Yeah, locking the tailwheel is real, it's common on large taildragging planes, it helps the aircraft track down the runway. Check out some of the Roaring Glory Warbirds videos on youtube, they will teach you lots about actually flying some of these planes. There are a few planes in Il2 such as older biplanes that don't have this feature, but anything with major horsepower usually does.
Folks not using the runway usually just gun it to full power and catch a lucky bounce until they are airborne, its not a guaranteed takeoff, lol.
|