Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: F4UDOA on October 05, 2001, 12:09:00 PM

Title: F4U Review
Post by: F4UDOA on October 05, 2001, 12:09:00 PM
First I would like to say thanks to HTC for giving me an early birthday present. Seeing the -1 and -4 in one release was almost too much. I guess I will have to take up Karnak's cause to get the SpitXIV into AH now.
Anyway here are my impressions of the 4 F4U varients in AH, good and bad.

F4U-1

1. Beautiful paint  
2. Birdcage actually gives better 6 view than other F4U models.
3. Slightly slower than -1D
4. Stalls more abruptly.
5. Turns better than other F4U varients. Handles much like 1.07 F6F with better roll.
6. Is my favorite overall F4U ride for furballing and getting perks. Kudos HTC!!

F4U-1D

1. Seems slightly less draggy.
2. If climb rate was I can't tell?
3. Flaps can now be deployed at G without causing an imediate stall.
4. If stall speeds were fixed I can't tell. All F4U's appear to stall at 100MPH regardless of weight, power or flap setting.

F4U-1C

1. Had major rubber bullet problem last night. I'm to used to 50cals.
2. Seems a little more sensative in the turns. Might be extra weight added to FM.
3. Stall and climb same as -1D.

F4U-4

1. Climb seems off. Tested offline and seems to be about 400FPM slow in climb with and without WEP. Should have 4K per minute climb to 3K and 3750FPM to 15K. Cant seem to do better than 3400FPM with WEP at 5K. Definitly does not match charts. Acceleration is affected proportionately.

2. Speed seems about the same as -1D. Could not maintain 370+MPH at sea level or 400MPH at 10K.

3. High speed handling is awesome. Had several kills of 262's last night. Frankly they had no chance. Voss shot me down in one once but I had half a wing and still could do enough evasive do make it difficult.

4. Paint job  . Would prefer either the dark blue Navy or Marine markings. The F4U-1 really is the best looking of the bunch and the -4 looks like the -1D and -1C.

5. The F4U-4 has a -4 icon. Will all varient perks have a icon that designates it's perk status ie the SpitXIV or P-47M?

Just my thoughts. All in all it was a very good day in AcesHigh
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Zippatuh on October 05, 2001, 01:29:00 PM
Hiya F4UDOA,

I’ll add my 2 cents in here.

F4U-1D

Same here on the climb rate.  If it was adjusted I’m having a hard time noticing it.
The “E” retention seems to be better.  I may be noticing the change in stall characteristics but it appears that it is getting a better zoom.  I’ll have to fly against some other aircraft though, not much chance to test the hammerhead out with all the 262’s that were flying around.

F4U-4

Nice pickup and acceleration.
Why it’s 60 perks, I don’t know.  It accelerates well but the top speed isn’t there to justify 60 to me.  IMO anyway.

Haven’t been in the F4U-1 yet but will be soon  ;).

Zippatuh
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Rocket on October 05, 2001, 01:56:00 PM
The -1 is sweet as long as ya remember you have fuel out there in them there wings  :)

I really wanted to see the -4 with MARINES in large white letter on the fuselage <sigh>.
We have 3 navy variants woulda been nice to have one billboard for the Marines!

S!
Rocket
Title: F4U Review
Post by: whels on October 05, 2001, 02:20:00 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Rocket:
The -1 is sweet as long as ya remember you have fuel out there in them there wings   :)

I really wanted to see the -4 with MARINES in large white letter on the fuselage <sigh>.
We have 3 navy variants woulda been nice to have one billboard for the Marines!

S!
Rocket

i would like to see 1 of them done in VFM 214
Boyington's Lu Lu Bells colors.

Whels
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Bozon12 on October 05, 2001, 02:49:00 PM
Zippatuh:
 
Quote
Why it’s 60 perks, I don’t know. It accelerates well but the top speed isn’t there to justify 60 to me. IMO anyway.  

