Flying and Skip Bombing the Blenheim on Cockpit Instruments
 

Best viewed in full screen @1080p.

Vids now updated, thanks to some experience and a lot of input from Shrivey, Jimbop, Knuckles and others whose names I forget. Thanks all! :)

You'll probably need to pause the videos in order to read the text. It comes and goes pretty quickly.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs2AEN3WQks


Here's a slideshow tutorial of how to use the Map Nav Tools.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWyIA2g4ndI


And now for the ships!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUwc5Zt_VE0

I hope people find it useful. :)

Thanks Dutch.

Very informative.

Good music choice as well.

These are great and got me into the Blenheim in the first place - highly recommended.

Now that I have no trouble hitting targets in the Blenheim I've been playing with the HE 111. The course autopilot and automated gunsight/release are good tools but I definitely prefer the Blenheim. Much more like flying a plane rather than just operating machinery! I wish we had a flyable Wellington...

I tried it on ATAG yesterday afternoon.

Took off from Hawkinge/Lympne and by the time I went feet wet, both engines were toast.

RPM/pressures/temps were all good.

:confused:

Anyone have a copy of the real Blenheim IV pilot's manual?

I have a copy of the Blenheim IV manual from 1940 inbound.

As soon as I get the DL link and read the thing I will post a comparison with the procedures in game.

Hmm....

Acceleration is really slow on the ground, so the temptation is to give it more throttle, which tends to cause damage at low level. If temps and revs are as per the vid it's probably too much boost.

If you leave the throttle at +1 - +2 boost from the off and leave it there, you should be fine.

Or if you look at the throttle quadrant itself, go no further than the maximum cruise setting for take-off, don't go into the 'rated' section at all.

Then once you've gained some altitude and airspeed, you can slowly throttle up to +4 boost comfortably, but don't exceed +5 boost, which is max with 87 octane fuel. Can't remember where I read that, but it seems to work.

I use +4 on takeoff so I doubt it's only that - will post a video later. El, did you reduce fuel in the loadout? Default is overweight.

The manual would be interesting. I seem to recall some of blackdog's old posts had extracts from the manual, too.

Good video! I hope this will attrack more pilots to the bomber role.

For the last few weeks I've been flying Stuka and He111, which is a lot of fun when you can get some friends to cover you! I just wish for more briefed ground targets in ATAG!

I reduced fuel to 50% and had 4 250 pounders in the bomb bay.

I took off with 1.1 to 1.2 lbs boost as far as I remember.

the allowed rpm in game are much lower than in the real manual.
at start , using fine ( 100% ) pitch, i try no to go over 2300rpm, 2400 only for a very short time, if at all.
as soon as possible i set my pitch to around 25-30%, these settings between itscfull fine and full coarse pitch.
i btw set flaps at take off. hopefully the blenheim will get its full variable flapsettings and not only these full down and up as it is now in game.

Yes, the allowed RPM are too low. It is also too sensitive to temperature - you should be able to take off with closed radiators and I certainly cannot do this.

However, I can still reliably take off and have a blast (literally!) without worrying overmuch about the temperatures or RPM. See below my takeoff procedure (note that there are annotations which don't seem to work on mobile viewers).

The only time this has failed in the last 20 takeoffs was when I forgot to open the radiators.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db8mB-IguM8

I'll link to my level bombing guide tomorrow. Still uploading...

Excellent mate. :grin:

Maybe we could call this 'Advanced Take-off procedure'!

Looking forward to the bombing guide. I need it. ;)

Can't do that - the soundtrack is rubbish compared to yours!

Thanks for the videos and info fellas, just what the doctor ordered!

Oh and btw Jimbo, the clarity of the dials in your cockpit is stunning compared to what I see in mine!

Brilliant job. Has the temperature modeling been touched up in a recent patch? It seems much easier to warm-up now than what i'm used to, even with the accelerated warm-up method that i also use (throttling up to get the temps to rise faster).

I think i'll reinstall today on whatever remaining space i have on my surviving hard drive :grin:

Wonderful Mr. Dutch!
I'll install Steam again and give the Blen another try!

