Standard Aircraft Characteristics Archive.

[Neil Stirling]

Mike Williams put me on to this http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/SAC.htm

Neil.

[Stoney]

Wow!  Nice find and thanks for posting the link.

[Krusty]

Hrm... does this mean our FM2 is too slow by about 30mph??

http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/XF2M-1_Wildcat_ACP_-_1_May_1944.pdf

WEP speed at sea level listed as 320mph, and military power speed listed as what our "WEP" speed in-game currently is.

EDIT: Even the XF4F-8 (FM-2 basically) chart lists military power speed about what in-game WEP is, seems we have it modeled differently?


Edit2: aaaaaand even more proof our bombers fly way too fast. Even "max power" B-17s flew 30-40mph slower than they do in this game. Normal power, they topped out at 265mph at 35k, and max power "only" 283mph at 26k, whereas HTC's speed charts show it blasting along at 310mph at 32k. Also note average speeds in mid-to-high 100's. The "high speed attack" was an average of 214mph.

http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/B-17G_Flying_Fortress_CS_-_27_April_1949.pdf
http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/B-17G_Flying_Fortress_SAC_-_27_April_1949.pdf

I don't know why Hitech insists on artificially empowering these big heavy bombers like he does.

[Stoney]

Hrm... does this mean our FM2 is too slow by about 30mph??

http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/XF2M-1_Wildcat_ACP_-_1_May_1944.pdf

WEP speed at sea level listed as 320mph, and military power speed listed as what our "WEP" speed in-game currently is.

EDIT: Even the XF4F-8 (FM-2 basically) chart lists military power speed about what in-game WEP is, seems we have it modeled differently?


Edit2: aaaaaand even more proof our bombers fly way too fast. Even "max power" B-17s flew 30-40mph slower than they do in this game. Normal power, they topped out at 265mph at 35k, and max power "only" 283mph at 26k, whereas HTC's speed charts show it blasting along at 310mph at 32k. Also note average speeds in mid-to-high 100's. The "high speed attack" was an average of 214mph.

http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/B-17G_Flying_Fortress_CS_-_27_April_1949.pdf
http://www.alternatewars.com/SAC/B-17G_Flying_Fortress_SAC_-_27_April_1949.pdf

I don't know why Hitech insists on artificially empowering these big heavy bombers like he does.

Might want to check that "F2M" document again--its not the same thing as the FM2.

[Krusty]

It listed it as a Wildcat in the list-o-charts even though the designation isn't quite the same. Other things such as weapons, weights, performance, are all almost the same as the FM-2 we have in-game (albeit faster) and it also matches the specs listed for the F4F-8, which is essentially another designation for the FM-2.

Not totally sure, but it all seems to add up.

[Stoney]

It listed it as a Wildcat in the list-o-charts even though the designation isn't quite the same. Other things such as weapons, weights, performance, are all almost the same as the FM-2 we have in-game (albeit faster) and it also matches the specs listed for the F4F-8, which is essentially another designation for the FM-2.

Not totally sure, but it all seems to add up.

Except for the part where they list the powerplant nomenclature.  That's a turbo-charged engine in that plane.  3 prototypes were built and the project was cancelled around V-J Day. 

[Krusty]

You beat me to it! Yep, I was just doing some searching with keywords wildcat and XF2M, etc.

That does explain the gap in the FM2, but I just ran across another interesting page (google result, I've never read this page before)

http://www.americancombatplanes.com/f4f_2.html

It appears our F4F-4 ingame matches a lot of areas shown for these planes, but not even the earliest, slowest, F4F model is as slow as ours is at FTH. Even the early 1941 version of the F4F-3 (according to this page) runs about 330mph. AH speed chart stops about 316.

Naturally there's probably an explanation, but can't hurt in asking "what is it?" eh? 

Edit: Dang... all this makes me want to fly the wildcat more!

[Krusty]

Anything like this for USAAF planes, not just USN planes?

[Ryan Crierie]

Hi guys! Yes, it's me the webmaster of that site! 

To answer your questions:

Even "max power" B-17s flew 30-40mph slower than they do in this game.

Well, it's important to read the chart fully; that SAC shows the B-17G carrying 10,000 lbs of bombs; wasn't normal B-17 payload like 6,500 lbs or so?

10,000 lbs of payload BTW was a "Standardized" payload for bombers, so that you could easily compare them in speeds and ranges.

Anything like this for USAAF planes, not just USN planes?

Well yes; if you go down the page some, you'll find some SACs for the B-17, B-29, P-51H, etc. Not a lot; because when I went to Dayton Ohio to scan stuff in at the USAFM, I concentrated on Cold War Bombers and Aircraft.

[Stoney]

Thanks for taking the time to make these resources available Ryan...

 

[cegull]

Howdy: did i read 320mph at sea level?  Shouldn't that be at 18,000ft.  Seems like the FM-2 does about 280 at sea level.

[Scherf]

Yep, that's a great site Ryan, thanks.


Ahh, USAF Museum, holy of holies.

There were some volunteers there, ex-Air Force. Wrinkly, balding, somewhat overweight. But I'm here to tell ya, those old boys just oozed cool. I r not teh worthy.