Fuel Tanks Drain Order

[Tank-Ace]

Skorpion, what planes beside maybe the sptifires and La's actually NEED 100% fuel? Most can get away with 50% or even 25% for your average furballing needs.

Wanna know my extended JABO strike package? 110G2 50% fuel, DT's, 500kg bombs, and 50kg bombs. I have quite good range, and I've never run out of fuel with that loadout. Ever.

[Krusty]

i never was going on about the 47n.

Um... really? You sure about that? Because this entire THREAD has been about the P-47N.

So here you weren't talking about the P-47N?

you always wanna drain the wing fuel first in the p47m/n. next should be the fwd then main. keep at least one tank to get home. (aux)

It's the ONLY P-47 with wing tanks FYI. NO other P-47 has any tanks other than main fuse and aux fuse.

a P47N carrying 100% fuel is VERY manuverable in my hands.

^-- Here again you continue to talk about the wingtank-laden P-47N.

i always take 100% fuel because thats always the first thing that gets shot

^-- Here we see the continuation combining both previous notes.

If you don't know what you're talking about, fine. Let's move on. If you are STILL talking about P-47N (since page 1 we have been, as this is the ONLY jug that fits the conversation with regards to fuel burn order and burning wing tanks first, etc) then I think you're not understanding the point.

[Krusty]

Don't forget the 190F and maybe A8. Both can wallow at higher weights.

Meh.. Not so much a weight issue. Their fuel is actually limited. I think 38 minutes off-WEP. It's a balance issue. I was more listing planes with massive gobs of fuel that weigh them down. I only included the P-51D because it does have a lot of gas, but put the asterisk next to it because part of the issue is balance rather than weight. I didn't want to get into the balance as much as pure weight savings.

[Tank-Ace]

Alright, I can why you would do that. Just I don't think that they should be seperated as the one often leads to the other.

[skorpion]

Skorpion, what planes beside maybe the sptifires and La's actually NEED 100% fuel? Most can get away with 50% or even 25% for your average furballing needs.

Wanna know my extended JABO strike package? 110G2 50% fuel, DT's, 500kg bombs, and 50kg bombs. I have quite good range, and I've never run out of fuel with that loadout. Ever.

109k4, hurricanes, p40's, i16, p39d, p40's, brews, f4f, fm2, 47d11, ect. have i answered your question?

Um... really? You sure about that? Because this entire THREAD has been about the P-47N.

So here you weren't talking about the P-47N?

ok, i mention the 47n twice that means im talking about it the entire time? im mostly on the M/D models. also, this thread isnt about any plane in particular. its really just about what fuel cell you should burn off first.

[Krusty]

Fw190A8: 30 gals aux on the 190 is only 180 lbs.

P-47N: 200 (googled test flight report to get that) gals wing tanks on the 47N is 1200 lbs (per a rate of 6lbs per gallon, from Pyro's previous comments).

So a lot more weight. Quite a difference.

[Tank-Ace]

109K, hurricane, P-40, P-39, brewster, FM2, D11 can all furball with 50-75% fuel. Unless you're looking for 30+ minutes of flight time (more than you need for most furballs or even base attacks, given the short distances we have to fly), you're really taking more than you need.

Heres what I use:
109K: 75% and DT
Hurricane: 50-75% depending on if I'm defending or attacking
P-40: 50-75% and bomb or DT
Brewster: 50%
FM2: 75%
D11: 50-75% and bomb or DT

[Krusty]

Tank, some planes really need 100%. All 109s G and up need 100% internal. That gives 25 minutes on the K-4, 20 when you hit WEP (of which 10 minutes can be eaten in WEP, remember). The F4F/fm2 only has a 30 minute full tank. F6F seems equally short legged. I never up a P-39 with less than 100%, often 100%/DT. Very short duration on that one. P-40E I like 50%/DT or 75% clean, depending on situation. 100% is 40 minutes and just a tad too heavy to fight well.

I agree on the Brew though, too much gas to fight with more than 50% effectively. Most non-N jugs I fly I take 100% to get the aux tank. It means I burn more gas on purpose to lighten up a bit (maybe take off a field away from the fight, etc) but I manually keep half or 1/3 the AUX so I can make it home if/when my main gets a leak. It used to be a given your first hit would be a main gas leak. Seems to have stopped in recent years, though. I still do it from habit.


Planes I almost always up full fuel (usually shorter ranged planes)

109g14/g6/k4
spit9/8/16/14
c205
all jugs except N
Corsair f4u-1c/1d/-4
f4f4/fm2
Either P-39
typhie/temp
190a5
I-16
La5/La7
Yak-9T/U

It's a matter of duration. These all have flight times around 30 minutes or less with full internal fuel. I plan to be able to get into more than just 1 fight in a sortie, so I want to be able to burn wep a few times, dive, climb, egress, ingress, and then rtb. I usually want 20 mins bare minimum, if not 25-30.

