Range and the russians

[shreck]

WOW that was not good set up for us! Fly all the wat to target area to have approx 10 min fuel at military power for combat! Refueling required a 2 sector run! I ended up fighting with my eng trimmed! Call me crazy! but I think the russians could load some barrels of fuel into a truck and move it closer to the front line! Don;t get me wrong, was fun and we did well but thats allot of fuel management

[MWL]

Greetings,

  I am guessing you were in an LA 5.  Ya know once you get to alt and speed you can reduce Manifold and RPM which significantly increases fuel range and still maintain 300mph.

Regards,

[fjaloma]

We chose to "cruise" to the front. We set our Yaks at a lower manifold setting to save fuel. We figured the 109s in particular would be fuel  critical.

When we needed it, we had fuel  to spare... it seemed to pay off.

[Fulmar]

Originally posted by shreck
WOW that was not good set up for us! Fly all the wat to target area to have approx 10 min fuel at military power for combat! Refueling required a 2 sector run! I ended up fighting with my eng trimmed! Call me crazy! but I think the russians could load some barrels of fuel into a truck and move it closer to the front line! Don;t get me wrong, was fun and we did well but thats allot of fuel management

This wasn't the MA.  Fuel consumption should have been planned ahead of time.  IRL pilots don't go 100% throttle to a target.

[daddog]

A few years back my whole squad ran out of fuel in the LA-5. We learned our lesson the hard way. Now when we fly LA's/Yaks in FSO we always go with Max cruise settings till we get in a engagement zone.

[Saxman]

Exactly what we did. Climbed to altitude and then went to cruise until we got to target. Granted, this is my squadron's SOP in the Mains as well.

You should have been with VMF-251 on the last frame of Okinawa, shreck. A 5-sector flight to target in F4U-1Ds NO DROP TANKS and maximum ordinance load, then a 5-sector flight BACK to refuel, dump ordinance, and return to the engagement area (another flight of about 4 sectors) to help provide base defense.

I've never wished we had the third pylon with drop tank option on the 1D more.

[cbizkit]

I always check fuel duration immediately after takeoff, found the LA5 had 27m of endurance on the deck at 100% mil, but on cruise settings that extends to over an hour. Cruising into and out of the engagement areas I had about 5m of fuel remaining when I landed the first time, after about a 10m fight and maybe 10m of loitering. Seemed sufficient for us up north, although some people had problems, but that was part of the design intent I believe, to limit the Russians ability to remain on station the entire frame.

[REP0MAN]

If there is anyone in the UNFORGIVEN that knows the capabilities of the LA5, it's Shreck. I was not present last night but I can assure you they used fuel management. We always do. They were engaged within 20 minutes and then had a 2 sector ride to find some gas. It's not the squad's fault, it's not the CiC's fault and it's not even the event's fault. It's the Earth's fault! Dang-it God! Why you put those cities so far away!?Can't you see we're trying to have FSO here!!

[shreck]

We did manage our fuel in to target area, but this has to be balanced with arriving on station in a timely manner! If we arrive to late do to fuel issues then GVs are screwed and we arrive only in time to furball while still needing to egress long before our adversaries do! I'm not complaining just found it unbalanced. Even at max cruise we would have to head home long before the 1st hour arrived giving the Germans free run just before the hour if they planned it well! About the only thing we could have done was leave half the squad on runway till the T+30 mark then rotate for full time coverage at half strength! Anyway I'm not complainin, it was very fun and I'm ready for the next. Just an observation. We don't usually get superior rides in FSO. So when we got them we were excited, only to have inferior circumstances!! lol  ITS ALL GOOD!  kill me later  

[shreck]

The other observation is, we flew past I believe 2 friendly fields that could not be used for refuel -------->  <---------

[Saxman]

I do agree with shreck on that count.

Maybe allow refuel at any airfield, but you have to return to one of the four starting fields to count it as a landing?

[Stoney74]

Originally posted by Saxman
I do agree with shreck on that count.

Maybe allow refuel at any airfield, but you have to return to one of the four starting fields to count it as a landing?

The problem with this is that some of the EA's were right on top of a base for one side or the other.  To allow aircraft to rearm at any base would mean that for attack aircraft, another ordnance load was only minutes away for one side, and not for the other.  So, you'll notice that both sides have airfields that are nearly equi-distant from their supported EA.

[shreck]

I would think having only limited fuel avail at front line bases, say 50% maybe 25% as an emergency stop would be realistic and easy to achieve! This would allow those pilots that got caught in hvy fighting a glimmer of hope to get a splash, and head back to main supply base! Or better yet since GVs were involved having fuel somehow available at the GVs location would be an interesting twist! Hmm having to land in a field near a GV battle to get a splash of fuel might be very interesting

[Easyscor]

Originally posted by shreck
I would think having only limited fuel avail at front line bases, say 50% maybe 25% as an emergency stop would be realistic and easy to achieve!

Please explain how you do this without going to the tower.

[shreck]

Hmmm! LOL------> light comes on !      my bad