Corsair

[Yossarian]

TequilaChaser, when I reduce throttle, I only see the Manifold Pressure/Boost gauge move (there may be a few planes where this isn't true, not sure), but usually not the RPMs gauge.

Why would the Manifold Pressure (and thus throttle setting) make any difference to torque, as I thought that it was caused by the spinning parts of the engine; i.e. the propellor, and thus RPM?

<S>

Yossarian

[mtnman]

The props on most of the airplanes in game (all?) are constant speed props, which means that they spin at the same RPM regardless of Manifold (throttle) setting.  When you increase the throttle the pitch of the propeller is also increased, so that it takes a larger "bite".  This would normally slow the prop down if more throttle wasn't given, due to more air resistance.

Torque doesn't increase as throttle increases due to the prop spinning faster, but rather to the increased air resistance due to the increased pitch of the prop.

This is unlike a basic propellor which actually spins faster as the throttle is increased.  Our in-game props are more complex.

So increasing or decreasing throttle will affect torque on our planes, but not likely as much as it would with a basic prop, where torque would be affected by both the air resistance and the change in the speed of the propeller with its associated mass.

That's a pretty simple explanation, which I'm sure could be improved by someone with more knowledge than I have...

MtnMan