Fire Extinguishers

[Guinn]

Im not sure wether any of the fighters from WW2 had them, but i know that soem bombers did for sure.

An engine fire can give a bomber away miles off, tell the enemy what heading, that it is already injured.

Fire extinguishers would really help, and give a pilot something to do when hes got a gunner already.

The extinguishers could have a 75% chance of putting fire out, and it could restart maybe?

Does diving a bomber put out fires?  Isnt that what they do in memphis belle?  

[john9001]

the movie memphis belle is fiction, the real memphis belle finished it's 25 missions without major damage and was sent back to the states for a war bond drive.

there was a documentary made by the army about the plane during the war, see it on TV once and a wile.

[Guinness]

Yeah, was referring to the film heh, but cant these bombers dive to put out flames, or atleast have extinguishers?

[iculus]

Memphis Belle was fiction, but everything that happened to them did happen to B-17's during the war.  Just not all to one plane.

William Wyler's original 1943 documentery, erred in the opposite manner.  The original was propaganda.  The Army Air Force was trying to show the American public that daylight bombing was critical to the war effort.  It doesn't show the tragedy on the human side.  

The truth is somewhere in between.  The truth is in the books written by crewmen.

Salute!

[john9001]

yeah , guinness, i got off topic there, but i'm not sure how engine damage in modeled in AH , is the smoke oil leaking ( which should stop when tanks run dry)or is the smoke from a eng fire and does the fire cause more damage (fuel thnks exploding , wing failure)and would puting out the fire stop the smoke,yes i think you could blow out a fire by diving but is it modeled, sounds like a question for pryo

[ft]

I find it very unlikely to put out an engine fire by diving. Think about it. What is an engine fire? It's oil and/or fuel spilling out, turning into vapour and burning after having ignited.

If you were to blow a fire out by diving, you'd have to get the airspeed in the ENTIRE combustion zone above the flame propagation speed of fuel/oil vapour. That's fast. If there is a shielded corner somewhere where combustible liquid or gas is supplied to the fire, it will act like the flame holder in a jet engine and keep the fire alive. As soon as you level off and slow down, the fire will be ignited all over again from this spot.

If you were really, really lucky you'd blow away whatever is fuelling the fire from the remaining areas of combustion.

Even if you DO get every part of the fire out... there will still be a lot of whatever burned in the first place sloshing around lots of very hot metal. Now go find that parachute, you only have so much wing spar...

I'm sure it HAS happened. But I wouldn't expect it to. Nor do I think it is critical to model it in a simulator.

Cheers,
  /ft

[StSanta]

Hm, to me it would be more logical togo HIGHER rather than lower.

Sure, there is a small chance the increase in speed might blow the wind out.

Still, if the fire is burning up hi where there is relatively little oxygen in the air,  methinks it will get worse when there's more oxygen avilable at lower altitudes.

[Guinness]

How did they handle fires during the war?  i mean, they mustve done something?  How does them b17 fire extinguishers work are they foam?

One other question, the grey colour trail behind the plane in Aces High, is that oil, or is that smoke?

I guess we dont really need the diving for fires thing, besides the wings would come off.

[SKurj]

From what I understand... at the moment if your aircraft is leaving a trail of smoke/vapour, of any colour, it cannot be stopped...  The Ah code can't stop the trail for example once your fuel tanks run dry.


SKurj

[SpinDoc1]

The smoke trails on the AR234 disappear when the RTO's run out, is that not the same thing as the smoke code stopping?

[BenDover]

no,that's proberly the rocket coding,but i'm sure those code monkeys at htc are working on fixing the empty fuel tank trail,maybe even the fuel setting alight.

but in AH u can see fire extinguishers in the cotpit,but i think those were for putting out internal fires

[Guinness]

Im talking about the fire extinguishers built int engines such as B17  

[GearDwn]

how about the one thing that could stop a fire before ext. were fired ...a fuel shutoff valve for each engine and make a feather effect...
just my .02
GW

[EDO43]

Fire extinguishers would be nice in bombers so that maybe you might live long enough to get your bombs on  target or make it home in one piece.  There are several books on the B17 which contain pictures of B17's that came home with huge pieces of wing and horizontal tail/elevator missing from fire damage.  Whether the fire was put out by manuvering or exhausting the fuel source may be told in the caption, but it made it home nevertheless.  

Personally, I think any other controls/gadgets to manipulate in the bomber is overkill in this game.  I don't wanna have to set mixtures, cowl flaps,turbochargers and other stuff just to go bomb a target in AH.  If I get in a mood to do that kind of stuff, I play B17 Flying Fortress II.  Even in there I let the AI fly the airplane 99% of the time.  I'd rather gun and bomb targets than fly the damn thing anyway.  It's more fun.

FWIW  

[Fishu]

Geardwn,

Thats something which some others didn't think about..

It is normal procedure to cut off fuel & oil lines to engine which is on fire and attempt extinguishing it.


Anyway, gas itself doesn't burn, the fumes do.