With a quick search on the internet, I was able to read or download original flight manuals for the P-51D Mustang, bf109g2, and flight instructions for the P-47 and other allied aircraft.
In the flight manual for the P-51D I noticed that 100% throttle was 61" manifold pressure, and 67" was only obtainable by breaking what they called a "safety wire".
The Bf109 manual also came with warnings not to use 1.42ata.
Another thing I noticed in these real flight manuals and data was that how similar the rpm operating ranges for all types of engines under all flight conditions was between 2000-3000 rpm, but that recommended operating ranges were all below 3000 rpm. I did not have the manual for any aircraft with the Jumo engine like the Ta152.
This all goes right along with what my friend Pete Amsler, a WWII fighter AND bomber pilot, also development engineer on the B-29, said about how using WEP was not something that was a regular part of flying WWII aircraft and that if used that ended the service life of that particular engine, if it made it back to base.
Flying IL2 also backs this up, even with the radiator wide open, if you fly around using WEP on a BF109 or Mustang non-stop like they do dogfighting on common fast dogfight servers like Grij, Perwach etc. your engine overheats and blows. This unrealistic and un-historic style of fun soon ruins the engines in IL2 aircraft using realistic engine settings and CEM, as it should.
IL2 patch 4.11 seems to be a leap forwards for flight simmers who want a more accurate simulation of WWII aviation.
If you fly around in a Mustang or BF109 fighting at 110% throttle, which is the 67" of manifold pressure or the German 1.42ata that the original operating manual says is past the SAFETY wire or not safe, then you are going to likely overstress your engine. If you fly smart like a real WWII pilot using Energy, surprise and position to do the job, then also like in WWII you will save your engine and it will get you back home.
The unrealistic flying methods and aircraft use in past patches on "dueling" and fast dogfight servers have been relegated to "gamer" status with this latest patch. That use of the IL2 flight sim is now only available to those flying on easier settings by turning off realistic features.
We can still have fast dogfight and dueling with Realistic settings, but the pilots will have to grow up and become simmers and figure out how preserving the engines of their aircraft fits into combat.
As soon as 4.11 came out I jumped into a fast duel server with an old acquaintance and had oil spurting all over the Bf109 windshield very quickly just by overheating it, flying it like patch 4.10 and earlier. The new 4.11 features brings an entire new experience, a welcomed one to the IL2 flight sim.
IL2 will never be perfect, as it has a limited set of features to replicate hundreds of WWII aircraft, many of which had different mechanisms for controlling prop-pitch and engine rpm, but it does a better job of it than any other flight sim has ever done on so many different aircraft types. The 0% through 100% pitch that is allowed in IL2 will not work the same on every aircraft and it should not, as they were all different machines in WWII. The hydraulic mechanism on the P-51 Mustang for controlling prop pitch was surely much different than that on aircraft from different countries and from different periods of WWII.
If you have a favorite aircraft, get your hands on the original flight manual and papers for it and read it, and read several books that are first hand accounts of WWII pilots in that type of aircraft. It seems that the people working on IL2 Sturmovik have done at least that.......
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