RL Mustang vs AH Mustang

[HomeBoy]

This seems to be along the lines of a theme going on around here lately.  Thought you might enjoy what I'm learning lately.

While visiting the Eight Air Force Museum during the Christmas holidays, I picked up a video on flying the P-51D.  In the video, there was a number of references to the "P-51 Pilot's Flight Operating Manual."  I decided to try to find this manual.  Turns out, the manual is available in what looks like "photocopied pages" in paperback form for only $15 at Amazon.com.  Definitely worth the cost of AH for a month.

I expected there to be a lot more differences between the real Mustang and the AH Mustang.  It's not that bad.  I've listed the major differences here just for your (and my) entertainment and curiosity.  You may be surprised at some of this.

WEP
-----
Pushing the throttle into WEP breaks a safety wire.  Thus, WEP is truly for EMERGENCY power only.  Certainly not the way we use it.  Once the wire is broken, there appears to be no "detent" indicating that you've entered WEP.

If you run WEP for more than five minutes at a time, engine damage will likely occur.  There is no mention of it building back up as in AH or how much total WEP you have.

WEP is completely ineffective below 5k.

Landing Gear
----------------
It takes 10-15 seconds to transition the landing gear.

There is no safety feature preventing retracting the gear on the ground.

Attempt to raise the gear while it is in transition will damage the gear, fairing doors, or both.

Tail wheel is locked on the ground when the control stick is in the neutral or pulled back position.  [In AH, you have to pull back a little to lock the wheel.]  To free the wheel, you must push the stick fully forward.

Fuel Tanks
-------------
There are no fuel gauges on the instrument panel.  The gauges are near the tanks themselves.

There are no fuel gauges for the drop tanks.

There are two sizes of drop tanks:  75 gal or 110 gal.

The 110 gal drop tanks impose near-limit loads on the wings and bomb racks such that you must be careful to fly strictly straight and level.

The fuel injection system vents fuel from the currently selected tank back into either the left wing tank or the fuse tank (depending on model).  If that tank is full, fuel will vent into the atmosphere.

Filling the fuse tank makes the airplane so tail heavy that it is very difficult to fly.  Certainly no aerobatics can be performed with more than 40 gals in the fuse tank.  Sure am glad that's not the case in AH.

Oil System
-------------
Inverted flight is limited to 10 seconds after which engine damage occurs due to oil starvation.

Pilot Seat
------------
The pilot seat is only adjustable in the vertical direction.  There is no fore/aft adjustment of the seat.

Radio Equipment
---------------------
There is one VHF two-way radio on board.  It has four frequencies and has a line-of-sight range of 200 mi @ 20k

A low frequency recieve-only radio called a Detrola (brand name) is used as a homing device.  The wire that runs from the back of the canopy back to the vertical stab is the Detrola's antenna.  The Detrola has a maximum range of 50 mi.

The P-51D has a Rear Warning RADAR set.  It emits an audible alarm and a warning light on the IP when an aircraft approaches from the rear.  Cool!  Wish we had that!

IFF.  Identification Friend or Foe device.  Not much is said about this except that it is used in combat and apparently (somehow) identifies aircraft as either friendly or enemy.   I'd love to understand how it works.

Guns
------
There are no primary/secondary guns.  All six guns are fired when you pull the trigger.

There is no rounds counter so you never know how much ammo you have left.

Gunsight (K-14)
--------------------
The gunsight consists of both a fixed sight and a gyro-actuated lead computing optical sight.  There is a span knob (for adjusting the size of the target.  After setting the span, the aircraft's throttle handle rotates to set the range into the computing mechanism.  Targets must be tracked for at least one second before the sight will compute effectively.  Boy, could I use that?  One of the earlier versions of the old flight game Fighter Duel tried to implement this in it's P-51.  At the time, I thought it was pretty unrealistic.  Huh, maybe not.

Bombs and Rockets
-------------------------
Bombs must be armed before releasing.  Rockets cannot be disarmed.

There are four sizes of bombs available on the P-51D:  100, 250, 500, and 1000 lb.  1000 lb bombs are so heavy on the wings and bomb racks that they limit the aircraft to straight and level flight only.  None of the maneuvering that we do in AH that's for sure.  One has to wonder if you could even fly if you had 1000 lb bombs and 100% fuel (especially more than 40 gals in the fuse tank).

Trim
-----
With the fuse tank full, 2 degrees nose heavy elevator trim must be set for take-off when carrying drop tanks.  Without drop tanks and full fuse tank, elevator trim must be 4 degrees nose heavy.

5 degrees of right rudder trim is sufficient to make torque almost unnoticable during takeoff.  That would sure be nice!

Lowering the landing gear during flight makes the airplane quite nose heavy.  I can't say I notice that in AH.

The airplane is impossible to trim for level flight if there is more than 40 gals of fuel in the fuse tank.  The aircraft is incapable of anything but straight and level flight until there is less than 40 gals fuel in the fuse tank.

Compression
----------------
Never attempt to slow the aircraft by yawing the rudder.  It doesn't say why but I suppose the stress on the airframe cannot take it.

The first effect of compressibility is a "nibbling" at the stick -- the stick begins to jump around.  Man, I wish my FF stick would do that near compression.  As you get further into compression, the stick begins to "walk around."

The airplane begins to porpoise up and down in a rhythm fashion.  This porpoising gets more violent as compression deepens.

Controls begin to reverse as compression deepens.

Other interesting things
------------------------------
The manual recommends convergence be set to 250-300 yards.

Always make 3-point landings.  Never perform wheel landings.

There is only 7 3/4 inches of clearance from the prop and the ground when aircraft is level on the surface.  Wow!

