Blenheim operating limits and checklists

[Blackdog_kt]

The Ju88 bomb bays work, let me explain.

The 88 has manual bomb controls (the bombardier had to turn a crank by hand), there was no motor to open them by pressing a button or moving a lever.

Like any other hand-driven control in the sim (for example the flaps on the 109), you need to keep pressing the button to simulate the pilot turning the wheel by hand (and also for the anthropomorphic controls difficulty setting to track it, if it is enabled).

If you only have the "toggle bomb bay doors" command and you press it once, the game doesn't register a continuous input and the co-pilot will not turn the hand-crank all the way to open.

So, the solution is to go into options and assign separate commands to "open bomb bay doors" (for example, alt+O) and "close bomb bay doors" (for example, shift+O).
Then, if you press alt+O and keep it pressed, the co-pilot will keep turning the crank and the doors will open all the way. After you release bombs you press shift+O and keep it pressed, the co-pilot will turn the crank in the opposite direction and the doors will close.

[JG53Frankyboy]

and nevertheless, in the version before the actual beta, the bombdoors are opening and ( at least try) closing themselves in the Ju88 .
actualy a feature the Blenheim should have, sure working faster
in the Ju 88 its 'just' a bug.

[335th_GRAthos]

I do not seem to be able to arm the bombs any more in the Blenheim.

Is it me or is it something that has changed????

[Sokol1]

Now (beta patch) is not need arm bombs of Blenheim. Just drop then.

But in Bf109 still need...

Sokol1

[JG53Frankyboy]

they had never to be armed ingame since release.

[Sokol1]

Drop a unarmed bomb from Bf-109E3 and see.

Sokol1

[JG53Frankyboy]

i thought we are talking about the Blenheim bombs...................

[335th_GRAthos]

Originally Posted by JG53Frankyboy

they had never to be armed ingame since release.

I hope I am not dreaming, but I think in the previous patches, I would arm the bombs in the Blenheim and I would see the confirmation message.
Now I do not????

Anyhow, interesting concept of arming the bombs for some airplanes but not on others...

Thanks for the information gentlemen!

~S~

[Robo.]

Brilliant thread chaps, especially Blackdog (cheers mate). I've been struggling with the Blenheim and got there eventually by good ol' trial & error method.

And I quite enjoyed it to be honest although there was some cursing involved, obviously...

I came a bit too late as I managed to figure out most of it by reading the pilot notes (and realising they don't really work all that much in CLoD) and simply flying the Blenheim, got her up to 15k feet (colleague Valec got the crate even higher up, apparently to 16.5k!)

I finished reading this thread and I see that everything has been covered in detail, but there might be few bits and bobs missing:

1. Mixture is not working properly (or not at all although you won't be able to start the engine with the lever on Full Lean) - this is an FM issue for all planes at this moment, but it has got rather big impact on the Blenheim if you're silly enough to test the max ceiling.

2. The 2 position de Havilland propeller is not quite working as we tought - and I believe this is actually correctly modelled ingame (I am surprised too!). Apparently, these 2 position propellers were sort of stop gap solution to improve the preformance of the fixed pitch propellers (Watts...) and introduction of the modern CSP props. Oneof the early solutions (considered as temporary even back then) was the 2 position de Havilland propeller acting as a fixed pitch in either full coarse or full fine pitch. BUT: the mechanism was similar to a bicycle pump and the pilots soon dioscovered that it was possible and safe to use the settings inbetween these two preset angles, improving climbing performance and optimising the performance alltogether. The RAF authorities soon encouraged this practice and it was soon included in official manuals. This is obviously a storry of DH 2 pitch prop as used on Merlin III engines, but the props being similar and seing the way the Blenheim propeller is modelled ingame, I can't see why not. Mind you this is completely missing on the DH Hurricane although it certainly should be that way, too!

In fact, apart from the 2 extreme settings intended by designer, there is indeed some limited space for getting a better performance by setting the prop in a sweet spot between coarse and fine (cca between 5 and 35 percent, watch the RPM) just like in real life. It was not as easy as with the Rotol CSP and certain experience was required, but the way it is modelled ingame at the moment (Beta 1.03) is good enough to represent it.

3. carb-heat usage is simplified, engines start to run rough at the alt of cca 5500-6000ft, move the lever slightly to keep them run smoothly and keep doing so in small steps untill cca 7500 feets. Switching it full on straight away robs you of RPM in climb. This is certainly not as per real manual but that's how it seems to work ingame.

My apologies if I happen to repeat some information, I just thought someone might find it helpful.