Prop Pitch speeds

[Skoshi Tiger]

Which Spitfire are you referring to, the MkIa or MkIIa?

In the sim the MkIa has two settings, coarse and fine. The BF109 has a variable pitch propeller, so the pilot choose any propeller pitch they want between course and fine.

The MkIIa has a constant speed propeller. With the CSU the pilot does not directly set the propeller pitch rather they set the RPM of the engine. A governor on the propeller changes the pitch of the propeller so that the engine stays at a particular RPM.

If the engine at a particular throttle setting is going at a higher RPM then the CSU in make the blade angle coarser so propeller bites more air, does more work and the RPM slows down to the set amount.

If the engine at a particular throttle setting is going at a slower RPM it will make the blade angle finer so that engine RPM increases until it matches the required RPM.

At this stage of the war the German pilots had a higher work load as they would have to manually set the required throttle/Propeller pitch for any given situation.


cheers