[skorpion]

Tank, some planes really need 100%. All 109s G and up need 100% internal. That gives 25 minutes on the K-4, 20 when you hit WEP (of which 10 minutes can be eaten in WEP, remember). The F4F/fm2 only has a 30 minute full tank. F6F seems equally short legged. I never up a P-39 with less than 100%, often 100%/DT. Very short duration on that one. P-40E I like 50%/DT or 75% clean, depending on situation. 100% is 40 minutes and just a tad too heavy to fight well.

I agree on the Brew though, too much gas to fight with more than 50% effectively. Most non-N jugs I fly I take 100% to get the aux tank. It means I burn more gas on purpose to lighten up a bit (maybe take off a field away from the fight, etc) but I manually keep half or 1/3 the AUX so I can make it home if/when my main gets a leak. It used to be a given your first hit would be a main gas leak. Seems to have stopped in recent years, though. I still do it from habit.


Planes I almost always up full fuel (usually shorter ranged planes)

109g14/g6/k4
spit9/8/16/14
c205
all jugs except N
Corsair f4u-1c/1d/-4
f4f4/fm2
Either P-39
typhie/temp
190a5
I-16
La5/La7
Yak-9T/U

It's a matter of duration. These all have flight times around 30 minutes or less with full internal fuel. I plan to be able to get into more than just 1 fight in a sortie, so I want to be able to burn wep a few times, dive, climb, egress, ingress, and then rtb. I usually want 20 mins bare minimum, if not 25-30.

you forgot the f4u1a. that thing needs a refueling every 25 mins on a full tank depending on how aggresivly you use it.

[Tank-Ace]

Krusty, I never take a 100% 109, I always take 75% and DT  or 75% clean. Provids more fuel overall, and the ability to drop some when you need it.

[Krusty]

You climb out to 15K with WEP and you're down to 75% before you get to the fight. Awfully short legs for a plane that thrives on WEP. It's gone way too fast. Also for intercepts and rapid climbs 100% clean is better than 75%/DT or 50%/DT. The DT has a lot of drag and kills rate of climb. So if you go after high bombers or some such, leave it behind.

[branch37]

The F4U-1A can fly for a good 40 minutes on a full tank, 75% is all you really need in the MA although I take 100% most of the time.

[Tilt]

The La7 is modelled incorrectly re its fuel tanks.

There were three tanks. A centre tank of 170 litres and two wing tanks of 148 litres each. Each of the Wing tanks had filling tanks of 2.5 litres each. (brim full capacity 471 litres)

Both wing tanks drained thru the  centre tank via no return valves.

The pilot could choose which one drained to the centre tank via the fuel selector switch on the floor and observe the level of fuel in each tank on a three ring fuel guage.

So
1.If the centre tank was holed such that the self sealing could not close it then all tanks eventually drained thru this hole.
2.Whilst left and right tanks could be selected the centre tank was always the last to drain.
3.At 25% fuel load the centre tank will be 69.4% full with the other tanks empty.
4.At 50% fuel load the centre tank will be full (at 36% of total fuel load) and the wing tanks will each have 22% of their capacity.
5.At 75% fuel load the centre tank will be full (at 36% of total fuel load) and the wing tanks will each have 61% of their capacity.

Previously Pyro (albeit in AH1 days) has said that it is not practical to model each aircrafts fuel system independantly. However AH presently models such to mask a significant La7 (La5FN) weakness IMO and that is the effect of puncturing the centre tank beyond a point that it can self seal.

[MiloMorai]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=26395

Interesting discussion on the 'A' in the F4U-1A. Seems the 'A' was unofficial.

[BaldEagl]

I fly almost all planes with 100% internal, no drops with a few exceptions.  I fly Spits, Hurris and Typhoons with external tanks and drop fuel in the Ki-61 and a handful of others to 75%.  I try to target about 30-45 minutes of flight time.  It's all is what you get used to and I always leave the auto fuel management on unless I've taken a hit to one tank, then I switch to that one to get everything I can out of it before it runs dry.

When flying a Spit I never drop the slipper tank in a fight unless it's dry and even then I sometimes forget.  I fly the F6F for attack duties and have had friendlies ask me after a dogfight, "were you heavy"?  Yes, I'll hang onto my ord even in a fight until the absolute last second and even if I have to drop my 1K's I'll usually not release my rockets.  I even took on a 262 one day in a Stuka lugging a 4K bomb and never dropped it.  It took him four tries before he finally clipped my wing and it was one of the games top rated fighter pilots.

So to summerize, I agree with whomever said it ealier that a little extra fuel isn't that big a deal.  It's no different than taking out a lesser performing plane and making due with what you have.