1920x1080 resolution and they're poor in the video compared with in-game. If I'm dogfighting I change to 1600x900 since the rapid changes in ground texture when low are too much for my card at the higher resolution. Great for the bomber, though.

Goodbye exam preparation! I can't comment on whether it is easier since I have only attempted this aircraft on the current patch. I think it is still not correct (see ElAurens' thread) but not unflyable by any stretch. I really like this plane!

As both both the Blenheim and Fiat G.50 suffer similar cooling issues, independent of their overall performance issues, I'm tempted to think there is a global problem with cooling, or air density, etc...

Hence you can have the rads on the water cooled aircraft open all the way, all the time, with no loss of performance or worry about coolant temps getting too low.

Here you go, Dutch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plkNXa9lJfs

Thanks for the information on the Blenheim - quite enjoyable to fly this plane!
Basically, the first time that I have played on the red side on ATAG.

Level bombing will be my next challenge. So far I am already happy to keep the Blenheim in the air.

Great job on the video tutorial and to be honest with you, it's better to see a tutorial with mistakes than a flawless one. It just makes it easier to visualize how things will go initially and know what kind of mistakes to expect.

That evasive roll over into the dive and ensuing high speed pull-out was great. I see the Blenheim appeals to you the same way it does to me. Just go in low and fast, drop and escape in a flimsy, almost unarmed aircraft, relying mostly on careful planning and evasive capabilities.

I used to mostly fly blue back in IL2 (almost exclusively 190As), but if we ever get a Mosquito in a future expansion and some kind of triggers to play out photo recon missions on a server, i'll probably end up spending 90% of my time playing bomb leader for rhubarb flights, pathfinder at night and recon in a glass nose Mossie.

Now that i think of it, the only reason i wouldn't fly a 190A back in IL2 46 modded was when a map came up in the rotation that had the Mk.XVI Mossie. I would go high, skirt around the furballs and by the time my bombs were exploding and blue noticed the flak bursts around me, i had already executed a split-S ending in a long,shallow, power dive from 25000 down to 10000 feet and was almost 10km away from the target. Great fun :-P

It's a whole different kind of challenge, where you need to think less in terms of air combat maneuvering and more in terms of prior tactical planning, flight plans and navigation. And now with the extra CEM and navigation issues (magnetic deviation, knowing how to set and read a compass, etc) it's even better.

Spot on, Blackdog_kt, and I also look forward to the Mosquito. I enjoy dogfights but they do get tiresome after a while when there's no larger objective. And the satisfaction of successful evasion definitely adds another dimension!

In this instance I could have targeted the AA in the first pass. It would be nice and easy since they are clustered together on the server map. But the roll over does the job nicely. You definitely don't want to continue straight after dropping your bombs on ATAG #2...

I spent some time offline in the Blenheim tonight.

Owing to the fact that the one mission where it starts on the ground is bugged, I used it in the London sight seeing mission. Flew from London to Manston, then across to Calais, then down to Le Havre where I landed.

At least I had some flight time (1 hour 21 minutes) learning in flight engine management, etc...

Only issue is that the mission starts you with 100% fuel, and I could not lower it. Basically ran 2000rpm and 2 odd psi boost most of the time. Was indicating +/- 170mph most of the time between 8000 and 9000 ft. The flight reminded me of the time I flew second seat in a twin engined Piper on a trip to and from Chicago Midway from Toledo Express. (No, I'm not a real pilot, but my employer at that time had 2 US Air National Guard jet jocks on staff as salesmen, and they would fly me to location shoots... They knew I liked planes so I got to do a lot of the flying...).

It's a fairly docile bird. And I see that some of it's qualities as stated in the Pilot's Notes are actually modeled fairly well.

Now I just have to try to get it off the ground in a combat situation and drop some HE on Jerry.

Hi Jimbop,

Thanks for the new video, Level bombing here I come!

Just one question, I've been playing with my Kane Dead Reconing Computer (a very dangerous thing for a dyslexic person to do!) and was wondering how you came about geting your TAS? What temperature did you use?

