I did some offline testing today, motivated by recent experiences in the
MA. Based on my testing, there seems to be an inconsistency in the P51's
flap behavior, which appears to be a bug.
Details: P-51b: 50% fuel (123 gal); fuel burn multiplier minimum; 3K
alt, full ammo; no WEP; auto trim on; stall limiter off. BF-109-F4 same,
except 50% fuel was 53 gal. I turned on the "toggle screen info" which
puts text at the top of the screen, and used this as a guide in keeping
the plane's nose in a consistent position for each test. I tried to
stablize the turn rates before starting the measurements. I turned at
the maximum rate possible without getting the shaking effect. The value
t is for 5 complete circles, to allow averaging the results. Test
results in table below, with v being indicated velocity (I know this
distorts the data, but only in an absolute sense; the relative values are
correct and are what matter here), t being time in seconds to do 5
complete turns, r being calculated turn radius in yards, and rate being
calculated turn rate in degrees-per-second.
Formulas were r = (vt)(.01556) and rate = (v/r)(28.01127).
FLAPS - v(mph) - t (s) - r(yds) - rate(dps) - comment
*******************************************
P-51b
0/5 159 150 371 12.0
1/5 159 150 371 12.0
2/5 150 151 352 11.9
3/5 139 156 337 11.6
4/5 127 201 397 09.0 discontinuity in radius, r !!!
5/5 119 205 379 08.8
********************************************
Bf-109-F4
0/4 139 143 309 12.6
1/4 140 142 309 12.6
2/4 133 139 288 12.9
3/4 124 139 268 13.0
4/4 108 139 234 12.9
********************************************
Anyway, this kind of cripples the 51s in stallfights. After 2/5 or 3/5 flaps,
there appears to be no further tactical advantage. In contrast, The 109,
and I assume most other planes in the planeset which don't have this
bug, can achieve advantage by going to full flaps in a stallfight, if
needed. Of course this is a last resort tactic, but it is still quite important.
I wish I had the energy to do this for other US planes. I also wish I had
the energy to determine if the high-speed flap deployment the US planes
have means anything anymore. Low speed 1/4 flap seems fairly useless
from the above, for both planes.
Anyone else want to try to duplicate this?
********************************************
Disclaimer: Please do not dismiss this as a "whine". Admittedly, I
have been flying the P-51b a lot, due to the artwork. However, I
want all planes to be modeled reasonably. For example, I am glad
that the wierd instability problem which plagued the LW planes has
been fixed in this version. For another example, I am distressed
that the P-38s seem to have been adversely affected by this version,
even though I never use them. So there.
