Quote:
Originally Posted by jameson
Are there penalties in game from flying around with rads open aside from drag, like having water and oil too cold fed into a hot engine? The reverse of overheating? I have no idea.
|
Historically it was forbidden to use take-off power in many aircraft until the oil had reached operating temp. (One nice touch in the Lagg 3 is the engine temp warning light is lit on start-up and stays on until the engine reaches operating temperature)
Over-cooling was a common problem at altitude. Both the p47 and the p38 suffered mechanical failures related to over-cooling. I suspect it was a key factor in the p38 being withdrawn from European operations (the story about lack of cockpit heating giving the pilots cold toes is just silly). The LA5F also had over-cooling issues at one stage.
Note that it is quite possible for the same aircraft to suffer overheat problems under climb at sea level and then have over-cooling issues at altitude.
However I do not think over-cooling is modeled in game.
One issue that actually is modeled in game is the effect on low speed handling of some radiator cowls. A good example in game is the Lagg 3 once again, which wallows about like a pregnant hippo with the rad open at slow speed.