Setting it up with a 200mph IAS and a 190 TAS I came to a Outside air temp of about -40 C

(By the way I'm not trolling here just trying to get my head around things :) )

In my calculations without a thermometer, taking OAT as 9C (15C - 6C due to temperature lapse) and a IAS of 200 I came to a TAS of ~208mph

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...puter001-1.jpg

Cheers and thanks for the video!

Wait till you've got about 30% fuel and have dropped your load! She is capable of some fairly good break turns! So far I have about a 50-50 chance of evading lone 109's that have been chasing me from France back to Littlestone. (I have zero chance if I try to use the defensive gun!)

Cheers!

I'm yet to get the Blenheim up to take off speed without the engines making squeaky/screaming noises as I throttle up. I've been following the video tutorials to the letter, so perhaps the quick mission is indeed the problem. Can anybody describe the nature of the mission bug or tell me if there is a corrected mission file available? I pretty much bought the sim for the Blenheim and it would be nice to be able to use it.

Feathered_IV, the noise is either due to under- or over-temp. If it disappears when you throttle back down you are under temperature for the boost you are tyring to reach. Close radiators a bit or just wait a while until the cylinder head temps (over right shoulder) are near 200 or the middle of the scale. I find ATAG #2 is really good to practice takeoff on. Some of the offline missions are difficult (crosswind, loadout weight etc) and ATAG #2 spawns you in a very good location - just turn left and hit the throttle.

Really pleased to hear that you managed to get going in it. Regarding the fuel load: you can't change it in single player unless you create your own mission and change it in the mission editor.

Yeah well I just got shot down on ATAG #1 by a human 109. Pretty unfair, though, as he started shooting just as I had leant down on the bomb sight! These blue players have no sense of fair play... ;)

Great fun although I find it very difficult to identify the correct target on the #1 server what with engine management, flak, fighters etc etc. I need to spend some time in a 109 and cruise around each field. #2 is easier since there is little activity at the moment. Basically if you get shot at you are near the target.

I'd been following the ATAG video and opening the rads once I hit 200-230 degrees and 40+ for oil temps. Props are in fine pitch and the engines start to kill themselves as soon as I throttle up more than half way. Just laboriously re-downloaded and installed the game anew, so pretty positive the issue is with me. I'm about to surpass Hartmans tally of allied aircraft though, so I'm hoping to get it figured out before Fatty asks me to spend the weekend at his hunting lodge...

:(

I like the look of that toy! To be honest I am only just coming to grips with IAS vs TAS vs GS and simply use the conversion table at the back of the manual. This is adjusted for the temperatures used at in-game altitudes I think.

However, I find that if I actually use GS instead of IAS I end up hitting short of the target. If I just use IAS as on the instrument panel I get my best results. This does not hold true for the HE 111 so I may just be doing it wrong in the Blenheim rather than a game bug. But anyway, I can still hit the target!

A bigger difference seems to be the altitude. Make sure you adjust before takeoff since the pressure seems to vary according to the time of day in-game and you can be a few hundred feet out on startup.

Try opening them a bit earlier, maybe at 175 degrees, but start gradually throttling up at 150. As you can see in the vid up you start rolling as soon as the temps allow then you can be in the air much sooner than if you do a full stationary warm-up. Not correctly modelled...

Ha! Standard issue in the Kent St Senior High Aviation course in 1982! (They're propbably still using them! ;)

http://i1042.photobucket.com/albums/...omputer001.jpg

It really looks like we need Met reports! To work out the GS using vectors you use side 'B' of the computer and a chinagraph pencil!

Cheers!

Now we're talkin'! ;)

The ambient temperature issue is an interesting one. I thought it was my imagination, but there does seem to be an ambient temperature factor modelled in the game.

For instance, it seems to take much longer to warm the engines in an early morning scenario than a mid-day one. Anyone else noticed this? :confused:

Love that computer Skoshi!

I've also noticed that in a 'cold' unstarted Blenheim there can be couple of degree difference between each of the engines on both the oil and CHT guages.

Interesting I wonder if variation in the accuracy of the guages is modeled or something else?

