Radial Engine Cooling

[Shardur]

I was wondering if it will be possible in the future to remove cooling liquid leaks from planes with air cooled radial engines?

One of the major advantages of that kind of engine is that due to the fact that it is air cooled it cannot loose cooling liquids and therefore is much more resistant to enemy fire since it can't be "killed" by a bullet in the radiator. In RL a radial engine would often work after a cylinder has been shot out, but in game they quit just like inline engines.

[SaQSoN]

There is no coolant leaks whatsoever in the game. Even on water cooled engines.

PS Hint: all engines, no matter how they are cooled, have oil inside of them.

[Luno13]

Radial engines are quite a bit tougher in this game than in-lines. On multiple occasions I've had a damaged and whining Pratt and Whitney turning for at least the 30 minutes it took to get back to base. A Merlin typically seizes up instantly or quits within five minutes.

The black smoke effect you are seeing is just oil burning. Coolant would appear more like a fuel leak if it was modeled.

[Letum]

Originally Posted by SaQSoN

There is no coolant leaks whatsoever in the game. Even on water cooled engines.

Wait...what? Really?

[Pursuivant]

Something screwy that I've noticed is that identical engines with similar cooling setups sometimes behave in very different fashions. For example, it's very hard to get the Wright R-1820-40 Cyclone on the B-239 Buffalo to overheat, but much easier to get it to overheat on the Curtis-Wright CW-21 Demon.

For liquid-cooled engines I can understand if there's more variation in the time that it takes for the engine to overheat or cool down, since you're dealing with things like radiator surface area and heat transfer efficiency.

For radials, it seems like there shouldn't be so much variation, though, since you've basically got a big round engine and the size and shape of the cooling flaps is more or less defined by the engine's diameter.

[Luno13]

For radials it's a bit tricky too. The aircraft could be cruising at different speeds due to drag or mass and the cowl size/shape ought to have an effect. Propeller types (weight and diameter) could have an impact as well if you're maintaining a certain % "power".

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by Shardur

In RL a radial engine would often work after a cylinder has been shot out, but in game they quit just like inline engines.

Not so sure about that.

In-game I would much much prefer to park behind a US bomber in a fw190 then a bf109. The 190 survives tail gunner fire much better.

[ElAurens]

The radial engines in IL2 are FAR too susceptible to overheat, and the "golden BB" one shot seize up.

The P 47 in particular is a joke. It was perhaps the most robust fighter of WW2, but you would not think that if you judged it by it's in game ability to take damage.

Oh, and take a look at the placard on the panel that says to keep the engine cowling flaps closed above 150 mph. Do that in game and you will have a toasted R-2800 in very short order.

[JtD]

Originally Posted by ElAurens

Oh, and take a look at the placard on the panel that says to keep the engine cowling flaps closed above 150 mph. Do that in game and you will have a toasted R-2800 in very short order.

Opening up the engine cowl flaps above that speed caused turbulence and the plane became unflyable due to elevator fluttering. That's why they had to be closed. The engine still overheated when flown at high power settings and would get damaged when done excessively.
In game, however, there's no disturbance from the cowl flaps and up to 4.101 the plane could be flown around for all eternity at 110% power rads closed no overheat provided you were flying at a higher altitude.