SoW:BoB DB601 Pitch / MG-FFl

[Blackdog_kt]

Excellent piece of information, i'd never have thought of what they were doing.

If i'm reading it correctly, they were essentially storing energy in the supercharger momentarily and then used it to increase their climb rate in bursts. Planes don't cruise on maximum RPM all the time since the propeller has more "pull" if it's angled to have a bigger "bite" of air, but this also results in increased air resistance/drag and lower RPMs.

So, they were setting high RPMs and momentarily sacrificed some "pull" to speed up the engine and the supercharger, then used the power stored in the supercharger to drive the prop at lower RPMs with higher pull. It's amazing what kind of little tricks seasoned veterans could pull. I guess that each little thing by itself didn't do much, but adding it all up together must have given a tangible performance advantage.

[rakinroll]

Thanks for these docs Franky.

[zapatista]

interesting information, since this would mean the whole period of BoB the germans should have the earlier 109 models that require the "3 handed" approach

there is usually some knowledgeable folks (and a few OC ones to ) hanging around the main forums who would have some more definitive information on this "production series" issue and the variants provided to each group (from reliable historical sources) during that specific BoB time period.

if the posted information is correct, it would be important for this aircraft variant to be the main (? only) 109 version provided for the german side during BoB

[Matt255]

T: Technical aircraft features
* Manual and auto prop pitch Bf109 variants will be featured

Source:
http://www.freewebs.com/heinkill/stormofwarnews.htm

Not sure if this is still up to date.

Anyway, i think some late E-4's had an automatic-pitch (those that still flew when the F reached the front), but no E-3. However, so far i haven't seen a E-4 (or later variant then the E-3) in any of the screenshots yet.

I fly with manual prop-pitch in IL-2. I highly recommend trying that out. It needs some time getting used to, but after a while, it's basically like shifting gears in a car. You do it automatically without thinking about it.

[JG53Frankyboy]

actually its not possible to destinguish an E-4 from an E-3 just looking at it!
the only difference was that the E-4 had MG-FF/M that were able to fire mineshells.
btw, if Maddox decides to make an E-3 as THE 109 in SoW:BoB it would be a mistake because the two main variants during this time were the E-1 (non 20mm canons) and the E-4! almost all so far produced E-3 were rearmed to be E-4s

[Matt255]

Afaik, all E-4 planes had the new canopy. I know that some E-3 have been retrofitted with that canopy (and FF/M etc.), but not the other way around (E-4 with old style canopys). And the 109's on the screenshots are definately E-3's (old canopy + 20mm cannons, that rules E-1 and E-4 out).

And Oleg stated already, that there will not be a E-1 variant.

[csThor]

Nope, the canopy was not a way to tell E-1 from E-3 from E-4. As it was some E-1s and E-3s were retrofitted with the later canopy while other aircraft which became E-4s when they got the MG FF/M in the wings retained the old canopy. The Emil is unique in the german designation system for it was the only 109 that defined sub-types via the wing armament.

[FAE_Cazador]

Sorry, but I would like to have some points clarified or summarized from this interesting thread (thanks to Blackdog for the nice explanation). I talk about present IL-2 stock planes, unmodded . Maybe someone can kindly confirm my thoughts:

1.- Now in IL-2, we can fly Bf-109/Fw-190 in "AUTO" mode. Then you can forget your prop pitch as you just select your throttle and the "Kontrol Gerät" take care of changing the pitch accordingly. It optimizes your RPM to the optimal value and also avoids to overrev your engine. So it is not a pure "Constant Propeller" as you do not really set a specific RPM value but a throttle position (which in fact sets a manifold pressure in Ata). Am I right? . Same behaviour applies to Spits/Mustangs.

2.-If you fly the same Bf-109/Fw-90 in "MANUAL" mode, you can do the same, but manually, continuously visually monitoring RPM value and changing accordingly the prop pitch by hand. But in this case the optimal RPM value to reach is unknown for us, common virtual pilots. Probably a real pilot will know this value from their training season or books. IMHO, a good value could be setup about 3000 RPM. Is it OK?

3.- It is supposed that you don't get any advantage now by flying in "Manual", instead of in "Auto". However, years ago people complained on line about cheating by flying Bf/Fw planes in Manual, getting more power than expected specially when climbing. This was supposedly fixed in a IL-2 patch. Is it OK?

4.- Russian planes fly like Fw/Bf in Manual mode but, curiously, in german planes you can easily break your engine if you don't take care of your RPM, while in Yak/La/Migs you can't. You can fly Yaks at 100% throttle, forgetting pitch, even when diving or climbing (overheat is a different issue). Maybe you can lose performance in your engine, but you don't really feel it too much, and of course you never break it out as quickly as flying Bf/Fw. Is this a bug of IL-2 or it was really so in real life?

5.- Finally, then in IL-2 we do not have pure "Constant Propeller" planes but planes with "Variable Pitch Propeller" . And of course, some older "Fixed Pitch" wooden propeller planes. Am I right?

Sorry for my English level, I hope you got my point.

BR

[Wutz]

Well it would be really nice if in time the He111E could be added as that was in service during BoB.