Couple of questions about the F4U-D in the Pacific campaign

[The Stalker]

Hi, I've been AWOL for a while from this sim only to return when I found out the 4.11+hotfix is out. I apologize if I'm a little out of the loop.

Anyway I've been playing the USN campaign trough Lowengrin DCG 3.47 beta 6 and I have a couple of questions regarding the F4U-D, the aircraft I'm using.

1) I have noticed I get a considerable MP boost switching supercharger to stage 2 even at 1000m. My rule is to switch to a higher gear if any MP is gained. Is this ok? The Flight guide says speeds should be switched to 2 at 2600m I think so I find this confusing.

2) I seem to be having trouble keeping up with the rest of my formation. I'm crusing at 90-90 PWR-PP rad closed which is pretty much borderline overheat for this plane and map (Iwo). Still, there is no way for me to keep up, the AI wingmen are always faster and in a better climb. Am I missing something here?

3) The F4U/Corsair engine seems a bit underpowered. I have trouble chasing a zero in a level flight (90-90 or even 100-90) which I understand should not be the case in this plane. Still, I'm not a great pilot, maybe an average one although I'm trying to improve, so I might be missing something, if I am, please give me some tips on better flying the F4U-D.

Thanks in advance.

[IceFire]

1) Since the guide was published the F4U flight model had a full workover. There are a couple of bugs but I think the second stage cut in is a bit lower? Maybe 1500 meters? Best thing to do would be a couple of speed trials at either setting and see which works best.

2) If it's 4.11 that's a bit more unusual... the AI aircraft now suffer from overheat and reduce their speed accordingly. I do find some people try and climb to match their AI buddies too quickly and bleed off too much speed. Focus on a solid climb rate/angle/speed ratio where you aren't loosing speed but are steadily climbing (somewhere around 250-290 I would guess) and see if that helps. Trim is also important and the AI is still better are trimming the aircraft than most humans...in general if you play a scripted campaign the AI tend to be much more realistic if the person making it did a good job (if you want Corsair action you can always look my Facing the Wind campaign up on Mission4Today)

3) I do wonder if some of the acceleration values are a bit off with the Corsair because it does take a bit of time to get to speed. That said the Corsair is definitely faster than any Zero variant in level flight at any altitude. In a climb the Zero is similar and that may be where they are getting you. It's better to extend before climbing. Because of the heavier weight the Corsair will bleed more speed executing any maneuvers and you should stick to slashing attacks (or boom and zoom) against the Zeros.

[Luno13]

The Corsair is quite heavy, and has a lower power-weight ratio than the Zero. This means the Zero gets a good head start in terms of initial acceleration, so if you ever get slow in a Corsair, you are becoming easy meat. Keep the speed up, and get him to bleed his own speed.

In real life, it wasn't just raw performance that determined the victor. It was teamwork and tactics. The Americans initially had troubles with the Zero, but adapted tactics such as the "thatch weave" to allow slower Wildcats an opportunity to get Zeros. The Japanese held on to some tactics for too long; I've read that whenever the leader was shot down, the rest of flight went into disarray and could be picked off.

What I mean to say is that, the Corsair and other planes weren't necessarily perfect hot-rods. However, there are a few things which give the Zero a few advantages in Il-2 (the wings would bend if the ailerons were deflected at high speeds, making rolls very slow, and dive performance wasn't great, whereas in Il-2, it can keep up with American divers).

The AI don't necessarily perform 'too well', they just get the best out of their planes always. The can accelerate and decelerate on a dime to meet waypoint conditions (to see this, open qmb and try to dogfight with your wingman - if you get on his tail, he will pull "airbrakes" and seems to stop in mid-air in order to get behind you).

So, if you're in the formation, and they start climbing, they will already reach max-climb rate before you've noticed, and started adjusting power and trim, etc.

In most European missions, I had no issues with keeping in place with a formation, but in PF, I struggled to even keep up. If I let the AI fly me to the target, I might run out of fuel first (while the others would land safely).

You can edit cruise speeds for all planes. If you can, find a PoH which shows cruise settings, and use these in Il-2 to figure out cruise speed (remember IAS vs TAS). Otherwise, just use common sense (I tend to multiply each value by 0.75 or 0.8, but some are slower or faster).