Yes, magneto's are modeled in the IL2 series but setting magneto's is good for nothing. Running with both mags produces a dual flamefront in the combustion chamber which reduces the risk of engine knock, very important in the big bore engines of WW2, so switching them has no purpose at all.
Not even for shutting down the engine like we do with our car, in aircraft we let the engine running above 1000 rpm or more, en set mixture to Idle/Cutoff.
Selecting fuel tanks has a real function and should be there. Not only balance is a factor, battle damage too if a tank is damaged beyond the self-sealing capacity. Plus, every tank has a feed and a return line. The return line is for fuel that has not been used by the engine. Such a waste if that bleeds into a shredded tank.
Same as booster pumps. If the mechanical fuel pump on the engine fails (battle damage?), most if not all planes have electrical pumps that can be enabled. You have a sudden drop or total loss in power, you check the fuel pressure gauge, see that it's low or gone, and switch on a backup. That's immersive.
Damage to the cooling system: If a plane has radiators in/under the wing or fuselage which are damaged, you close them to prevent loss of all cooling fluid and adjust power for the loss of the cooling capacity.
Something else that can be considered: generator failure. You check the ammeter and see it's showing zero so you're running on battery power only. So decide quickly: withdraw from combat and try to get to base, and/or switch off all electrical systems you don't need so the ones you really need will work longer. That could mean switching off your flight instruments, lights, trimming, guns, revi, radio's/navigation... maybe even the hydraulic pump if it's electric and there is a pressurized buffer in the system. You check the voltmeter. The more systems are online, the lower the voltmeter will show, and the faster it will drop. Electrical motors will turn slower but they will work. On the other hand delicate equipment like navigation or radio's, which use a lot of power, drop dead below a certain value. You switch some systems off and see the voltmeter rising.
Since you have no idea without instruments what the temperature of the engine will be: open cowl, intercooler and oilcooler flaps to the max, switch to lower supercharger stage or lower turbocharger RPM.
Especially the FW190 has all primary flight controls operated electrically, even flaps and undercarriage. And also the Kommandogerät, which operates hydraulically, mechanically and electrically. With the generator gone, the voltage already drops and response to input by the pilot will be slower and the motors may even have trouble fighting the effect of compressibility. If the battery is almost empty, landing gear and flaps might not lower correctly, and using more motors at the same time, for instance using all control surfaces at once, might stall one or all motors.
What's even worse is that a battery, using a chemical process, loses a lot of it's capacity at low temperatures. So if you lose the generator and are at high altitude, descend before your battery cools down and you lose even more power.
Last edited by Azimech; 10-04-2010 at 10:36 PM.
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