I agree, it seems pretty much like the D with a very small addition of power, and i think the cockpit has moved a bit backwards. the C is much deadlier and costs only 8.
IMHO it's over perked much like the 152.

Bozon
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Nashwan on October 05, 2001, 03:08:00 PM
Quote
Why it’s 60 perks, I don’t know. It accelerates well but the top speed isn’t there to justify 60 to me. IMO anyway.
The top speed is higher than a Tempest, and look at the price on that.
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Gtoraii on October 05, 2001, 03:18:00 PM
I tried some CV traps in the one... man oh man what a squeak hehe

I had to crank the head position up and watch the nose of the CV to do it.

I have no trouble with the 1D.

I love how the -1 stalls... just like the training video says. the right wing drops and the nose comes down, next thing you know you inverted heading for the deck!  AWSOME!
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Hooligan on October 05, 2001, 03:29:00 PM
Thanks for going to the effort of doing some testing.

Hooligan
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Wotan on October 05, 2001, 04:25:00 PM
imho you usn/bluebird boys have one helluva lethal planeset even if you throw in the tbm :) and a 60 point F4u-4

not a fan of bluebirds but htc did some good work.......
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Mathman on October 05, 2001, 04:35:00 PM
I may be wrong, but I do believe that the F4U-4 is in Marine markings.  I think that it is in Ken Walsh's markings, as he is the only somewhat famous ace I know that flew the F4U with the number 13 on the side.  He was the first US Corsair ace, while flying the -1 in the Solomons.  I do know that he was flying the F4U-4 at the end of the war. He was most definitely in the USMC.  His plane, like the rest of the US planes, didn't have the large markings that say what service the plane belonged to.
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Pyro on October 05, 2001, 09:46:00 PM
F4UDOA,

Thanks again for the data you sent me.  It really helped in this case.  The -1 should be faster but not climb as well as the -1D.  The -1C went from being about 250lbs lighter than the D to being about 200-250lbs heavier.  A new help file will be coming out soon with all the performance charts.
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Tac on October 05, 2001, 09:56:00 PM
"Flaps can now be deployed at G without causing an imediate stall"

Gee that sounds familiar   :p

Hey Pyro, you get my 5 meg e-mail?
Title: F4U Review
Post by: F4UDOA on October 05, 2001, 11:30:00 PM
Heya Pyro,

I really have no problem with the -1 at all. Seems fine to me. If you say it should be a little faster I'm all for it.

My question of all of the varients would be the climb of the -4. Looks from the chart I sent you that it should sustain approx 3750FPM from 3k to about 15k. Doesn't seem to be able to get over 3500FPM though.

Not complaining. Just asking. After 1.08 I have nothing to complain about.

Thanks
Title: F4U Review
Post by: -duma- on October 06, 2001, 04:11:00 AM
I did a few tests, nothing exceptional but gives you a good idea of the difference between the variants:
20,000ft

TEST - Aircraft slowed to 150mph and held there for several seconds. Then throttle increased to desired level and time to accelerate noted.

25% fuel NON-WEP
       150 175 200 225 250 275 300 (indicated airspeed)
F4U-1  N/A 013 033 056 090 150 N/A -- MAX 290mph (7min)
F4U-1D N/A 012 029 050 085 150 N/A -- MAX 285mph (7min)
F4U-4  N/A 009 023 038 062 097 215 -- MAX 305mph (7min)

WEP

F4U-4  N/A 008 020 034 052 076 128 -- MAX 320mph (5min)

F4U-1 is nothing if not beautiful   :)

[ 10-06-2001: Message edited by: -duma- ]
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Vermillion on October 06, 2001, 08:36:00 AM
The -1 does have a nasty nasty stall as I found out the hard way last night.  

Did the other models pick up that new stall characteristics?
Title: F4U Review
Post by: F4UDOA on October 06, 2001, 01:31:00 PM
Did some more testing of the F4U-4 offline.

