Weight penalty

[BaldEagl]

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the AC foum but here it is:

I was flying an F4F-4 last night in the EW arena for quite a while trying to really get it figured out to where I could consistantly land kills in it against most of the other planes in that arena.  For most of the night I was flying it with 100% fuel and the small (4 .50's) gun package.  I was doing alright in it but nothing special.  

Just as I was beginning to think my experiences in this plane in the past had been an aboration and that it was really a POS, I put in the bigger (6 .50's) gun package and reduced the fuel load to 75% and it almost felt as good as a FM2 (one of my favorite planes to furball in).  I mean this thing came to life.  I was able to toss it around with Zekes and Hurris where earlier it had been a wallowing pile of mush even after burning off most of the fuel load.

Similarily, I often fly the F6F-5 fully loaded in an attack role.  After unloading my ord I often find myself engaged by enemy fighters.  The F6F is a capable fighter without a doubt, but, one night a squaddie and I upped them in purly a fighter role and I gained a whole new appreciation for this plane.

Similar to my F4F experience of last night, even once the ord is dropped from the F6F it's not as lively as if you never loaded the ord in the first place.

Now I'm pretty sure the E6B calculator shows the loss of weight from both fuel burn and dropping ord but in reality it feels through performance that you are carrying a penalty with you the entire flight.

Comments?

[Knite]

This is Aces High's representation of weight and drag...

First, weight...
The more weight in an aircraft, the more momentum that aircraft has. Aces High not only models weight, but also the PLACEMENT of that weight. An aircraft with 2 500kb bombs on the ends of the wings is going to roll slower and be much tougher to control than an aircraft loaded with 1 1000kb bomb along the centerline. Same thing with fuel, it's not just how much fuel there is, but where it is.


The second thing you are noticing is a difference in drag. In many aircraft, special devices were slung off the bottom of the aircraft to allow bombs, rockets, and drop tanks to attach. Even if you drop your ordinance or drop tanks, those special adapters and fittings generally stay attached to your aircraft, meaning there is more drag along that surface. If you didn't load any bombs, rockets, or drop tanks, your plane is flying what is called a "clean" profile, and performs closer to what it was originally expected when designed.