Santa what you are talking about is about moment of inertia and the angle (angular???) moment (I Think its said this way in english)
Each object in this world has its own moment of inertia depending on it own mass, distribution of that mass, and specific form of the object.
And any object in a given moment ,for instance-a plane, has an angular moment. THe angular moment its CLOSELY linked with the moment of inertia, and too in the attitude of the plane (if the plane is rolling to a side, to the other, or is not rolling at all).
Bassically, the bigger moment of inertia, the bigger angular moment. And all objects in this world try to keep their angular moment, (you know when you launch those little spinning toys of the kids?...they keep spinning for a long time because they conserve the angular moment and there is no other force trying to stop them other than friction with air and with the land).
To change the angular moment you have to make a force against that moment...for instance, in a rolling plane you do that with the ailerons... But we will go with this later.
Now there is another concept ,and it is that the moment of inertia of an object spinning on an axis that its not a symetry axis (Arg damned english) is bigger. I know I havent explained it quite well lets try with an example:
Lets see, think on a cylinder,a bar, whatever. Instead of making it spin by the middle, try to make it spin around one of the extremes...costs more than by the centre ,right?.
Its called Steiner effect, basically if one tries to spin an object asymetrically, will find far more opposition to it than if tries to spin it in a symetry (Sp?) axis. The opposite is true, if one tries to stop it, costs more too.
That is the main reason because the multiengined planes have such a poor roll inertia. The P38 has to counter two big and heavy booms with heavy engines and superchargers inside, spinning around an axis out of them. And that was the main reason because the Do335 was borne with that engine instalation...putting both on the central axis of the plane would give it the best rollrate of any multiengined fighter/zerstorer of the war.
IN effect, the best way to ensure a low angular moment around a given axis is to ensure a low inertia moment around that axis. You get that putting, the fewer mass far from the axis, the best.
The Fw190 was a master piece of engineering in this regard: had the most tiny wing they could fit safely in a relatively heavy fighter airframe. It was a model of compact design.
The Spitfire had broaaaaaaaaad biiiiiiiig wing, with a biiiiiiiiiiiig wing area. That gave the wingloading a blessing, but the rollrate a kick in the prettythang, because the moment of inertia was significantly bigger than in the Fw190, a shorter spanned, significantly little winged plane.
To put the things worse, to overcome the angular moment (basically the plane has inertia and refuses to change its state, so you have to do a force against that inertia) you need means to make a force to roll. That means to use ailerons.
And the Fw190A had one of the best designed ailerons of any aircraft type. Big, good responsing ailerons in a little wing.
In contrast the Spitfire had an elliplical wing, its main feature, that proved hellish to be provided with an effective aileron system. Result :the spitfire had sluggish ailerons while the Fw190 had possibly the best of their time.
Net result, the rolling inertia of the spit was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy bigger than the one of the Fw190.
And in Wb this is NOT felt,seems both to have the same rolling inertia...a bassic error that is robbing the best feature of the Wuerger in combat.
Jedi...the Fw190 was not only able to change roll direction in a moment, but it was its best feature to evade a spitfire attack...if I only find the damned magazine where an image showed it I'd post it here...arrrg.
But the thing is, YES, the Fw190A was able to change direction of roll in a spilt second.
The responsiveness and good control of the Fw190 were possibly the best features of this plane, making it an easy one to fly. in the simulators this is NOT modelled (All planes are relatively easy to control). SO the 190 sees one of its historical advantages stolen. Rightly, but stolen.
Now I find a sim that makes a Fw190's initial rollrate seem the very same as the one in the spitfire. Well, that its for me the best proof that the sim in question and me wont have a good relationship between us
.
And excuse my poor english...it sux
[This message has been edited by RAM (edited 11-24-2000).]
