Stuka

[BaldEagl]

Last night I flew three bomber missions in a Stuka with re-arms between each.  On the first run the strat ack hit and punctured my right wing tank.  I didn't worry about it as I was 100% fuel and the Stuka carrys a lot of fuel.  So here's the bugs:

1.  With the right wing tank gone the auto fuel management system still burned the right aux, then left aux tanks first.  Shouldn't it have burned the left wing, or even the left aux first to balance the plane?

2.  With the right wing tank gone, I could not get the plane over 150 mph any more.  I thought it might be a balance issue or aileron drag so I burned the left wing tank first to no avail.  Simple logic says I should be able to fly faster with less weight on board, particularily once the tanks are burned evenly.

[Krusty]

For #1, the fuel sequence will not take into account damaged parts. It's not that smart. Best way to do it is to drain the leaking tank first (use as much of the gas as you can before it's gone, once it's gone you are out of that much more gas). Better to trim out to counter the weight of the other wing's gas tank.

For #2, I don't know. Did you have flaps down from your hotpad session? Depending on the bomb you had loaded, it really won't reach much more than 150MPH anyways. If you have film you can look it over and see if there's any other indicators of a bug. When in doubt submit the film.

[BaldEagl]

No, flaps were up.  I double checked.  The funny thing was, I could climb at 150 mph at 500 ft/min but when I leveled I was still at 150 mph.  It wouldn't go any faster level than it would in a climb.  I was carrying a 1000 kg and two 100 kg bombs. 

On my rtb I was under dar level at ~155-160 mph.  I know the Stuka's faster than that level.  I fly it quite a bit.

[Krusty]

Sounds almost like dive flaps were toggled.

[BaldEagl]

I flew a Stuka again tonight.  I was able to climb at 1000 ft/min at 150 mph with a 2K bomb on board and somewhare over 200 mph level.  So, a damaged fuel tank costs you over 50 mph and 500 ft/min in climb rate.  Doesn't make sense to me.