Quote:
Originally Posted by engarde
sadly, i thought i might be lauded for posting real world, irrefutable, actual information that might contribute to the genre.
how naive of me.
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It was a fair point, engarde, but you did pick two of the most complicated aircraft of the Second World War systems-wise and the videos contained a lot of lengthy explanation that an experienced pilot would not need.
For the single-engined fighters like the Spitfire, Hurricane and 109s that the game simulates we're talking more like 3-5 minutes tops. From the Pilot's Notes for the Spitfire Mk II:
The Spitfire particularly was prone to overheating on the ground - as the Pilot's Notes above state "Warming up should not be unduly prolonged, as the temperature rises quickly, and some margin must be kept in hand for taxying. If it is 150 degrees before the aircraft taxies out, it will become excessive if there is any distance to taxy downwind."
As for the Luftwaffe twins, the BR.20 and the Blenheim, of course you're right, there's a lot more mucking about to do. The thing is, most of the things you'll notice on the checklist are not things we as sim pilots need to be overly concerned about. We fly pristine aircraft that don't suffer from mechanical failures without pilot error or enemy action. Things like checking the tires for bruising and slip or checking for the correct oil pressure after engine startup are things we can take for granted, and that means that we're not really talking about "realistic startup" (which DOES take a long time), we really mean, "pressing all the authentic buttons to make stuff happen".
In fact, since we're assuming that everything on the checklist before stepping into the cockpit the final time before takeoff has already being done, you can knock about half of the startup time off each of those videos anyway.