" if you look at it), ie, it uses the same control convention as the Hurri and Spit. Unless the controls are somehow doubly reversed in the interface (now that would be something tough to spot :-P ) you probably took off with full lean mixture, that might a lot to do with why you can't apply full throttle: leaner mixture makes the engines run hotter.

Carb heat on the other hand lowers the density of air in the carbs so it's like flying with too rich a mixture.

I've copied the relevant parts from the Blenheim Mk.V pilot's notes that can be used on our Mk.IV in this thread: http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=23192

It is not that I cannot apply full throttle. I read on the net that I shouldn't, so I didn't even try. But thanks for the mixture advice, good to know!

Really look forward to some kind people making a web site with correct and comprehensive start-up advice (checklists maybe even), now that 1C thought they didn't need to bother...

BTW Blackdog, were those pilot's notes a free download somewhere? I'd like a look as well!

Busy upcoming week for me, with a trip to Helsinki, if the ash cloud doesn't get in the way, so it will be a while before the next "update"... :)

I really need to learn more about mixture! :) If anyone has a link, I'd appreciate it.

Freycinet, from my previous experience you actually did exactly the right thing. Once the plane started shaking, it was probably the engine running a bit too cold. When you half-closed the radiator, you heat it up a bit and put it in the 200-250 range, which is where it should be from what I've read.

I didn't pay too much attention, but I think you left the prop-pitch in fine, so you had plenty of rotations to heat up the engine. If you switch to coarse, you get less rotations and the engine tends to cool down even further, so you need to close the radiators a bit more.


And thanks Blackdog, for the tips about the carb heat. I'll leave radiator closed for takeoff. I'd also really love to get my hands on those notes. Especially regarding the RPM's. I've been flying under 2200RPM. Was afraid to push the bird too hard... I must've ruined about 10 of them learning to takeoff and fly. Half of those ended up at the bottom of the Channel too... written off entirely!

If any of you happen to pass by the SYN server, I'd gladly attempt a formation flight!:)

Have you had issues loading bombs on the Blenheim in multiplayer? I think it's not saving the loadout, because nothing is blowing up over the barges I keep trying bomb.

Thanks all, and keep the videos coming, Freycinet :)

Freycinet, thanks for all the great videos..I made the purchase today after being inspired by YOU. I'm not sure if it was the hilarious little comment boxes or the pilot in me watching you take her under the bridge....twice! You deserve a HUGE thank you from 1c too!

Really great movie Freycinet - as always. While they patch the game I find myself flying a lot of these civilian flights too - and just that part of the game is worth the $50. No doubt...

For the civilian part that Su-26 would be nice too :) Anyone heard about why it was not included. Sukhoi has not been bought out by NG i hope? ;)

He he, most pilots do that IRL too ;) I have a pronounced tendency to "hang" with my left wing a degree or two... For some reason just as it is easier to turn left for most people when they are downhill skiiing or skating, it is easier to turn left in a plane too. I remember when I first started flying in gliders and the teacher said on lesson four or something: "Lets take the first step in aerobatics - the right turn..."

And all the photos I take are slightly tilted to the same side too!..

I don't know if it's copyrighted material. I just googled it up and found a live link on a file sharing website.

If it's copyrighted i wouldn't want to link it here in the official forums for fear of causing trouble for the admins, so just copied the relevant parts in that thread i started.

I've had an interesting and very helpful offer by another community member, so i might be able to update and correct the data in that thread to better reflect the Mk.IV's operation.

Ok, sounds good, thanks!

1154 views now... - I'm in awe at the interest in these little movies!

No st. Pauls?? Outrage.. Please say your specs.. gonna build a pc soon.. wanna compare parts if that makes any sense so i can get a rough idea of how it will compare to this!

I think I read this in this forum somewhere, that during startup you also need to 'walk' the Hub. To get warmer oil into the Hub to prevent breakdown during takeoff, you need to change from coarse to fine a few times. After that it's just to keep the engine temperatures from breaking gaskets :)

As always charming. I like your vids and the comments.

Are these selfmade missions anyway?

Yes they are, but I'mm really crap at the FMb, so nothing too complex. Usually when I try to get the AI planes to do complicates stuff it fails. I don't even know how to set up a barrage balloon.

The FMB suffers from a total and catastrophic lack of documentation. I so wish someone, preferable from the development team, would set up a good web site full of explanations. But, as most of the time, 1C are REALLY shooting themselves in the foot. Their only chance is that fans start making content for the sim and then they don't give us the info to do it! - Maddening.

Freycinet you did it again didn't ya :) excellent vid mate.

Have you seen this website? http://www.il2-fullmissionbuilder.com/index.php Maybe there's some info there you might find useful.

There are big differences between the original Il-2 FMB and the CoD FMB. Triggers among other things, but no documentation whatsoever!

Hahaha I like this video's. Having fun in a Blenheim.