[Slash27]

Good read, thanks:aok

[Husky01]

I enjoyed that a lot! Thanks for posting it.

[Simaril]

Always interesting to see how real life was different than our version.

In the pre-emptive strike department == before anyone makes comments about the modelling here == think for a minute how those differences would affect the FUN of playing what is, after all, a game. There are tons of things that could be changed, but would make the game more frustrating. It's a balancing act, and I'm pretty happy with HT's balance between fun and realism.

[RTGorkle]

I'm not really interested in how closely modelled to reality the AH planes are. They all look right, have the right weapons, and fly kinda the right way. Each has about the right amount of turn, climb and speed ability compared with the others.

The main thing is that there is a variety of aircraft, with different performance attributes, for us to master and match up against.

I certainly dont crave a fully modelled engine management regime, for example. It would be tiresome and un-fun.

[Stoney74]

Originally posted by Simaril
think for a minute how those differences would affect the FUN of playing what is, after all, a game.

I could sure go for the "neutral stick tail wheel lock" and "5 degrees of rudder trim" [note no aileron trim] for takeoff.  I also think they should get rid of the 1000lb bombs for the Pony.

[Ack-Ack]

Originally posted by Simaril
Always interesting to see how real life was different than our version.

In the pre-emptive strike department == before anyone makes comments about the modelling here == think for a minute how those differences would affect the FUN of playing what is, after all, a game. There are tons of things that could be changed, but would make the game more frustrating. It's a balancing act, and I'm pretty happy with HT's balance between fun and realism.

I agree but there is one feature that was listed by Homeboy that I wish we did have in AH.  

Inverted flight is limited to 10 seconds after which engine damage occurs due to oil starvation.

Obviously not just for the P-51 but for any plane that didn't have a system to pump oil into the engine in inverted flight.  The P-38 I think couldn't stand more than 10-15 seconds in inverted flight for the same reason.  Would something like that affect the "fun" factor?  It was in AW and don't recall it ruining anyone's fun unless you just happened to fly upside down a tad too long.

ack-ack

[Anaxogoras]

I also think they should get rid of the 1000lb bombs for the Pony.

[AquaShrimp]

There are fuel gauges in the cockpit of the Mustang.  Its the gauge with two needles inside of one dial.

I read one first hand account of a Mustang pilot who flew all the way from France to England with wep engaged.  Engine wear may have resulted, but it didn't damage the engine in flight.

The tail mounted radar was difficult to accurately adjust.  Pilots complained of getting false signals when the sensitivity was turned up (wingmen usually caused the false signals).  When it was turned down enough that the pilot's wingman wouldn't activate the warning, it was useless.

[LLv34_Dictonius]

The gunsight consists of both a fixed sight and a gyro-actuated lead computing optical sight. There is a span knob (for adjusting the size of the target. After setting the span, the aircraft's throttle handle rotates to set the range into the computing mechanism. Targets must be tracked for at least one second before the sight will compute effectively. Boy, could I use that? One of the earlier versions of the old flight game Fighter Duel tried to implement this in it's P-51. At the time, I thought it was pretty unrealistic. Huh, maybe not.

Note: this feature of the late P-51D is modeled to the Oleg's IL2, as are many others mentioned above - but this gyro sight is particulary interesting.

The first effect of compressibility is a "nibbling" at the stick -- the stick begins to jump around. Man, I wish my FF stick would do that near compression. As you get further into compression, the stick begins to "walk around.

I remember similar ffb model from the ole Microprose's European Air War. It was not limited only for the P-51 but all planes got the stick to wobble from side to side when compressing. Even tho old, EAW still has the most coolest of force feedback features I have experienced.  It goes without saying that the forces in the IL2 mentioned above were the first dissapointment when at first entered the arenas of Oleg's "be sure" world.

[5PointOh]

with this subject, it reminds me of one of my favorite websites.  look for the drive in section and you can watch free orignal training videos for many of the planes we fly in AH.  http://www.zenosflightshop.com

[Charge]

"Inverted flight is limited to 10 seconds after which engine damage occurs due to oil starvation."

That was one nice feature in WW2OL flight model. If you flew the plane inverted too long the engine would start to tick and soon stop all together, but if you immediately flipped it around and reduced RPM and throttle you could probably fly the "ticker" back home. Engage the WEP and the engine dies right there. Had a few interesting RTB flights that way...

-C+

[Viking]

Originally posted by HomeBoy
WEP is completely ineffective below 5k.

Hmm ... why would that be?

[Simaril]

Can't argue with points about inverted flght limits and the neutral-stick locking tail wheel. Both would be nice additions, and it seems to me that neither would impose much burden on the sim pilot. In paticular, sustained inverted flight limits would add some nice complications to flght operations.

Not as sure about the K-14. When its been implemented elsewhere, did the pilot actually have to input the wing dimensions and range?

Without those requirements, the gunsight would essentially be the Korean era radar equipped K14 -- no way does that belong in AH! On the other hand, making pilots take the time to get that stuff entered would about erase the advantage for the purposes of AH. Our environment has much greater threat density than was present in WW2, and our fights are WAY more likely to be fast changing dogfights. In real life, the vast majority of kills came from unseen enemies shooting non-evading targets...so the K14 could make  a real impact. Correctly modelled, I doubt it would help practical gunnery in Aces High.

[wooly15]

Originally posted by AquaShrimp

I read one first hand account of a Mustang pilot who flew all the way from France to England with wep engaged.  Engine wear may have resulted, but it didn't damage the engine in flight.

Depending on where he did that, its not that impressive.  The Straight of Dover is only 20 some odd miles wide.