F4u-4 and F8F

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by horseback

In my experience, any gun is going to be underpowered if I'm the one firing it...and if it is being fired at me, then it is undoubtedly overpowered.

I recently was re-reading Fire In the Sky, by Eric Bergerud. In it, he mentions that the Zero's cannon were originally license built MG-FFs. If they were slower firing than the German models, he doesn't say, but the LW moved exclusively to MG151/20s pretty quickly when it became possible. I seem to recall from possibly other sources that later 20mm cannon models the Japanese used were literally scaled up Browning designs, identical to the US M2, just bigger. I recall that the display at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC certainly reflected this.

In any event, the Japanese had issues with their cannon having very different ballistics and trajectory from their light machine guns, and found that the cannon were less effective in their favored close-in maneuvering combat; it seems that the cannon rounds often went somewhere different from the MG rounds if you fired during high-G turns (they were slower firing and <probably> started firing a fraction of a second later than the MGs).

cheers

horseback

So you're actually talking about two weapons there

The Type 99 used by the Japanese Navy is derived from the Oerlikon FF of which the MG-FF is also derived. So they share a similar parentage but with some unique attributes of their own. The biggest difference here is that the Germans used the Mine shell ammunition whereas I don't think the Japanese did... using AP and HE rounds in some sort of combination.

The Browning .50cal scaled up into a cannon is the Japanese Army Ho-5 20mm cannon which was probably the best of the Japanese cannons used in the war. This cannon is actually modelled in IL-2. How well I'm not sure... but it is present in the game files. You'll find it on the Ki-84 and Ki-100.

The Japanese Army and Navy were highly independent structures sharing very little in the way of aircraft and aircraft armaments so there is a huge long list of machine guns and cannons... of which very few are represented in any capacity in IL-2 1946. There is even a variety of different guns used in IL-2 1946 that were chosen to represent the missing guns... the same gun is represented by the MG17 in the nose of the Zero and the Vickers K in the nose of the D3A Val and the Browning .30 in the nose of the Ki-27 and Ki-43. It's a mess!

[pandacat]

Originally Posted by horseback

I've been flying Corsairs and Hellcats a lot lately, and I should make a few points about the FMs.

First, while the performance is there with full engine power (110% throttle), it often seems a bit sluggish if not downright weak at less than full power. It sometimes seems an all or nothing proposition with these two. I've found that changing supercharger stages appropriately (stage 1 from sea level to around 4500 ft/1500m, stage 2 from 4500 to 17500 ft, and stage 3 above 17500 ft) helps, keeping your cowl gills (radiator flaps) at 30%, and your prop pitch between 90 and 80% when you want to speed up without overheating are big helps. When you're cruising, drop your rpms to about 2250 and your manifold pressure to about 30-35 inches with your radiator at 30% at any altitude (and the higher you get, the better against the Japanese fighters).

Thanks for the tips. I have question on your PP usage. I read WD's writing on PP. He said it's ideal to always keep RPM with in the power band. For corsair, it's between 2700-2600. Within that band, you get highest thrust. If you drop PP down to between 80% to 90%, you will only get 2500 in level flight. With less thrust, how would you be able to go fast?

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by pandacat

Thanks for the tips. I have question on your PP usage. I read WD's writing on PP. He said it's ideal to always keep RPM with in the power band. For corsair, it's between 2700-2600. Within that band, you get highest thrust. If you drop PP down to between 80% to 90%, you will only get 2500 in level flight. With less thrust, how would you be able to go fast?

Not to put words in horseback's mouth... but I would assume he's talking about running the aircraft efficiently. So you can run at 100% pitch/throttle but you'll generate more heat. Either short bursts of top speed and then throttling back or longer sustained periods of almost top speed is faster overall.

[pandacat]

Oh, I see your point. But in terms of pure thrust and acceleration, higher RPM the better, right?

