I understand that not having a dedicated throttle, slider or wheel is a handicap. Therefore, I understand why someone would simply kill the engine to throttle back rather than tap the throttle keys like a madman.
However, in the real world this was not an option. In flight, you could consider the E key as a magneto switch. In real fighters, you never shut down an engine by simply switching off the magnetos. Why? Because, while the spark is off, the carb is still pumping fuel into the intake manifold. This fuel accumulates unburned in the cylinders. When you switch the mags back on one of several things will happen:
1) Your plugs are fouled, meaning the engine may never restart, and if it does, odds are you will have a major power loss and/or:
2) The fuel ignites and the resulting detonation blows the exhaust stacks off or backfires through the intake, with a possiblity of engine damage and even a fire.
Add to that the problem of the fuel washing the oil from the cylinder walls, which can lead to broken rings and in extreme cases, can lead to engine failure.
The correct way to shut down an engine is by moving the mixture lever to the idle cut-off position. This cuts the flow of fuel and that fuel in the manifold is burned.
However, in-flight things are not as simple as pushing the lever back up to lean or rich. The engine likely will not instantly start up. And there's the little problem of manipulating mags and mixture while fighting for one's life.
There are other, game related issues.
Some fighters respond differently than others to cutting the engine(s) with the E key. With the Spitfire, you can simply toggle the engine off and on and have instant power available. Not so with the P-38. You must go through the entire start-up sequence to get power back. This is a programming flaw. Every aircraft should have to go through the start-up sequence, not just some.
Then there is the argument that cutting power with the E key is no different that cobbing back the throttle. This is not true. I tested the snot out of this tonight and using the E key vs the throttle resulted in quicker reduction of speed. Flying a SpitV, I would allow speed to build to 250 mph. At precisely that speed, I hit the E key and measured the time required to decelerate to 200 mph. I did the same using the throttle. My results showed that it took 7.4 seconds to slow down using the E key and 7.7 to 7.8 seconds using the throttle. Not a lot, but in a really close fight it could be the difference. So why does the E key slow you faster? It takes 0.3-0.4 seconds to move the throttle to idle, whereas the E key is instantaneous. Likewise, it takes the same time to push the throttle fully forward as it did to pull it off. Again, the E key provides for instant power. If this is done 4 or 5 times in a fight, a measurable difference can be expected.
This whole issue would be moot if all the aircraft responded accurately to shutting down the motor in flight. For those guys without a throttle slider/wheel or even a separate throttle; they would be forced to get one or suffer with having to tap the +/- keys like crazy.
My regards,
Widewing
