F4U-1 and landing

[Gtoraii]

Guys,
 I am in love with this bird, it has more gas so you can fly longer, it handles seemingly better then the other hogs, and the vis from the cockpit is not too bad.
 One thing I have noticed is ground handling is bad. It seems to me to be very easy to ground loop it, I have had several take offs where it just noses to the right and flips me over... this is about mid take off run?

I have also had several landings that seemed to be going well where the next thing I know I'm doing a 360!

Has anyone else noticed this?

[ 10-08-2001: Message edited by: Gtoraii ]

[Jack55]

Yep.  The rudder seemes very sensitive at low speed.  Make sure it is neutrally trimmed before you touch down.

[Rocket]

Take off is kinda a pain at very first but once you get used to her it isn't too bad at all.  

The trick to landing is this.
Set down ~100 mph.  Try your best to be center of runway.  DON'T HIT THE BRAKES!
Let her roll down to under 50 mph then brake like you normally would.  Won't ground loop at all that way.

There does seem something odd from time to time that damage seems to carry over.  Every now and then I will ground loop on take off with no control over the plane at all. Prolly 1 sortie outta 30 or so.

S!
Rocket

[Gtoraii]

Guys
 Was the Real -1 a handful like this? I know it was a pain to get on the deck of a CV.

 Not being a winer, I like my birds to have character, hehe  just want to know if its right.

[Rocket]

The -1 was the bird known as the ensign eliminator.  Tabs were added to the wing to help counter-act the torque generated by that huge pratt-whitney double wasp power=plant.  The shocks were reworked several times to take out the bounce but still not let that 13' prop hit the ground on landing.Early versions of the F4U had major shock absorber problems causing huge bounces on landing on carriers.  This problem is what allowed the F6F to take a place on the carrier before the hog did.  Hogs were moved to the Marines or land based Navel Flight units until the shocks and torque problems could be tamed enough to make carrier traps safe.  Another thing that was done to help tame the beast was getting rid of the wing tanks.  You will notice on the 1D, 1C and -4 there are no wing tanks.  This also helped with smoothing the stall.


  Take the plane up to about 10k.  Practice making the plane stall and recover several times, until you can feel when it is going to depart controlled flight most the time.  This will help you be able to know when you are going to depart during a fight.
  There are a lot of fights that I am riding the edge of departing controlled flight.  Sometimes stall bites me in the hind end but other times it works  

S!
Rocket

[SKurj]

When I land the F4u's I come in as slow or as fast as i like, once shes rolling i watch for the nose to start to go right and then i just give it a blip of the throttle which usually straightens it up nicely and i can then start braking
With this method, even if the nose does swing what seems like too far, u can save it.


SKurj

[Steven]

For landing, I usually hit 'E' to turn off the engine right before touchdown and you don't have to deal with the torque of the engine.

[streek]

The -1 is my baby !

I love this bird. Its a marvelous plane to come aboard ship in.

If you ever see me online, I help can anyone with shipboard recovery or launching if you want to fly with me.

THE TRICK to landing the F4u-s (probably more the -1 and the 1c) is to get the tailwheel on the runway as soon as possible.
The only time I ever have a groundloop in the F4u is when i bounce or try to do a fast wheel landing.

Touchdown should be ~100 with a healthy sink rate and tail low !  dont bounce it tho.

As far as the takeoff goes...be gentle on the rudder inputs. And using combat trim will help a bit.

For the Shipboard stuff...

Takeoff..Full Flaps, Wep, gear up on feet wet, light back pressure, use RUDDER to level wings..NOT ailerons.

Landing..make a curving approach. Keep the CV in view off the left or right side of the windshield. Level off at the last minute.
Very easy to trap the F4u. Really.

I usually do an Overhead Approach. That's about 200kts over the deck at pattern alt, left break, gear, hook, flaps, all at once, curving approach within 1/5 mile.

come fly with me
Streek

[Bozon12]

Rocket:
 

Another thing that was done to help tame the beast was getting rid of the wing tanks. You will notice on the 1D, 1C and -4 there are no wing tanks. This also helped with smoothing the stall.  

I did fuel consumption tests, and the time needed to empty the -1 main tank is the same as the main (and only) tank in the D.

I asked this on another thread but didn't get an answer:
the auto fuel managment consums the main tank first and then the wing tanks. if those later create a problematic stall isn't it wiser to empty the wing tanks sooner?
on what logic does the auto fuel managment based on?

link to the experiment:
http://t2.technion.ac.il/~snordon/bozon

Bozon

[SKurj]

Auto fuel management just maintains a constant CG

SKurj

[Don]

Gtoriaa:

When landing I not only chop my throttle but before that, I reduce my engine rpms way down. You should have begun your descent long before that too. Then lay in some flaps to cut down yer speed and then your landing gear. Line er up on the runway and upon touch down you can cut yer engine. Do leave the brakes alone until yer speed is around 50 kias, and you should be okay.