2 ?'s On 38's And Other Tips

[DoNKeY]

Hey guys, I have been flying the 38 for the past couple of nights in the DA and have had a lot of success with it.  It was my two week plane:aok . and I have decided that I want to get back in it.  

I know everyone says that it will take a long time and thats cool, I'm prepared for that.  Anyway I'm asking for any generic tips any of you experienced 38 drivers might have found.  To get started I have two questions that I'd like to ask.

One, is there any particular way in which to perform the best hammerhead?  Is there a certain speed, flaps up or down, etc to perfroming one?  Sometimes I can do it great and be headed back down instantly almost, other times its half of a hammerhead/loop type thing.  I have a duel throttle, with one per engine.  Does it help to have the outside engine full power and the inside idle, along with full rudder obviously??  


Also, what is the best way I can use no torque of the counter-rotating props to my advantage.  Obviously in the vert or in hard knife fights agains their torque, but I am talking about perhaps in a vertical scissors as speed drops.  A common situation for me, is going vert with an nme maybe d600 out after well turned/looped a little etc and our speed has dropped.  Basically trying to rope them.  What is the best way, ie, should i go straight up, or off to an angle, so that thier torque, and the low speed makes it very hard for them to get a good shot of before they stall with me on top of them?

^  and then thats where the hammerhead or loop comes in, depending on what I guess is good haha.

Thanks guys.


donkey

[clerick]

Originally posted by DoNKeY
One, is there any particular way in which to perform the best hammerhead?

The key is to get perfectly vertical and then apply rudder, and maybe some aileron to correct, when you get down to maybe 80 mph.  Just keep trying until you find what works for you.  Though i have never found much use for this maneuver in AH.

Is there a certain speed, flaps up or down, etc to performing one?  Sometimes I can do it great and be headed back down instantly almost, other times its half of a hammerhead/loop type thing.  I have a duel throttle, with one per engine.  Does it help to have the outside engine full power and the inside idle, along with full rudder obviously??  

Some flaps are necessary.  What i tend to do more is to get the ship stall out and, if you are set right, it will just "flop" over.  Obviously you are using this when attempting to rope someone, beyond that i have never used it much. I have experimented with using separate engine controls with limited success.  There was a thread on that very topic, search for it.  IIRC the consensus was that there isn't much advantage to it beyond spin recovery.

Also, what is the best way I can use no torque of the counter-rotating props to my advantage.  Obviously in the vert or in hard knife fights against their torque, but I am talking about perhaps in a vertical scissors as speed drops.  A common situation for me, is going vert with an nme maybe d600 out after well turned/looped a little etc and our speed has dropped.  Basically trying to rope them.  What is the best way, ie, should i go straight up, or off to an angle, so that their torque, and the low speed makes it very hard for them to get a good shot of before they stall with me on top of them?

^  and then thats where the hammerhead or loop comes in, depending on what I guess is good haha.

If they are that close on your 6, turn off CT, full elevator trim, drop to full flaps and WEP and the 38 will spiral climb in any direction you want at 60 mph.  The props will keep the 38 rock solid.  You can almost just hang there and wait until the bandit drops off, when he does reverse on him and you're hopefully on his 6 as he's trying to recover from a stall.  You need to know your enemy, because of differences in the direction of prop rotation, some planes will stall out quicker to the left while others will to the right.  Those counter-rotating props are one of the reasons the 38 is such a great low speed fighter.  Not many planes will be able to match it move for move once you get down below 100 mph.



Thanks guys.


donkey

[DoNKeY]

Thanks for that post clerick!  I guess I've never bothered to learn this, but... Say for a 109K, it has massive torque to the left when on WEP right?  So would it stall faster turning/going to the left or right?  Same thing applies to other planes and the way their prop rotates I assume right?  


donkey

[clerick]

IIRC, against.  My memory is a bit rusty.  But what i seem to remember is that they will turn worse in the direction that fights the torque and therefore will have greater issues when trying a near stall turn that way.  Either way, if they stall out like this they will fall from the sky,

[trotter]

however, knowing which way your engine will torque you can come in great advantage during a fight. Think of a torque pull as a manuever you don't need to input. It's one of the few maneuevers you can execute while still maintaining control position for the next.

It sounds just ok on its own.

But, when you learn your plane enough that you can anticipate this, it becomes a manuever you can use that does not require input. It's a part of your flight envelope...lead it up to that point, execute the maneuver, and you will right away be in position to recover and take the shot. Think of it as an auto maneuver.