[pandacat]

Just a quick tactical example. I started off with low speed behind a cruising Zero at the same altitude. If I want to catch up with him, I would first throttle to max and RPM to 2700 to provide max thrust and acceleration. After I attain a high speed, I would lower RPM and throttle back to maintain it? Does my way make sense?

[horseback]

Originally Posted by pandacat

Thanks for the tips. I have question on your PP usage. I read WD's writing on PP. He said it's ideal to always keep RPM with in the power band. For corsair, it's between 2700-2600. Within that band, you get highest thrust. If you drop PP down to between 80% to 90%, you will only get 2500 in level flight. With less thrust, how would you be able to go fast?

I don't know who WD is, so I cannot comment on his figures. I simply find that once I level off after a zoom climb and roll out at speeds under 130 knots that gradually (but not slowly) dropping prop pitch from 95% or so down to 80-85% has a noticeable effect on my speedometer dial without having to resort to going over 100% throttle. It may be my imagination, but in-game, the R-2800 seems to pick up speed a bit quicker while you're moving down in prop pitch through that range (hey, it might be an 'exploit' for all I know).

Obviously, there is no 'feeling' of increasing acceleration, so the best impression you can get is from watching the speed indicator unwind. It goes clockwise pretty quickly when you smoothly move your prop pitch axis back that little bit. In fact, keeping an eye on the speed dial will help you gauge how fast to move that lever/dial.

In any case, it does keep your engine much cooler and allows you to crank it up in an emergency without fear of burning it up. The main thing is to start with some altitude and use your stored energy to maintain the initiative (and trim! Stay in trim as much as possible).

cheers

horseback

[pandacat]

Originally Posted by horseback

I don't know who WD is, so I cannot comment on his figures. I simply find that once I level off after a zoom climb and roll out at speeds under 130 knots that gradually (but not slowly) dropping prop pitch from 95% or so down to 80-85% has a noticeable effect on my speedometer dial without having to resort to going over 100% throttle. It may be my imagination, but in-game, the R-2800 seems to pick up speed a bit quicker while you're moving down in prop pitch through that range (hey, it might be an 'exploit' for all I know).

WD is whistlingDeath. Not sure if you know him. My PP control is +/- 5% increment. What about you? Btw, do you fly F4F? Does wildcat have similar powerbands?

[horseback]

Originally Posted by pandacat

WD is whistlingDeath. Not sure if you know him. My PP control is +/- 5% increment. What about you? Btw, do you fly F4F? Does wildcat have similar powerbands?

Know of him in a vague way; the name sounds familiar, possibly from the old Ubi forums.

I use a CH Throttle Quad for prop pitch, radiator, mixture and flaps (it does not increment in small enough bits to be useful for trims in my opinion). I still have a couple of buttons assigned to 'increase PP' and 'decrease PP', but I rarely use them, except to top off my full prop pitch when the axis doesn't go all the way up to 100% (it sometimes will stop at 98% with the lever all the way forward). I doubt that 5% increments would be as effective, but give it a try and see for yourself young padawan...

All aircraft engines have a powerband and the F4F's is similar to the rpm range in the Corsair and Hellcat's, but the Wildcat in-game is sluggish and overweight (not unlike the real thing), and in it, your best protection from the Emperor's Sea Eagles is to keep your altitude advantage as selfishly as possible, develop a good wingman relationship with somebody, learn to use the Thach (not 'thatch'--it's named after a great fighter leader & tactician, not a basket) weave, maintain good comms with your wingman and work to become a good shot. Those were the actual advantages the US Navy and Marine Wildcat pilots used to nullify the Zero, and by the time the Corsair had replaced the F4F in the Solomons the Wildcat owned about a 1.2 to one kill advantage over the Zeke in fighter to fighter combat.

Oh, and don't bother with the FM-2 in-game; it's not remotely the fighter that the real life 'wilder Wildcat' was. It seems even worse to me than the F4F-4, if that is possible. On the plus side, it moves back to the 4-guns arrangement with longer firing time.

cheers

horseback