I made a few tests of the Fw-190A-9 in the Smolensk map (that's where the flight data from Il2Compare applies, so I just flew a QMB mission there), and with rad closed, full power, a little rudder to compensate, elevator trim + a little joystick, and manual pitch to get between 2600-2700 RPM, I got a TAS (I know what you see inside the cockpit is IAS) of ~605 Kmph at ~1500m (and I'm not a very good pilot so someone with a better touch and knowledge can surely do better). So the numbers in Il2Compare can be achieved IMHO.

Wether some planes reach max speed faster, or can do it without so much manhandling is a different subject and I'm not qualified to have an opinion there.

Anyway, the Fw-190 feels quite different from previous versions of the game, and I'm having a blast flying it (and suffering it greatly when it's on my 6).

That's good but I was mainly talking about D9 Late @ sea level. According to IL2 Compare A9 should go 610km/h at 1500 so you're pretty close. Not sure if manual pitch should be required given that German planes had a komnandaggregat or something - basically a controller or governor - some difficult German word.
Anyway, try the same with D9 Late at sea level. I couldn't achieve more than 570km/h (should be ~600). In La-7 however I was able to reach ~600 pretty easily (Il2Cmp figure is 605)

I tested it but going down to sea level was a little difficult in Smolensk. I just followed a river that went fairly straight on, and found that in Fw-190D_Late, with rad closed, pitch auto, WEP on, no cockpit (to see TAS), I got a sustained ~590Kmph speed. Still short of the figures in Il2Compare, but better than the 570 you mentioned.

Reaching that speed was, however, really painful in level flight, and the overheat message appeared quite fast. The engine went on for several minutes without losing AtA or RPMs, so maybe the message comes in too quickly. I never fly in this conditions when in combat, so I have hardly seen the overheat message before, and have no idea about it's accuracy.

About the La, I didn't have the time to test it in the same manner. Maybe I can today after work.

Dear Z1024
 

I apologise for my 5000+ hrs of combat flying experience..
Non the less I have real life stuff to attend to

It looks like when you take off from the ground it does not overheat very quickly. I could climb for at least 3-4 min with 110% + MW50 without getting an overheat message.
Haven't tested other planes.
However if I fly QMB or on a server with airstart - it does overheat very quickly - quicker than most other planes (actually all I've tested). And this doesn't look right because Germans allowed 3250rpm for 30min and MW50 for 10 min at a time, which is longer than La7's WEP mode (5min) for example, yet Dora overheats sooner in the game. Liquid cooled engines (such as D9s Jumo213A) enjoy more uniform cooling than the radial engines (such as La7s ASh-82FN) It is more difficult to arrange the airflow to cool both the front and back sets of cylinders. The back one overheats more. And yet in the game D9 overheats faster than La7 which did have these problems with quick overheating in the WEP mode.

But my main problem with D9, like I said earlier - is that its engine dies after ~10-15 min of intense/combat mode flight. This happens ONLY to D9s - at some point it displays the overheat message and then quickly dies. This is not a MW50/boost related issue as I flew a mission without engaging it even once and it still died the same way. I don't think I over-rev the engine because I use auto pitch and even in a full powered dive when the plane approaches 900km/h the RPM indicator still shows around 3200 (maybe 3250) - and I never exceed maybe 850 in a dive, and usually reduce the throttle to zero when diving faster than 750.
This behavior is new in 4.11 (and still exists in 4.11.1). It only happens to D9s - Antons, 109s, Spit, Ki84 - I fly them all in the same way and never have this problem with those planes.
Something was changed in the D9s FM or the bigger change to engine overheat model affected only Doras in this way.

:eek:...
I never push them beyond 600... and never had an overheat.
You're probably pushing too hard ;)

This track (vanilla 4.11.1) might give you an idea.. You'll notice that the Temps gauges hardly move ! (excuse the slip.. have no pedals at the mo)

Thanks for the track, but what was it supposed to prove? That you can fly a D9 without going into overheat if you fly mostly under 80% and never use boost? But I already know that.
BTW that tactics might work with rookie-level AI but try that vs semi-competent online pilot in a spit and you'll get shot down in no time. There is no way you can dogfight a co-E spit in a d9. And it gets worse in an open pit environment because it removes SA issues - all these visual clues, and 360degree view help immensely.

PS. what was wrong with the right ammo counter?:)

As far as I remember those were Ace AI... although I found it strange that the 1 and 2 went off on a tangent. I never fly offline with anything other than Ace AI as there's no challenge.

As for online, the same type a/c management still applies as you have to keep 'cool' :grin:.

One thing a lot of people get wrong with this game, is that you don't have to be at top speeds/revs 100% of the time to win a fight, you just have to have a better brain and flying capabilities. Once you get that right you'll never have an overheat, or very few of them, and will lose a lot less online DFs even when the odds are stacked against you.

Also flying on anything else other than a 100% server is a waste of time for the FW, as all the usable advantages are negated.

;)

Dogfighting Spits in a Fw-190? If you fly like that online, you'll be dead in less than 1 minute.

BTW, even Ace AI are 10 times more inferior than an experienced human player.

This KI should have outperformed me in a A9, of all things - This plane's a deadweight compared to a Dora.. but what you see on paper is not the same in the air. Results could have been better thanks to the p38 :grin:

I had a similar spit track but seemed to have conveniently lost it, but this old track makes the point. ;)