Yeah, sometimes juggling rads/pitch/oil rads around to compensate during warm-up is a real pain in the youknowwhat. Maybe gauge error, maybe a lousy ground crew. ;)

Try this mission out for practice Feathered and El. I made it myself in FMB with 50% fuel from the word go. If the engines make an uncomfortable rattling sound, just throttle back slightly, wait a couple of secs then try again.
You can't alter fuel load in a quick mission yet I don't think.
The mission is my level bombing practice mission, but should be ok for engine practice.

Just flew the mission Dutch.

Did it as a low level attack.

I didn't know what the target was, guess I should have zoomed in on the map before take off, but none the less I bombed a factory building and got back in one piece. Aircraft sustained no damage, either from the enemy or my management of it.

:cool:

Nice mission, Dutch. Did it at 3000 and hit the vehicles.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6...306fe0a9_b.jpg

You using FRAPS for screen shots?

No, the steam interface. You can choose a screenshot key in Settings, In-Game tab as below. Mine is Scroll Lock. A window with the screenshots from that sessions appears when you exit the game.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6...8dec67e1a1.jpg

Hmmm...

I could never get that to work for me.

Doesn't work at the CoD interface, only after you click Fly. I suspect it has something to do with the activation of the full screen mode when you start flying.

Well I just flew online and tried the STEAM screen shot thingy.

No joy.

It has never worked for me.

I'll just have to remember to start FRAPS next time.

Oh well, nothing wrong with fraps. I'm using MSI afterburner for video and it also has screen capture.

That's the spirit mate ;)

She handles quite nice and can even be thrown around somewhat. I practiced some bombing in the mission made by ATAG_Dutch and decided to copy Jimbop's split-S evasion technique: open cowl flaps fully, boost cut-out on, +9 boost and roll over. I think i must have hit close to never exceed speed, because i was doing 320mph and it was creaking by the time i leveled off above the waves :-P

Of course, you can't maintain that boost for long, but imagine my surprise (and joy) when i realized that i could keep her going at +4.5 with the cowl flaps half open for the rest of the trip and temps safely at 200 degrees, doing a steady 230mph indicated on the deck.

I think it does need fixing, but once you get down how the effects of airflow/cooling are modeled you can get get the most out of it even in its current state. You just need to be going reasonably fast and after that all goes better: you need less opened cowl flaps, closing them gives you a bit of a climb, you trim it out and you go even faster, etc, up until you reach the maximum in a perfect equilibrium for your current boost settings.

The difficult part is getting enough speed on the runway to get some cooling airflow before the temps creep up to you, the rest of the flight is mostly fine.

Yesterday i did it a different way than usual and it worked fine, i had temps at 150 aligning with the runway and some leftover speed from taxiing, so i just gave it +2 boost and let her roll. The tendency to yaw right was completely negated by full left rudder trim at this boost setting (in fact i was even sliding to the left a bit) and it was picking up speed nicely. So much in fact that i completely forgot to advance throttle the rest of the way :grin:

I only pushed it to +5 when i saw it couldn't get off the runway easily and did a double-take on my instruments.

This made me reevaluate my method and now i think it's better to advance throttle in stages during the take off run. This does two things for you:

1) Gets you up to 70 mph with only +2 boost, which means manageable yaw tendencies and safe temps (provided the cowl flaps are open).

2) Let's you start rolling from a lower initial temp. The engines won't sputter at 150-170 degrees if you just give it +1 to +2 boost, then you have enough airflow to push it up to +5 gradually and warm them up as you are rolling.

Much better than aligning, warming up to 200 degrees and then firewalling it like i used to do.

As for the IAS/TAS thing now...there is an atmosphere model in the sim but we don't know its parameters. I assume the conversion table in the manual refers to the ISA (international standard atmosphere) model, but i can't be sure. However, up until 5000 feet there is not much to change.

