WW2 AC Performance

[cegull]

For those that may not know about this site, here is the address: www.wwiiaircraftperformance.o rg/
This site  not only has test info on many WW2 planes but a lot of combat pilot reports as well.  It gets updated every few months with different AC info.  Below is a sample - a tempest pilots report

      P/O H. Shaw of 56 Squadron recorded in his Combat Report for 14 December 1944: 
      I was flying Red 3 when F/Lt. Ross led Red secn. into attack. I chose the No. 3 of the formation. The Hun half-rolled & went down to zero feet. I closed easily in the dive. On the way down I saw an Me.109 crash in a field exploding. Levelling off at approx. 400 yds. line astern of the Hun I started firing short bursts. I did not see any strikes but thin black smoke appeared from the engine. Closing to 300 yds. I fired a long burst & a red glow appeared at the E/A’s port wing root. The Hun pulled up very steeply. Following, I allowed ¾-1 ring deflection from 250 yds. & the red glow increased to flames as I saw further strikes on the port wing root. The pilot baled out as I broke away. I did not see the A/C crash.
      I claim one Me.109 destroyed. 16

Good flying

[Shane]

nice site... hope HTC can make use of it if they're unaware of it.

but... very telling passage from the fighter comparison page, and totally relevant to HC modeling a plane.

http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/sl-wade.html

In doing so each aircraft is compared as far as possible on the same basis, full war load but no external equipment such as bombs or r.p. Calculations for radius of action are, however, made with a compliment of external fuel tanks. These items, incidentally, are sometimes ignored by the well-meaning enthusiast who quotes maximum speeds of particular aircraft with complete disregard for the circumstances. Such quotations out of context can be very misleading to the layman, as external additions can account for 30-40 M.P.H. with the added disadvantage of a corresponding reduction in range and manoeuvrability