Prop Pitch question...

[Wild.Bill.Kelso]

What about in Stormy Weather?

I was playing a campaign last week (Wings over Waves) and it was blowing so much that just sitting on the runway the aircraft was turning sidewasy without the tailwheel locked.

With the PP and Throttle at 100/110% the aircraft shook like mad. The only way to stop the shaking was to reduce the PP to about 70-80% at all times. I was flying a P40 I think.

[BSS_Sniper]

Originally Posted by na85

Okay, I would very much appreciate if someone can clear up some of my questions:

If I'm in an American plane (p47, p51) and I want good level acceleration, should I be at about 80% pitch or so or should I do 100%?

If I'm in the same plane and in a hurry to get somewhere, or to get away from someone, should I be at 100% pitch, 110% throttle? Or should I be at lower pitch?

Does the same thing apply for Russian planes and FW190's (in manual mode)? (I'm aware the 109 has a different manual pitch system)

Thanks

If you want good response and acceleration use 100% prop pitch. Anything else is just for cruise, cooling the engine or diving faster and holding your E a bit longer when you level off.

[JG52Uther]

Just how realistic is using 100% prop pitch? I think a lot of people just hoon along at 100 % pp and 110 % throttle online in il2.
I imagine in real life the power and speeds were a lot lower.

[Rama]

Well, you can check for many planes handbook (notes for pilots).... it gives you the rpm and boost you have to use for usual flight phase (take off, sustained climb, cruise flight, combat power, emergency power, etc....)
These advices were not given for no purposes... they were given in order to assure that a plane engine will remain reliable during some times (and at least some flights)

If every pilots was using rpm 100% and boost 100% all the time, then there will be a high probability of engine failure at each mission.

The problem is that engine stress is hard to simulate, even during one flight session... and impossible for a plane life (since basically a plane flown by a simmer has no "memory" of previous flights and of the stress accumulated during its life.

[II./JG1_Krupinski]

Originally Posted by JG52Uther

Just how realistic is using 100% prop pitch? I think a lot of people just hoon along at 100 % pp and 110 % throttle online in il2.
I imagine in real life the power and speeds were a lot lower.

Distances are longer too.

[DKoor]

Originally Posted by na85

Okay, I would very much appreciate if someone can clear up some of my questions:

If I'm in an American plane (p47, p51) and I want good level acceleration, should I be at about 80% pitch or so or should I do 100%?

If I'm in the same plane and in a hurry to get somewhere, or to get away from someone, should I be at 100% pitch, 110% throttle? Or should I be at lower pitch?

Does the same thing apply for Russian planes and FW190's (in manual mode)? (I'm aware the 109 has a different manual pitch system)

Thanks

For best acceleration in game and top speed also top climb values it is required to use 100% prop pitch.
As Franky said everything else is a myth to me, I've yet to see the track where one can get greater speed on less prop pitch than 100.
However, in dive you can have a luxury of using less than 100, say 80-90%... and maintain the similar speed you'd have with 100% prop pitch.
That works good in P-47/51.

Russian planes are bound to same rules, top performance = 100% prop pitch. Less = less performance.

German planes are better to just leave alone in this case. They have automatic system that works good.
Anyhow, if you mess around with Bf-109 prop pitch you will gain nothing; at best you will just get crappy performance, at worst you get a ruined engine. It wasn't always like that, but due to prop pitch exploit (109 always climbed like a rocket, but even more so with prop pitch exploit, from Auto to 100%) OM team made manual prop pitch unusable for performance gains in 109's some time ago in some patch (can't recall exactly).

[6S.Manu]

Originally Posted by DKoor

Anyhow, if you mess around with Bf-109 prop pitch you will gain nothing; at best you will just get crappy performance, at worst you get a ruined engine. It wasn't always like that, but due to prop pitch exploit (109 always climbed like a rocket, but even more so with prop pitch exploit, from Auto to 100%) OM team made manual prop pitch unusable for performance gains in 109's some time ago in some patch (can't recall exactly).

The strange thing is that German really used that exploit during the BoB (Manual Pitch for a faster compression of the air and Auto Pitch for the release of a better boost).

Infact English people could recognize a 109 from a Merlin engined airplane simply hearing the sound emetted fomr the engine: the 109's sound wasn't linear, but was a highrev sound followed by a lowrev sound, while the spitfire sound was quite constant.

[Skoshi Tiger]

With most of the aircraft in IL2 being fitted with Constant Speed props, we need our friendly mod community to change the "prop pitch" message to a "Engine RPM" (or something similar) and it would clear up most of the problems in understanding.

The only ones that would be upset would be the LW pilots that use the manual pitch settings, which we are told lead to a can of worms anyway! ( That would lead to a bigger whine than 109 at full throttle )

[steppie]

I of the question you have to ask your self in regards to CSP and that is why and how they used them.

In the Battle britan the hurricane and spitfire could only use Max house power for 2 mins and the merlin engine if over revs by 150 RPM they would have to replace it.
Every 200 hour of operation they have to over haul the motor.
The way the game is model to the real thing is a big difference and the fact that i can run a spitfire mkIXC 25bls and full power till i run out of fuel was and is impossible to do in real life.

the only time i lower the RPM is if i get engine damage out side of that there is no needed to do it because i can fly constantly at the higher RPM means that i can cruise faster, climb fast and respond fast if i needed to. And as for over heating most engine will not over at 90% throttle even with the rads closed.

You also have to remember that to get a motor to produce 1400 HP is hard to do and even today it is hard to find (if not impossible) a piston engine that has the same weight and HP as the merlin they did it in 1945.

[KG26_Alpha]

Originally Posted by 6S.Manu

The strange thing is that German really used that exploit during the BoB (Manual Pitch for a faster compression of the air and Auto Pitch for the release of a better boost).

Infact English people could recognize a 109 from a Merlin engined airplane simply hearing the sound emetted fomr the engine: the 109's sound wasn't linear, but was a highrev sound followed by a lowrev sound, while the spitfire sound was quite constant.

What's your source for this information ?

Don't confuse the drone of the bombers which was different for Axis and Allieds, the German bombers would sound like they were pitching up and down due to unsynchronized engines.
My house was on the WW2 German bombing flight path and the flak enplacement at the end of my road (London) was active at night and the listening stations along with radar would identify the enemy, locally by sound then confirmed to fire barrage flak.
Some of my neighbours have lived here since the war and are useful for local history etc.