Level bombing in the Blenheim

[ATAG_knuckles]

Kestrel: Welcome to the world of the Blenheim, its a tricky bugger for sure BUT with practice it can be a hoot.

Take off: crank in at least 1/2 left rudder trim (and leave it there for the whole flight unless you go about 6,000.00.

you will need full left rudder on take off roll until you get to about 70 mph then you will be able to gradually ease off.

To turn on the ground: you will need brake: push full rudder pedal in the direction you want and press the brake, that will give you a somewhat sharp turn.

Takeoff: Fine pitch and no more that 22 hundred rpm. lift off at 90-100mph. when established in a SHALLOW climb say 120-140 mpg go to full coarse pitch, leave it there until you land.

The ATAG forums has some great videos under the heading of "Planes,Planes,Planes

Go to the ATAG server in multiplayer: get on TS3 Comms: look me up, as I will be happy to fly with you to get you up to speed in the Blenheim.

Knuckles

[JG53Frankyboy]

Originally Posted by kestrel79

Wow some great info here. I got airborne for the first time in the Blenheim last night on the Cross Country quick mission.

Some noob notes:

Hard to turn while on ground. I had full rudder and trim to keep it straight down the runway.

I cooked one engine after lowering the cowl flaps to 50% for about 5 seconds...I had to fly with them full open all the time so keep the engines cool. Surely I was doing something wrong...I think it was me flying with a 80% fine prop pitch. Seems most of you guys fly coarse pitch, that is correct? I'll try that next time.

And also I probably didn't allow that much warmup time.

the CoD Blenheim propeller works as following:
0-5% is full coarse pitch
5- ~35% its a variable pitch
35-100% is full fine pitch

i use these 5-35 settings for climbing after the start. on mission, i fly full coarse.
when full coarse, throttle 65-70% throttle , the engine stays between 200 and 250 degrees with cooling flaps 1/4 or 1/3 open.

[Megahurt]

No wing leveler... no artificial horizon. What were these clowns thinking. What A waste of time making bombers that cant bomb.

[kestrel79]

Thanks guys that's what my problem was, not flying full coarse pitch after takeoff. The engine sounds wayyy too quiest on course pitch, it didn't sound like I had any power. I guess I should look at the gauges more.

How do you guys set the compass? Is this something you have to do before takeoff every time? Mine is reading wrong...which explains why I was heading "south" and never saw the channel haha.

[ATAG_Dutch]

Originally Posted by kestrel79

How do you guys set the compass? Is this something you have to do before takeoff every time?

The course setter and gyro in all the RAF planes needs setting up prior to take-off.

1) Click the outer ring of the course setter (compass) and line up North with the 'T' shaped end of the compass needle.
2) Read off the heading straight ahead on the course setter (or run your mouse cursor over the compass to show heading).
3) Adjust directional Gyro to match this reading.
4) Now set course setter to the heading you require.
5) Take off and turn the aircraft so that the yellow bars are again parallel with the compass needle (check that North is still lined with 'T' shaped end of needle, not South!).
6) Check Gyro once the instruments have settled down. The Gyro needs to be reset periodically to match compass due to 'precession' being modelled, also any manoeuvres tend to send it out of sync.
7) If you use the map tools in the game, add 10 degrees to the geometric bearing to give a magnetic heading.

Here are a couple of links to help, although I made the mistake of saying 'Trust your Gyro' in the course setter vid, this should say 'Trust your Compass'!

http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.co...ss-and-DI-gyro

http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.co...for-Navigation

There's a vid clip I did at post #7

Hope this helps.

[kestrel79]

Wow great stuff Dutch thanks!

Those crazy Germans really made some great instruments, knowing which way you're going in a 109 is so much easier. Not a compass BEHIND the flight stick...

[ATAG_knuckles]

Just a British thing: Us Yanks used the "Whiskey" compass and a DG.

I have found it rather easy to work with the British Compass when you have the "Increase/Decrease mapped to a joystick button.


Knuckles

Kestral: if you ever see me on comms, give me a holler and we can do some one on one (that sounds awful doesn't it)

[Blackdog_kt]

I've taken to using only the compass and ignoring the directional gyro in RAF aircraft. The reason is that it takes time to align the DG after obtaining a reading from the compass, time during which the aircraft drifts.

Furthermore, the compass course setter lines can serve as a heading selector too. If you align them with the T-bar it reads your current heading, but you can also do things in reverse: turn the course setter lines to the heading you want to fly and then turn the plane until the T-bar aligns with the lines.

Compare the methods and you'll see it's simpler.

Case 1: Using the DG
I align the course setter lines with the T-bar, read the heading, input that heading into the DG and then fly by turning the aircraft until the DG reads the heading i want to fly. Rinse and repeat every 5-10 minutes, or after violent maneuvers that upset the instruments.

Case 2: Using only the compass
Turn the course setter lines to the heading you want to fly. Turn the aircraft until the T-bar aligns with the compass lines.

That's it, you're done. No need to recalibrate, no nothing. Just turn your course setter to your desired heading and turn your plane around.

In the Spit and Hurri, i do this by leaning to the side with freetrack and pause my view there so i can have a look behind the stick. The on-screen messages and mouse-over tooltips are helpful, since i play with reduced texture resolution and some of the instrument markings are blurry. If you don't have a head tracker available, you can also do it with the mouse: middle mouse button lets you move your view to the side.

In the Blenheim there's an even easier way: there's a second magnetic compass in the bombardier's station, on the base of the bombsight. So, you can set your course setter to the desired heading and then just hop into the front seat to take a look at the compass. You can be hopping back and forth as needed between cockpit and bombardier station to check the compass, instead of trying to look behind the yoke wheel.

That compass is also more clearly marked, the needle has an arrow on the side of it that points north.

It's also easy to take magnetic variance into account this way, which is 10 degrees for our map. What i do is get a rough flight plan going once i spawn, then i measure the required bearings with the map tools while i'm still on the ground.

Let's say i want to take off from Littlestone on ATAG and fly a heading of 120 degrees true to some target. Since true hdg = magnetic hdg + variance, my desired true hdg is 120 and the variance is 10, it follows that:

120 = mag hdg + 10
Hence, the require Mag hdg is 110 degrees.

I just set the course setter for 110 before i even take off, then i just turn around until the course setter is aligned with the compass needle.

[jimbop]

Good post, Blackdog. I might start using this method in the fighters. I find the DG is reasonably stable in the Blenheim but it drifts very easily in the fighters. I tend to use navigation in the fighters only when I am inland and can't see the coast or am mid-channel and very low.

A few weeks ago I was on ATAG, sputtering low on fuel in a hurri and approaching the white cliffs in as slow a descent as possible with the engine cutting out. I drifted in and had chosen a nice flat field for landing when I noticed flak around me. I thought there was someone on my six but couldn't see them. And then the realisation slowly dawned: I was landing in France with about a thimbleful of fuel remaining.

It is a good idea for red pilots to ensure they are heading west on the way home!

[ATAG_knuckles]

Jim

Dont feel bad, days ago I was in the bomb aimers position training a new kid: Got confused in my directions, found an airfield pointed it out and told him to land, flack all around so I said get it down fast !!! to our surprise we landed just as a 109 was taking off OOps !!!!
Great teacher i am