Quote:
Originally Posted by Aussie Pilot
How do i get the compass to work in the Spitfire and Hurricane? They don't seem to have a magnetic compass.
I see old threads about tutorial video's on this but I can't seem to find them.
|
III. Instruments
The most important part is understanding the relevant cockpit instruments and using them correctly. Yes, this is where the navigation gets the bad reputation - the instruments used by the RAF are rather awkward to use in the game and not very straightforward in real life either:
P-8 compass
Originally designed for naval use and therefore not exactly a precise instrument for a fighter aircraft. It is just what it looks like it is - a bowl of spirit with magnetised piece of metal in it. The outside part (the rim with the scale and glass top with yellow lines on it) is movable the pilot could rotate it by hand. You should map 2 keys to control it - Increase / Decrease Course setter.
The needle in the bowl is + shaped. One of the bit of this + looks like a letter 'T'. This bit is always pointing at the magnetic north. If you turn or do some manoeveurs, you will find that the compass will drift a bit and settle down eventually. This is completely normal and expected from a bowl of liquid placed in your aircraft. You will need to fly nice and level with both arrows on your turn-slip gauge vertically to get a precise reading. (Did I mention we fly a fighter aircraft?) The good news is though that you can always tell where your magnetic North is and that will need to be good enough for us to navigate.
How did they use in in real life? A pilot would rotate the rim to get the desired HDG on the 12 o'clock position of the instrument, in our case that would be HDG 245, (the exact value will be displayed on the HUD as you rotate the compass). Then he would flip the small lever on the side to lock the P-8 compass and prevent it from drifting as much as possible. This feature is unfortunately not modelled in game. As he flies he would turn the aircraft until the yellow lines match with the T - needle, almost like shown on the above picture. Mind you that has been taken from my Tiger Moth flight as the compass is not hidden inconveniently behind your control stick like in a Spitfire or Hurricane. Mind you the visibility of the instrument was much much better in real life than it is in game.
You will find that I already added the -10° compensation to fly on course based geographical north (the map).
Directional Gyro
Both Hurricane and Spitfire are equipped with more advanced Directional Gyro instrument. It is always placed on the main panel where your main 6 gauges are for night flying, right there in the middle. The view is also obstructed by control stick, but you can get used to that. Basically, we use the P-8 compass to set up our Gyro and keep cross-checking the correct setting with the compass during the whole flight.
Normally, as a part of your pre-flight routine, you would set-up your P-8 compass (by rotating it untill the N on the rim matches with the T - needle) and by doing that you get your actual HDG (the number on the 12 o'clock of the rim). You would set up your gyro to that value and you're all set. Pretty awkward as you need to fiddle with 2 unprecise instruments that tend to drift away. Also, you need to look around your stick as you try to get a correct reading. If you consider you always 'spawn' with your P-8 compass set to HDG 0, you can keep it like that and
get the actual reading by mirroring the reading of where the T- needle points.
This is very easy to do and much less complicated. You will also find it much easier to correct your Gyro once in flight.
Let's say you spawn like this:
North is HDG 50, you would need to rotate the compass 50°to get the correct reading for your Gyro. Or you can simply deduct 50 from 360 giving you the actual HDG of 310. You might prefer a simple and quick visual aid and mirror the value onto the other side of the compass:
50°= 310°
Another examples:
140°= 220°
285°= 75°
You adjust your Gyro based on this reading every now and then. You will get pretty fast at it with some practice and it will become natural after a while.