4.11 F4U Performance

[dpeters95]

Originally Posted by jameson

Some actual numbers courtesy of the the US Navy for F4U-4 (Declassified) from this PDF:

www.history.navy.mil/branches/hist-ac/f4u-4.pdf

It gives take off deck lengths in feet for various conditions, main ones being:

1)With 1x 150 Gal drop tank into 25knot wind =400ft (standard fighter loadout)

2)With 1x 150 Gal drop tank in calm conditions =800ft (1 and 2: Gross weight 13 597 pounds

3)With 2x 11.75in AR+ and 8x5in HVAR into 25knot wind = 700ft

4)With 2x 11.75in AR+ and 8x5in HVAR in calm = 1400ft (3 and 4: Gross weight 16 160 pounds)

See post# 77 by Madblaster. if we are discussing the smallest carriers and MB's image is correct then at 150m (492.12 ft) deck length take off in calm condition is not possible.

The next biggest carrier is 250m (853.008 ft) and just doable in calm conditions. Note though this is only for the fighter loadout with one 150 droptank, With rockets takeoff would only be possible into 25 knot wind and with only 100ft to spare.

The largest carrier shown is 300m (984.24) ft and rocket laden in calm conditions you won't get off that either.

I'm no expert on carrier planes or operations but from the above if your getting off any carrier fully laden in calm conditions you're doing very well, (and the Corsair should be nerfed somewhat more lol!). The PDF has lots of other info, scroll down past magazine article. Any complaints on a postcard to the US Navy, please.

OK, I thought I would do some testing using these numbers. First, I may not be the best pilot out there but I am pretty good and I have been playing this game since the original release. I loaded the 1st F4U-1A carrier takeoff mission into FMB and replaced the carrier each time while setting the speed to 0 Km. It resets it to 4 Km for some reason but I would call that calm as stated in the previous specs. I also added one drop tank to the loadout. Here is what I found using MadBlaster's ship diagram:

1) CVE USS Casablanca - 150 m - Can't be done by me or the AI
2) HMS Illustrious - 240 m - Can't be done by me or the AI
3) USS Essex - 260 m - I do it 50% of time, AI does it 100% but we both have to skim the water to do it
4) USS Lexington - 300 m - I do it 75% of time, AI does it all the time. We don't have to skim the water but it falls off the end of the deck quite a bit.

I think this shows that something is not right. Even if you use the above specs, the plane is under-performing. A decent player should be able to, at least, do this from the Lexington 100% of the time without dropping down to water level. I know someone said that this would be adjusted in an earlier post and I just hope they were sincere. Also, please take a look at the F6F's they also seem to struggle off the carriers now.