Roughly speaking, you'll be doing 170-200mph during the bomb run and flying between 100 and 5000 ft. I took a look at the conversion table, compared the numbers and used a simple "divide in the middle" approach for the intermediate values that are not covered in the table. The general rule of thumb for these airspeeds seem to be: "add 10mph to get TAS if flying at 3000 ft or, add 10mph if flying at 5000ft or so". Of course, when on the deck you just drop like a fighter does.

Not entirely precise but:
a) i can't easily make out targets higher than 5000-6000ft from a sufficient range to properly align with them, due to my somewhat medium detail settings (land detail on medium, so the range of high detail terrain around me is not that much)
b) i can't aim accurately enough to go higher than 5k ft
c) staying between 3000-5000 limits the amount of time my approximation/error will have an effect on the bomb's trajectory.

All in all, pretty sound and since i release manually with a bit of an interval between bombs, i'm bound to hit something. That's also the reason i prefer 4x250lb instead of 2x500lb, more chances of scoring a hit.

This is exactly the conclusion I arrived at during today's flying - was going to post something similar. I don't think I'll bother making a new video until after the patch since the modelling might change but I find this a foolproof way of getting off the ground now.

I am actually quite happy with the model. Still needs improvement but like ElAurens said in a earlier post it is good that engine cooling actually has an effect. I'm going to have some fun in this one!

Thanks Dutch. I did mangage to get the Blenheim into the air last night using a simple mission I made in FMB. Yours looks like a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to giving it a go too. Cheers!

:grin:

Pleasure mate. ;)

The more chaps we get up in Blenheims the better I'll like it! :)

There already has been a huge increase in the number of blenhiems in the ATAG server normally it was a few ATAG guys and occasionally I would take one up, congrats and getting people to fly this craft not many realised how fun it was.

I took it up on the open server last night for one hop.

Flew over to France to attack an airfield for grins.

Started seeing damgage reports on my screen. Looked over and noticed my right engine was missing.

Never heard or felt a thing.

Still a ways to go with the sim I'm afraid.

Yeah there is no sound currently for flak hits which is a pain, especially if you fly with no damage data. It's quite something to suddenly lose control and look behind to see your entire tail section has been blown off with out a single sound :lol:

Hey Gang: I think I have missed this thread: Dont know why ??

anyway I have been working with the Blenheim for about 2 months now. Recently I have developed a profile for my joystick (Saitek X52) to fly the rear turret . Tried it last night in a Blenheim flown by "Rush" and it worked perfect. Kind of a hoot riding in someone elses aircraft. Never could find a 109 (never can find one when you need em ?) But I believe this will be much more effective than A.I. Using DeWild and NO!!!! tracer. As 90% of shots will be to the front. Wait till thye start to shoot and go for a pilot kill or engine. See "turret" post on ATAG.

Next will be a profile for bomb aimer. Which will leave the pilot to concentrate on speed and level flying. This aircraft has more potential that we think. However I need participants to work these profiles out (like pilots) So anytime you see me in the ATAG servers or comms give me a holler and lets get competent with all these features

ATAG_Knuckles

Bomb Aimers profile is complete

Lets go Bomb crap !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


ATAG_Knuckles

Amen to that! ;)

So, i just came off ATAG, which i had joined to have some quick action when Bliss told us he wanted some people to join the ATAG #2 and test some improvements to the mission.

I hopped in a Blenheim and did a run on the blue ships, sinking two tankers. Then i took a 5 min break and by the time i got back, Dutch had finished getting killed by a Minenshuchboot and Jimbop had logged in.

So, after they told me that the Blenheim doesn't seem to suffer that much from the CTD bug (they had a formation of four going before), we decided to team up and head out.

I think it was Dutch who forgot his rads and cooked the engines on take off, so i followed Jimbop out over the channel and towards a target at Desvres. I was just formatting on him, listening on TS but with no mic myself, so i just waited to see him drop.

