Tail wheel
 

Hi guys as far as I know the tail wheel should be blocked during take off. Why there isn't the possibility to do it?
I think this is an error in the simulation

i asked now several times how to lock the tailwheel.but no answer yet from anybody.
so im confused as well.

Have you guys tried to assign a key to the lock tail skid function in the Aircraft category list in options? It's towards the bottom ⅓ of the list.

If I remember correctly in reality in the Spitfire and Hurricane you did this automatically by keeping the stick in the fully back position, I haven't tried this however.

thats only true if the tailwheel is lockable, I am trying to find out which aircraft had lockable wheels, I have a feeling early spits with fixed tailwheels may have been free castoring.........but I don't know for sure

of course i did!!but it doesnt seem to change anything in the bf at least.i didnt try it with other planes though.

The tailwheel lock functioned only on one plane. (sorry i forgot it) The rest didnt work for me.


Cheers


LC

Heheh I never use tail wheel lock in IL-2. I always found it more fun to control a wobbly plane. Of course, I wouldn't be the same IRL.

it's not such a big problem in actual fact

The reason it's mentioned as a tail skid might be a hint: maybe the tiger moth is the only one that has a locking mechanism.

So, with the skid unlocked it moves with the rudder, when locked it stays straight (at least that's my guess).

I don't know about the planes we currently have in the sim, but i'm almost sure the Fw-190s locked the tailwheel when you kept the stick at full deflection (either full forward or full aft, can't exactly remember right now).

Maybe this is how it works in CoD too, at least for the Luftwaffe planes?

weird thing is the Tiger Moth actually has a fixed skid directly attached to the rudder, there is no locking mechanism at all, some were modified to have a tailwheel and brakes....but those were canadian built.

Guys, I'm pretty sure both Spitfire and Hurricane had non-locking, non-steerable, fully castoring tail wheels. I hope this is reflected in CoD.

I have read somewhere that this was more of a problem for the Hurricanes and that Hurricane's today often have a locking mechanism added for safety.

The bf109 should have one. In the cockpit on the left wall there is a mechanism that looks a little like a bolt on a bolt action rifle, that's to lock the tail wheel. The button assigned doesn't work and that mechanism isn't click-able in the cockpit either.

In real life if you forgot to lock the tail wheel you were going to crash on take off or landing, and possibly even die.

you suggested this earlier in the thread i opened about tailwheels.i tried it, but unfortunately without success.

Please lets have a locking tail wheel like in IL-2 pre-CloD.

Stuka tail wheel can be locked as well as Tiger moth i believe.

Yes, STUKA is working for me!

So, since it works in some planes and not in others, i guess it actually reflects the lack of a lockable tailwheel in the real aircraft.

I have no problem with this, in fact it's one of the things that i like very much about the new sim: controls are not generic anymore, but individual to each plane according to how it was in real life.

It just needs a bit better documentation to know which control works or is needed with which aircraft. For example, i totally missed the manual bomb bay door crank in the Ju88 and i wondered why they didn't open. After mapping separate controls to open and close them and keeping them pressed, the bomb bay doors work fine.

In any case, it's useful and rewarding taking the more complex aircraft for a free flight to familiarize with the controls and cockpit layouts before going into combat with them. Sure, it can be frustrating at times but on the other hand i discover something new each day.