[-)-MAILMAN-]

The release notes state that we should be flying all of the planes at approximately 70% throttle and 70% prop pitch to avoid over heating. It also states that the gages are not to be relied upon.

The F4U Corsair and the F6F Hellcat had a manually operated mechanical two stage, two speed supercharger. I will make a couple of assumptions. I have assumed that in the game supercharger one is neutral blower, supercharger 2 is low blower and supercharger 3 is high blower. In previous versions of the game I could switch supercharger to maintain the correct manifold air pressure as I changed altitudes.

I fly the F4U and F6F a lot. I flew them with historical power settings prior to this latest release even though it would take me a bit longer to get to the combat area. Normally it gave me an edge by giving me a longer duration at high performance because I started combat at cooler engine temperature. I would exceed these settings only when engaged in combat.

The F4U had a normal continuous power setting of 2550 RPM (93% prop pitch in the game) and 44" MAP from Sea Level to 8000 feet with supercharger one and cowl flaps 2/3 open (position 6 in game). The throttle would have to be increased continuously as I climbed. At 8000 ft I would have to exceed 100% throttle to maintain the 44" MAP so I would switch to supercharger two, lower the throttle setting to maintain 48" MAP and continue to climb. At approximately 18,500 feet I would have to exceed 100% throttle to maintain 48" MAP so I would switch to supercharger three and reduce the throttle and maintain 48" and continue to climb where eventually the altitude would not allow me to maintain the 48" MAP. These settings coincided with the actually flight data for the F4U-1 Corsairs. For additional proof go to Zeno's Warbirds Web page and view the movie for flying the F4U-1 Corsair. It describes in detail all of the settings for Normal Power Climb as well as power settings for Military and Cruise. Normal continuous is just that, they could run the power settings like this forever with deviations due to geographical locations where the temperatures would be considerably higher on average. This is not cruise or maximum cruise.

With this latest release you cannot follow the actual flight manual or the official documentation any longer. In previous releases operating with a normal power setting you could easily extend away in a 1000 foot/min climb from a Zero or Oscar and eventually from the Ki-61 unless they went to military or war emergency power. With this release you can no longer maintain the correct manifold pressure settings as you climb below 8000 feet. You reach 100% throttle below 5000 feet and have to exceed 100% to keep 44" manifold air pressure which causes you to overheat prior to reaching 8000 feet where you will switch to supercharger two. The plane then appears to revert to the old engine performance above 8000 feet. The F4U-1 uses the Pratt & Whitney R-2800-8 and later -8W engine.

The F6F which uses the Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10 and later -10W engine and a different carburetor (may explain the different MAP setting) than that used on the F4U has the same issues. A normal power climb in the F6F would use an RPM setting of 2550 RPM and 44" MAP using supercharger position one from Sea Level up to 7,000 feet. As you continued to climb you would would maintain 49.5" MAP and change supercharger settings all the way up to critical altitude. You cannot maintain 49.5" MAP all the way up to7,000 feet without exceeding 100% throttle and overheating the engine.

Taking away water injection on the Corsair MkI (F4U-1) & F6F-3 Late should have no bearing on heating issues nor should it change the performance parameters for normal power settings.

At least in the previous versions of the game you could fly by the gages (flight envelope) and not have to rely on the text telling you what percentage of throttle to have. Why have the gages if they aren't reliable?