At some point i see his bomb bay doors open, i follow suit and drop after him (we were at about 5000ft). He said he would go low to see what we hit and i followed but i couldn't see much...i had too much fun dodging flak and following him through the hills :grin:

The target was very well laid out and it almost made me sorry we didn't go low level to skip bomb it. By that time Jimbop had been shot down. However, Dutch had caught up, on his own ingress route and going in at tree top height, so i stuck around to draw some flak for him. I was doing fine until i decided to strafe the tents with my measly single .303 gun :-P

Flak didn't get me but just like when i used to play IL2 back in 2001, my GPU wasn't fast enough to take all that smoke in zoomed in view, i got a couple of skipped frames and crashed right next to the target...which then enabled me to sit there and take screenshots :-P

I like this aircraft more and more each day, if you get a feel about anticipating changes to engine temps you can really throw it around the place. I can finally fly confidently without looking over my shoulder to the CHT temps all the time, i just close flaps a bit when i'm about to cut throttle and get in a long dive, or open them a bit when i want a brief burst of high power, etc. Then i only look at the gauges briefly when i have the time to, not when i'm busy executing maneuvers. It takes some getting used to, but it's lot's of fun when you get it down.

Yesterday i was on ATAG #1 again and after making a run on the blue ships, i picked up a 109 "escort".

I got hit and my starboard wing was on fire because the fuel lines were hit, but the engines were going strong at +5 boost, so i thought "what the heck" and decided to see what she can do.

I kid you not, i don't know if it was the fact that i was losing fuel and getting lighter, but i was evading the 109 all the way to the UK coast. At some point i got into a scissors contest with him, which of course i couldn't win but came close to...the guy was forced to drop landing gear to stay behind me, because i was doing reversals and barrel rolls at 90mph a mere 500ft from the water surface :-P

I lost my starboard engine when i pulled up to gain some altitude and spot a suitable landing place, he got some good hits on me and the engine came clean off the wing. I put it down on the beach, no problems at all until i came too close to the water and triggered the "sinking" animation...it flipped over on its back and i was looking at the sand from inside the ground :-P

All in all great fun. Here's some screenshots from today's test run on ATAG #2 with Dutch and Jimbop.

... and the rest.

Heh, heh. Yep that was a blast.

When I crossed the enemy coast, flying up the river estuary at zero feet, calling out for directions to the target, with BD and Jimbo giving me instructions, I suddenly got the theme tune from 633 squadron going through my head.

And what's more, we destroyed the target.

Bloody marvellous. ;)

Good shots, Blackdog. I didn't realise you could hear me on teamspeak or I'd have given much more precise drop instructions. Should have realised it was just a missing mic. I didn't even realise it was you until after the flight! Loads of fun - I think the new mission is going to be really good.

Here's one of my pics from the mission, taken just after Dutch had wiped them out. I was watching when he dove and though he'd missed since I saw dust from two impacts hit just after the target. I realised he had an impact delay set when boom! Up they went.

And yes, that is my crater... The low level flak is brutal.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7163/6...ac6654d5_b.jpg

Just came off ATAG No.1 server with the new mission running.

Red team won, having taken out all three bombing objectives.

Excellent work, Blenheim pilots! ;)

This is what I'm looking for in the near future: !!




Knuckles

It's just occured to me looking at this shot again, why some people seem to find the targets more easily than me when online.

TREES!

Those tanks are almost completely hidden, with trees set to 'high' as mine are.

Jimbop obviously has them 'off'.

Me, I prefer having them for realism, but it's a thought for all bomber pilots hunting for targets!

Dutch

Very interesting point ! and certainly something to consider.

However I think "finding" the target might not be the main issue, we know where the targets are, my problem is keeping them lined up for the bomb run with the limited visibility due to the bomb aimers panel and instrument panel'

your thoughts:

also a previous post (cant remember where) listed the inaccuracy of the real Blenheim, and their use of "Carpet Bombing" which would certainly work if we had at least 3 aircraft, 4 or 5 would be best

Knuckles

Good thought. Yes, switched off for me since a few patches ago. I was getting enormous framerate drops with them enabled so off they went. Will play around with the settings again since they add immensely to realism and I'd strongly prefer them on!

Hmm.......When low level bombing, I stay in the pilot's seat, and try to bomb in a shallow dive @ no more than 200ft or so, then release a couple as the target disappears under the nose.