Interesting.

At sea level the speed is right on the mark.

353MPH Mil power
376MPH WEP

at 20,000FT it was a little different. Rockets numbers were right on.

400MPH mil power TAS
425MPH WEP TAS

Compared to the performance charts of
422MPH mil power
440MPH WEP

Climb however was a little further off.
Aces High
5,000FT
3200FPM Milpower
3400FPM WEP

10,000FT
2750FPM MIL
3250WEP

15,000
2700FPM Mil
3250FPM WEP

20,000FT
2,500FPM MIL
2900FPM WEP

Performanc chart
5,000FT
3200FPM MIL
3750FPM WEP

10,000FT
3000FPM MIL
3750FPM WEP

15,000FT
3000FPM MIL
3600FPM WEP

20,000FT
2860FPM MIL
3270WEP WEP

Sea level climb is just to hard to measure accurately.

So it's about a 300FPM short in climb from about 5k in WEP and the same in Mil power from around 7K up to 20,000FT. At that alt it is also about 20MPH slow in MIL and WEP powers.

Overall a very good handling bird, especially at high speed. The 262 has nothing on it in that regard. However for 60 perks it should have it stated performance especially with the likes of the Tempest, LA-7 and G-10 which can seemingly accellerate virtically.
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Duckwing6 on October 08, 2001, 08:07:00 AM
The -4 outpaces a Yak 9 at tree-top level it's therfore dubbed the

HOG-Stang

and i'm in love !  :D

DW6

Thanks for the Review F4UDOA
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Ripsnort on October 08, 2001, 08:25:00 AM
I laughed like hell when I saw 60 perks for the -4.  All I could think about was the nightmares that still must re-occur for Pyro from the -4 debut days of Warbirds.  ;)

15 perks, maybe..60? No way.
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Hooligan on October 08, 2001, 10:01:00 AM
Just for grins I measured the Sea-Level top speed of the -1 and -1D (with WEP).  I got

-1:  357 Mph
-1D: 355 Mph

Hooligan
Title: F4U Review
Post by: F4UDOA on October 08, 2001, 10:20:00 AM
Heya Hooligan<S>,

I think Pyro has taken several different sources to come up with a profile for performance for the -1 and -1D. The -1 I know exactly what performance chart he i using. The -1D I think I know what chart he is using. The -4 I'm not really sure at all. I can't wait to see the new help file so I can see the chart data.

The one "fix" I guess that I have noticed in all of the F4U's is the E retention. I think Pyro reduced the drag based on a Vought doc I emailed him but I'm not sure (and he ain't gonna say). But in any case the F4U seems a bit less draggy.

The one item I hope to see addressed is the -4 climb. It really isn't representitive of the late war climbing ability of the F4U. Especially when you lnow late war climbing monsters like the P-47M and Spit XIV will be available soon.

Later
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Pepe on October 08, 2001, 11:23:00 AM
Had the pleasure of fiting Duckwing and his F4U-4 yesterday (I was in Yak) and I can say that that bird is F-A-S-T! As Duckwing says, it outran my Yak, plus that bird zooms like rocket.

I don't think 60 perkies is too expensive, especially relative to Tempest's cost.

On the performance side, I just let bigger dogs to argue, listen carefully, and accept results   ;)

Cheers,

Pepe
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Ripsnort on October 08, 2001, 11:42:00 AM
Yeah, but anything Duck flies should be perked,just for duck!  ;)
Title: F4U Review
Post by: Pyro on October 08, 2001, 11:45:00 PM
Tac, yes I did.  Thanks.  It's stuff I already have or had.  If you have a good source for those, try to find the one on the change to hydraulically assisted ailerons.  It's interesting on a technical level, but also on a social one.  There's a comic of a pilot beating his wife because he's coming home all tired and grumpy after trying to horse his heavy controls around all day.  And then the same pilot being very sweet to his wife because of the assisted ailerons have made his job so much easier.