Will someone give me some tips?

[Splitter]

Flying at 100% power puts you pretty close to redlining the temperature. Fly at a lower throttle setting (and adjust prop pitch if possible) to keep the engine "cool". Open radiators as needed when cruising, just understand that opening the radiator costs you speed because it causes more drag.

When you are getting close to combat, things change. You probably need to close up the radiator to be faster, throttle goes forward to gain speed, and prop pitch needs to be adjusted as you climb, dive and change altitudes and throttle settings.

Read some documentation on super charger settings and when to kick them in for the specific aircraft (if so equipped). Kicking in super chargers at too low of an altitude will COST you power. Fly without it at high altitudes and it will cost you power.

To help matters a bit, try flying the 109 for a while because it adjusts prop pitch automatically (or you can turn that off and do it manually).

Get close to save ammo. Hit specific spots on planes, all have their individual weaknesses. When in doubt, hit the engine, cockpit, or wing roots (where they attach to the fuselage). 7.7mm machine guns are not very effective unless you have a bunch of them on your plane (same for anything smaller than .50 cal or 12.7mm). I use them to slow down the enemy plane or chip away at their flight controls and then get in close to use cannons. Of course, one 7.7mm or .303 bullet can take out the enemy pilot....

Use combat flaps to gain maneuverability, but you will lose speed. I am constantly adjusting them in combat, up and down. Remember also that you can go too fast (usually in a dive) and gain enough speed to damage (usually jam) the combat flaps if they are deployed. At that point, you are going to be sloooowwww for the rest of the fight which make you vulnerable.

Practice deflection shooting. Bring your prop pitch down in a dive to gain speed faster. Also, if the plane does not control prop pitch automatically and if you have prop pitch close to 100% in a dive at high speed, it can "over rev" the engine and cause a fast heat build up. This is not as catostrophic in IL-2 as it should be.

Trim. Learn how to use it. If you are having to keep constant back pressure on the stick to stay level, trim the elevators up a bit. If your plane wants to roll, adjust the aileron trim. You can also adjust rubber trim. Note that not all planes have all trim capabilities (109's can only adjust elevator trim and will constantly try to roll left). You know you are trimmed up correctly in level flight if the plane is flying straight and the little "bubble" is centered (it looks like a smiley face on your instrument panel).

It sounds complicated, but it really is not. Learn to cruise efficiently with no combat pressure. There you can learn all the little procedures to make your plane slick and efficient.

Once you get to combat, keep things simple at first. Learn to adjust throttle first. then learn when to lower combat flaps. Then prop pitch, etc., etc.

It's really not that hard but it takes some time to learn. Then when you learn it, there is always something else to learn or a different aircraft to master. Learn to fly first including take off, cruise, and landing (you will forget to drop the gear before landing at least once lol). Then learn combat....lots of reading about the game helps.

Splitter

[KnightFandragon]

Originally Posted by Splitter

Also, if the plane does not control prop pitch automatically and if you have prop pitch close to 100% in a dive at high speed, it can "over rev" the engine and cause a fast heat build up. This is not as catostrophic in IL-2 as it should be.

Ive run my engine at 110% for a long time with that over heat warning going off and it does eventually kill my engine and I hear it starting to do that whistle sound you get when it gets hit.....I guess by catastrophic you mean the engine flaming out in short order from over heating? Ive had my engines inop, lose power and fly at lousy power when I run them overheated for along time. Even in the 262 my engines lit on fire once....that sucked haha

[Splitter]

Originally Posted by KnightFandragon

Ive run my engine at 110% for a long time with that over heat warning going off and it does eventually kill my engine and I hear it starting to do that whistle sound you get when it gets hit.....I guess by catastrophic you mean the engine flaming out in short order from over heating? Ive had my engines inop, lose power and fly at lousy power when I run them overheated for along time. Even in the 262 my engines lit on fire once....that sucked haha

Yeah, being at 100% prop pitch is like having your car in first gear. Very responsive, but limited in its' way.

First gear is good for climbing hills. 100% prop is good for taking off and climbing out.

But if you are going down hill at 150kph in your car and slam it into first gear, your RPMS will spike and something will break (some time before or after you lose control of course lol).

When you pop in 100% prop pitch at high speeds with no throttle, you suddenly have a big air brake out in front of you. Instead of the prop biting the air, the air is moving so fast that it starts spinning the prop like a pinwheel.

At that point, the prop is spinning the engine...and that's backwards. Do it at high enough speed, or long enough, and something may break. Even if you get by with nothing breaking, the heat build up is rapid. That all is the catastrophic part. This is not modeled well in IL-2.

Another thing I have never had happen is carburetor icing. This can happen at any temperature at at any altitude. Chop throttle, or depending on the engine even cutting throttle significantly, and the engine will start choking. If left untreated, combustion stops. I don't know if this is modeled in IL-2 and of course it doesn't effect fuel injected engines.

This is another one of those things that I hope gets modeled into SoW.

Splitter