That's a long winded way of saying I guess. But I do it from the pilot's seat, as I always did in a Sturmovik. Seems to work though. :confused::grin:

Also -top secret information here - for your ears only - it's possible to take out the fuel depot with 2 x 250lb bombs. It's possible to do the same with the tanks. It's therefore also possible to take out both these targets in one Blenheim sortie. I've not managed it yet, the flak got me on the bomb run to the second target, but it's my new self appointed objective. ;)

It also means that two Blenheims could take out all three objectives in one 2 ship mission...........................

Unless of course, Bliss has toughened them up already!

Wow, let me know if you manage it! I haven't been online for a week or so but I read that Bliss has indeed been toughening up targets. Should be back tomorrow - look forward to finding out.

I eliminated the tanks yesterday, didn't trigger, wondered if the AA guns needed to go as well. I actually flew over the tanks to verify they were gone.



Hummmmm

Knucks

I'll try some more today

Thanks for the videos guys. Really helped me take off at least. So the Cross Country quick mission is bugged? That's what I keep using. Maybe that's why I keep frying my engines with 100% fuel.

What is Carb Heat for? High alt flying? When should I use that? What do you guys use for mixture settings once in the air? When you say prob pitch to course does that mean all the way down on the lever? When I do that is sounds like my engine is barely on, or is this just an audio mistake?

Carb Heat = you will only need this above 5,500. at that level your engines will start to cut out. Apply a few clicks of Carb Heat until the rattle stops

Mixture = not sure this is really accurate or working. On full size I use mixture at around 5,000 to 6,000. At that altitude the air starts getting thin so your dont need as much fuel in your carb so you "Lean" out the mixture.

Prop Pitch = Blenheim had a two stage prop: Course & Fine. When its course its taking a huge bit out of the air so the RPM go way down (1,740)however the speed should stay the same.

all very good questions

Knuckles

No, it's not bugged, but for some reason it comes with a few 'difficulties' as standard, such as full fuel tanks and a strong crosswind.

It's actually quite easy as long as you forget the runway and deliberately take off into the wind (i.e. allow the wind to turn you to the right), being careful to avoid the buildings. Grass airfields have their advantages! ;)

hahaha that explains why I was full rudder trim and full rudder and STILL was turning. There's wind! I wish you could hear it that would be a great indicator.

If you look at the clouds, you can see that they're moving quite quickly! But I agree. No doubt it'll be included in the new patch. :confused: ;)

Video Tutorials Updated. See first post. ;)

Nice update, Dutch. I use exactly the same routine although I tend to start rolling when the cylinder heads are at about 175 degrees instead of 200.

What video editing software do you use for the annotations?

Cheers Jim!

It's just plain old windows moviemaker as standard with win7. Just click 'caption' at the appropriate point and type. You also get a few options as to how the caption appears and disappears. ;)

Thanks. I've been using the youtube annotations but they don't show up on mobile which is a pain.

Takin off issues
 

Hi, I followed your taking off instructions but this is what I come across when I intend to take off Heeelp please.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lDVu...1&feature=plcp

Your question is answered in post number 72 above. :)

I believe this is stronger than a wind, it happens in all aircrafts. I even have the wind option off
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h1...intFan/atm.png

Maybe the airfield is built on a slope.

Hi ATAG_Dutch, thanks for your responses. I was able to fix it by turning off everything in the "atmospheric and handling section". it seems Torch and Gyro effect is the problem, any idea why it might be?

The Blenheim needs full left rudder and some left rudder trim to track straight until the tail comes up in any mission, whereupon you need to progressively reduce the left rudder as speed increases. Applying power gradually rather than suddenly, and dabbing the brake with full left rudder applied, also helps control the torque.

The reason for this is that the Blenheim's engines both spin in the same direction, which produces a lot of torque reaction, pressing the starboard undercarriage wheel into the ground and hence forcing the aircraft to the right until airspeed is reached. Even then, it still needs quite a bit of left rudder trim in the air in order to keep the 'slip indicator' needle centralised.

The effect of this torque reaction is exaggerated in the stock 'Cross Country Quick Mission' due to the presence of the wind and full fuel load.

