whistlinggdeath> i know nothing about the TA152, so i cant comment on it, but i have occaisionally flown the p51 on spits verses 109's
in the past i found that as long as i kept the engine revs in the green band...aka prop pitch at 60 percent, i could fly fast without overheating even at high manifold pressures. since 4.11 this machine seems to have become very hot at low altitudes. when i tried the mustang III it really surprised me, i mean after all its the same engine as a spit IX (i think)...
when we have flown against each other in the past it has generally been between 'down on the deck' and 15000 feet. this is where the mustang and p51 overheat most.
at 20000 feet and above it seems to stay cool a lot better. i think this is because of the air temperature being lower up there...(dry adiabatic lapse rate)... i would go as far as to say that the performance of a p51 is directly linked to the outside air temperature. (the p51D has a carb-air-temp sensor).
at ground level the OAT might be 20 degrees C. the P51 overheats at 120 giving a 100 degree difference.
at 20000 feet the OAT would be about MINUS 20 degrees C. this gives a 140 degree C difference.
if anyone here has done any overclocking they will know that hot air isnt very good for cooling!
at 20000 feet there is a lot less airflow, but the air is colder. basicly is there too much temperature influence and not enough flow influence? i dont know, ive never flown a p51...
on a slightly different note; when i was trying to figure out how to fly this P51 monster, i tried a lot of different combinations of manifold pressure and revs. i found that between about 13000 and 17000 the supercharger would keep switching between high and low mode. i think its because as the revs drop the MP drops causeing the supercharger to shift up a gear. this causes the revs and MP to increase causeing the supercharger to shift down again.
my question is; given that the p51 seems to have an auto and manual high and low speed, can this be implemented? it is starting to make a lot of difference now with the new thermal model.
this may be a sore point to some, but could it be that the p51 is just outclassed by a lot of planes? dont get me wrong it was an incredible design, but compared to a 25lb spit or a la7, is it best used as a target bouy... after all the bf109 like the spit were best used as homeland defence aircraft. incredible performance but short range. the p51 could goto berlin and back....i dont know. all im saying is maybe the servers we fly on are geared towards the superplanes that people seem to want to fly. if this is the case i hope it stays the same way. a lot of people like to fly the spits and although in a 1v1 i cant hope to beat a 25lb spit, im greatful that i am given a tempest to fly on that server
i really like this new patch. its made IL2 yet more realistic. having to watch the gauges and diagnose the engine problems really brings planes like the tempest to life. it would be nice to see more people migrate towards challenging aircraft that need constant adjustment to get the best out of. spits and la's seem a bit too 'plug and play for my likeing'.
as for the tempest being a helicopter.. well in previous versions of the game and mods maybe, but the stock tempest is a 5000 kilo lump of metal fitted with a cutting edge, state of the art, avgas furnace kicking out 1.6 megawatt.---"wake up and smell the oil fumes!!"