Many aircraft that we fly in AH did not have ammo counters, aileron/rudder trim, autopilot, automatic mixture/pitch, automatic radiator/cowl flaps, etc. There was a lot more work to do in managing the aircraft's systems on top of flying.
Indeed. My squad leader kind of laughed at me when I asked if I needed to set pitch and rad flap.
Even now, here in the auto industry, we're just transitioning over to an automatic grill shutter as an FE action. Why? Clearly, you need to present less area to freestream as speeds increase and the rad is a pretty substantial chunk of your drag.
So it was with WWII fighters - they'd choke down that airflow over the rad as ambient freestream temps decreased and as speed increased. Of course, it's not quite the same because they also had decreasing density and that impacts the heat transfer.
Anyway, we've got automated systems in AHII that make it look like they had PCBs in WWII. I've acquired a lot of respect for those guys the flew and lived through the war.
Also, it looks as though, per FW189 and AR240 (and I think the D-9 had some attempt at this) there were some novel approaches to automating either of these tasks - all sans electronics, of course.
As for the Yak 3,
MORE IS MORE, therefore BETTER, or as Stalin said, quantity has a quality all it's own.
Warbirds has a Yak-3.
I still want my damn 410 more than anything, though. It'll be a fine bird in which to get shot down. I'm really looking forward to taking a lead shot without this donkey dong of a long nose obscuring the view. My gunnery is, I've determined, the main thing holding me back. If I could just land 2%, life would be sweet.