If you're able to join the ATAG server online, selecting 50% fuel load or less and following the video guide, you should be fine even with all realism settings on (which is fixed by the server). Also if you download and install Teamspeak 3, there are a lot of the guys flying Blenheims who'd be happy to give you some one to one advice and guidance.

Hope you get chance to give this a try. ;)

Did my first ever Blenheim flight last night with Torian and Hooves helping me sort out the procedures. Happy to say that between Torian and I we took out the panzers in one run apiece.

I just might hop back in that old bird again. It was good fun. Until we got shot down by a 109, that is.

Please, if you see a Blenheim...escort it!

Great! Sorry I had to leave before you got it off the ground, but it was 4.20am here!

Welcome to our lttle club! ;)

Hey ATG, in your videos, how are you able to ZOOM in so effectively, what are your zoom keys? I can hardly zoom. is it also possible to put your plane on autopilot, staying on course. a flight from England to cities in France can take long, how do you put it on autopilot.

Killer, I have the three FOV settings mapped to a hat switch on my G940 Joystick, but these are available by default using 'End/Page Down/Delete' keys (I think), but look in your 'views' menu to change them if you wish.

The Blenheim doesn't have an autopilot.

Will you sell that joystick to me:mrgreen:

Ermmm....no.

Thanks for this thread and all the video's guys, it is truly a sense of accomplishment when you get this bird in the air!.. Struggled a few times trying to do the single player mission, not realizing it was 'bugged'.. I have been able to get it airborne and return safely on the ATAG server a few times and it is truly a blast!!!.. Now if I could just learn how to bomb right.. Tried figuring out that from the Video, but I've yet to score a hit that I know off..

But anyways this thread and the Video's are a big help, and I appreciate it.. They should include this type of stuff with the game, the more people into the game, the more revenue they get and thus succeed.. I hope they release more planes in the future!.. Even though I like IL2, the CEM of this game just makes it so much better!

Tuna

Get on team speak and fly with us on missions. We would be happy to tweak your bombing skills. If you see me come on in.



Knuckles

OK.. I've usually been on the ROF TS yakking with Chief.. but I'll try and log in, is there a special channel for Bombing? Or is it just Axis vs Allies?.. Might be on tonight..

There is a bomber channel in Axis and Allies

Thanks for letting me fly with you tonight Dutch, that was a blast!!!.. And as you can see, I learned something watching the skip bombing video :grin:

~S~Dutch!

These vids are great and this is the sort of tutorial i was hoping for with the game :), hope you do more for different aircraft :-P

Thanks

Wow, thanks for the comments all! :grin:

However, I have to say that I just made the videos, and the collective knowledge of many individuals in the community contributed towards getting these tutorials to where they are now. Maybe there'll be more to come as we discover more 'secrets of the blasted Blenny'!

And Tuna, after last nights sortie, there's nothing at all wrong with your bombing!

Good flying with you chaps. :grin:

I want to apologize to my team mates for sinking our own ships last night! :evil:

And here I thought I had a good run taking down three, I guess I got lost.. Even if you guys hadn't told me, I guess I would've found out when I returned home and saw the flak starting shooting at me!.. I guess now I realize why the coast looked wrong when I was approaching! :-o

Tuna,

I'm still laughing: if you remember you typed in that you wanted an escort. I was on my way to littlestone and saw you way south of the point at Dungness, you seemed to correct and turned north. At that point I though you were going for the 88s at Oyle Plage. I lost sight of you around Dover, I asumed you turned East. As I came back to Hawkage I observed a ship blow up, and a glimpse of what I though was an JU-88 . I attacked. just as I squeezed a few rounds I noticed the roundels.

BTW very good approach and bomb run: and you got credit for the ship :-P

Next time your on comms lets do course setter 101 !!
Trust me I have done worse. I wont clutter up the page here with stories Haaaa

Knuckles

Dutch, please consider making a Blenheim bombing video where you have to cruise at say 10,000 ft. I think it'd help with those (like my good self) struggling with carb heat, cruise settings etc.

Ta very much.