F4U question or two

[uptown]

How in the heck do you land in thse things?! I come in 100/150 drop gear and touch down alright, but the plane always veers one way or the other no matter how much rudder and stick into it. I break the gear every time. I don't have individual wheel brakes as my pedals are junk and one pedal is set for both brakes  


Also, i don't know if it's my sound pack or not, but the rate of fire on the F4U1 and the F4UD seem alot slower then the -U4 and the 1A. Are there differences in the rate of fire in the .50 cal models? And does anyone know the rate of fire for the Chog?

[FLS]

Once you're down pull the stick back to lock the tail wheel.

[uptown]

ahhhh ok ty 

[TequilaChaser]

DBcooper,
their are alot of threads about landing the F4U planes........

I suggest coming in a tad slower than 150....prerferably 120 to 100.and as you are slwoing down right before touching down FLARE it.(CONTROLLED STALL 3 point landing ) can do this with no flaps out all the way down to full flaps out, dpending on your ability to control the float........

touching down / FLARE'ing the F4U right around 100 to 90 IAS and holding the stick back tolock the tail wheel , while throttle is rediced to almost "0"

practice it... as for the plane veering left or right..use alternating braking C (left) & V (right) keys in sussesion repeatedly to come to a stop..... if you feel it is going to much left (or right) use V (or C ) key until you are straight then back to alternating  left/right braking.......

practice until you have it down to where upon touch down you have just the slightest of all wheel bounce if any bounce at all.......

also , I find those who use Combat Trim have the hardest time in learning to land the F4U....... especially when trying to use flaps and slowing down to land.......

hope this helps

[Gr8pape]

The Hog is one of the hardest planes to land, you have to remember it was a CV plane, so it's designed to stick the landing instead of roll out.

Tequila is right though a lot of throttle work and flaps and practice, you'll get it.

I use three notches of flaps and slow down to 120 before touchdown then the flare and a lot of brake work c-left brake,v-right brake

[Saxman]

Definitely make sure combat trim is off and use manual trim on your approach, as it will cause your nose to shoot way up as you extend your flaps. I usually end up with full nose-down trim by the time I have my flaps out. You can use CT to "reset" once you're safely on the ground if you intend to rearm.

If you're coming in a bit fast do a two-wheel rolling touch-down: Let her roll on the main gear for short distance before trying to bring down the tail, as this makes her a bit easier to control until the airspeed is low enough to lock the tailwheel (this is how the land-based Corsairs frequently landed IRL, btw).

As Gr8 suggests, I generally drop three notches of flaps on approach operating from a land base, although this depends on my glidepath: If I'm on a shallow approach at higher speed I'll use 3-notches, whereas on a steeper descent I'm at full flaps.

The Corsair USUALLY wants to loop to the left on touchdown due to the engine torque, so I give her right brake almost the instant I hear my wheels hit pavement, with a touch of right rudder during the glide in. I find she's a LOT easier if you have a set of rudder pedals with toe brakes (CH Pro Pedals are great for this). This helps because you can ease on the brakes rather than all-or-nothing like the keyboard, and you can also give more to one side as needed (again, typically give her more right brake as her initial pull is most often to the left).

[wgmount]

120? I 3 point it at about 80.  I never use the tail wheel lock and work the rudder with a twisty stick unless the rudder is gone, which is not unusual.

If you are taxing and try to do it too fast you'll ground loop it.

"A real Corsair pilot three-pointed that airplane if he had any self respect."- Colonel Henry A Mcartney

[mtnman]

Everyone I've worked with on this found that they'd been trying to land it too fast.  Slowing down for the actual touch-down is a huge help.

I generally land with full flaps, with an approach speed of about 120 or so.  I flare, and try to time my three-point touch-down with the stall.  So my actual touch-down speed is just under 80mph, with lots of back-pressure on the stick.

That locks the tail wheel, so just hold up elevator to keep it locked.  I little bit of breaking is good too, as the others have described.  But if you land it slow, and keep the tail wheel locked, you may not even need to work the breaks much, if at all.

I also find it MUCH easier to land without the Auto Combat Trim enabled.  I may use it for "just flying around", but I habitually turn it off for landing.  I use rotating dials for trim, so when I shut it off it goes to my pre-set setting, or close enough , and I can tweak it if I want to.  My approach is almost "hand's off" as a result.  All I need to do is flare, the plane does the rest.

Here's a tiny little film clip, so you can see what things look like from my end.  Sorry about the dirty windscreen.  That "dirty" flying at the beginning was just scrubbing some speed...

http://www.4shared.com/file/229068198/b9814e3b/F4U_Landing__CT_off_.html

[TequilaChaser]

120? I 3 point it at about 80.  I never use the tail wheel lock and work the rudder with a twisty stick unless the rudder is gone, which is not unusual.

If you are taxing and try to do it too fast you'll ground loop it.

"A real Corsair pilot three-pointed that airplane if he had any self respect."- Colonel Henry A Mcartney

wgmount, I don't land at 120, I say slow down to 120 to 100..to further describe this.as you are lining up on your final approach with the runway be close to 120 or slower by the time you cross the end of the runway......I am  near what mtnman has described most times, 90 to 80ish and flare ( 3 point ) my landings......

as Saxman has pointed out, when landing fast ...let her ROLL on the Main 2 until the F4U has slowed down  to under 100 mph IAS ( preferably under 90 mph IAS ).....
enough for the tail to drop basically........by this time you should be under 80/70 mph and can lock the tail wheel.......

depending on how many notches of flaps you have extended will go hand in hand on how much slower you will need to be to keep from bouncing back into the air or to keep your Tail down.....


one thing about the F4U's BIG RUDDER, is one can come screaming into a field doing well over 300 mph IAS and come to a screeching halt down to 100 mph IAS in just a few seconds....by using the rudder/gear/cross control of ailerons & rudder.......

it just takes practice...... and one should learn to land with all the different flap settings, with none, 1 notch out, 2 notch's out, 3 notch's out, 4 notch's out, and Full Flaps extended out........  reason I say this is sometimes you might have had a Flap shot off or damaged while in a lowered position, and trying to land with for example the left flap stuck in the "3 notch's extended" position and the right flap in the "no notch's extended" position can get a little squirrelly for you if you are not accustomed to landing when damaged

hope I cleared up the 120 mph? and hope this added part helps.....

[uptown]

I been jumping in and out of the TA all day and believe it or not, i seen to have move successful landing when i also drop the tail hook Sounds strange i know but it's working fairly well. I haven't tryed with CT off yet but when i get back in there.

[Ghosth]

Personally instead of using manual trim, once gear and flaps are fully down I hit the period key to reset trim. This really helps with the tendency to start a ground loop. Bit of back stick pressure is the other one as mentioned.

F4u has that big rudder to help handle the torque, but once airspeed starts dropping the rudder loses authority.
That's where locking the tail wheel makes a huge difference.

[uptown]

OK guys thanks for the landing tips. Me and the F4U are slowly coming to terms i think

Now onto the 2nd part of my question: Are the fire rates different in the .50 cal Corsairs?

[Saxman]

They shouldn't be, no.

[uptown]

They shouldn't be, no.

I didn't know. But the guns in the F4U-1a sound terribly slow compared to the other models imo.

[FLS]

Why not fire off all your ammo and time it then compare?