P-38 spin recovery

[Crousader]

Hello all,
I'm getting to know the P-38 ( kinda love that old bird)and trying to learn maneuvers . I was trying to do some skids with the rudder but keep going into spins. I've tried the old chop throttle and rudder opposite the spin but I end up in the ground every time.

1. What am I doing wrong and
2. Is there some sort of training syllabus around in AH land for the -38?

Thanks!

[bozon]

The way to get out of a spin is to allow a smooth flow of air over the wings - in the right direction. For this you want high speed and zero effective angle of attack (zero lift), plus pointing into the wind.

Push stick full forward and try to get the nose pointing straight down. Retract flaps if they are out. Apply opposite rudder to the spinning direction. Don't mess with the ailrons! leave them neutral. If you do, the angles of attack will be different and one wing may be n a stall while the other isn't. It will just yaw&flip you again.

If you use combat trim it probably has you trimmed full up. Manually trim forward down a little to help with lowering the angle of attack.

when you gain control, don't pull up right away. Pick up some speed and then do it gently.

The key is quick reaction and decisive actions. Any plane in AH can be recovered (given sufficient alt) - even the dreaded mosquito.

EDIT:
chopping the throttle is less important in the P38 since the props don't induce torque. They might even help by giving airflow over the wings and rudders. I find it is not needed.

[Sweet2th]

Originally posted by Crousader
Hello all,
I'm getting to know the P-38 ( kinda love that old bird)and trying to learn maneuvers . I was trying to do some skids with the rudder but keep going into spins. I've tried the old chop throttle and rudder opposite the spin but I end up in the ground every time.

1. What am I doing wrong and
2. Is there some sort of training syllabus around in AH land for the -38?

Thanks!

Turn off the engines and point the nose down.Works for the Bf-110 as well.

[Murdr]

If you are nose below level and applying hard elevators, don't apply rapid rudder or aleiron input.  This applies at low to medium speeds.  That is what causes you to stall one wing before the other and send you into a spin.  If you do really need the quick and hard rudder or aleiron input, ease up a bit on the elevators first.  Nose above level, this scenerio is not a problem.

The quickest recovery is done by pushing forward on the stick, and throttling back the engine on the outside of the spin briefly until the rotation is countered.  Use rudder to fine tune your counter rotation if needed.  (Key commands are shift+1=Select engine one, shift+2=select engine two, shift+e=select all engines.  I have these functions mapped to my throttle unit, but when I only had a flight stick, it was still possible for me to key the commands with the keyboard and recover within 2K feet.)

Bozons recovery instructions are effective in pretty much any plane, however using asemetrical power is very effective specificly to the P38, and will help you recover with much less altitude loss.  Depending on the severity of the spin, you may lose up to 4-6K feet trying to recover using standard methods.

There are dozens of P-38 films to be found by following the link in my sig.