Vulching on the ATAG server.

[Jatta Raso]

Originally Posted by atag_snapper

to catch a 109 pilot you first have to be smarter than the 109 pilot. Major borris outlined it well. Tbh, this is where the vast majority of my 109 kills come from.

I don't even bother to take off from another airfield anymore. With the latest patch & hotfix the warm up time on a spit iia is almost nil. When you take off in full fine pitch use your throttle to bring your revs up to 3,000 rpms (= 6 lbs boost). When you rotate, keep the nose down, bring your wheels up, use your prop pitch to bring your revs down to 2,800 rpms, open the overboost gate, increase throttle to full (= 9 lbs boost), close your rad to 50%, fly down the streets of margate or folkestone while trimming out, do not fly out to sea -- you'll be an easy target once you separate from the clutter of the town buildings. Instead make a hard right or left on the far outskirts of town and follow the terrain out ofthe immediate vicinity of the airfield.

Once you've reached 270 mph ias on the deck you should be well clear of the vulching action. Reduce throttle to 6.25 lbs boost and constant speed prop pitch to 2650 rpms. Start a gentle climb into the sun, never letting your speed fall below 200 mph ias. This gives you plenty of maneuvring speed if you should need it. Now you are transitioning from prey to hunter. Plan your strategy. Adjust your gunsight. As major borris said, get on comms (teamspeak 3) to get updates on the action at the airfield. Upon reaching 10,000 feet start heading back to the airfield, trying to keep the sun over your shoulder. Clouds are about 5,000 feet and are now opaque with this latest patch. Nothing like lining up a cloud between you and your airfield in the distance, then making a gentle dive at about 350 mph ias to arrive unannounced through the cloud with lots of e on hand. Be sure to reduce your throttle and pull back your prop pitch to avoid over revving.

Pick up a vulching intruder by following the trail of accurate white flak bursts following him. Keep an eye for any high covering 109's, then maintain your dive speed to saddle up behind your victim. Make sure you have the correct convergence and wingspan (32 feet) dialed on your gunsight. If you misjudged your attack, don't lose your smash. Hard throttle to 9 lbs boost again, prop pitch up to 2,800 and climb like hell again. At apex, reduce throttle so not to blow engine, but keep prop pitch to maintain revs around 2,800. Rinse and repeat.

Vulching vulchers can be fun!

excellent advice for counter vulching, doesn't get much better than this my routines at take off are much like this, but sometimes i go on attack right after take off as soon as i'm 240mph, some 109s forget to keep their E pursuing slower targets on deck. i'll reinforce the rule, don't head out to sea; also keep eyes on your tail on the runway and as you make your climbing turn right after airborne, if followed glue to tree top level, grass if you see a clearing, and weave left-right, you won't be an easy hit.

counter vulching, fun for everyone

[ATAG_Snapper]

Good stuff, Jatta!

[IvanK]

"The map is actually 1:1 scale. The reason 109s can loiter longer in the sim is that they don't have to burn half their fuel zig-zagging over some bombers that are forming up deep in France at 200 km/h: we don't have Goering threatening us with execution when we fly ( ) and since not many people fly bombers yet, there is nothing for 109 pilots to escort."

Related to this are Fuel Flows in game. Some really quick and dirty testing gives the following versus documented real world numbers:

Spitfire IIA
Climb +4/2800RPM 72gal hr. Book figures 94Gall hr
Cruise +2/2600RPM 60gal hr. Book figures 78 gall hr

BF109E4
Climb 1.35/2350 RPM (AUTO) 480Ltr/hr (106Gall/hr)
Max Cruise 1.35/2400RPM 360 ltr per hr. ... Spit value equiv is about 356Ltr hr so this value looks pretty good.

Yet to track down documented values but for a rough guide line they would similar to Spit values I would think. If some one can fill in the 109E values please do.

Blenheim IV
I4000ft at +3Lbs Boost Full Coarse pitch. 30 Gall/hr per engine i.e 60Gall hr total
Documented values 57Gall hr per Engine Total 114 Gall/hr

Edit: Added BF109E4 Climb Fuel Flow.
Notes: All Gall value are imperial.

[ATAG_Snapper]

This is good info. Thanks for posting this, IvanK.

[JG52Uther]

Actually I spend a lot of my time on ATAG escorting bombers, even AI, and it certainly does burn up the fuel! I love flying home with the red fuel light on!
The amount of trips I have made without seeing any intercepting fighters at all is amazing, so the sooner people get out of the weeds and up to a proper BoB altitude the better.