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Corsair Tailhook

. . or to put it differently, has anyone tried to splice the Racer's mods in with the warbird Corsairs? Or is Tom's FDE above superior?

Also, has anyone been able to trap the plane on an escort or light cv? I can land - crash detection on - on an Essex (eg. Michael's Yorktown or Leyte) without too much trouble, and without nosing over. However, because the Casablanca or Cabot deck is that much smaller, that big long nose of the Corsair blocks out any visual reference of the flight deck (moved the vc eye point out to the left - ie "dog view" - but didn't really help) making it VERY tough!! They did fly off of them, e.g. the USS Sicily in Korea. Respect!
 
I think for some evolutions.. an essential bit of kit has to be TrackIR.. which I no longer have.. but whether this would help seeing around the Corsairs nose, I don't know.

EDIT: I've just put her down on HMS Ocean a couple of times but that's a bit longer than the Casablanca class. A case of lining up with the island and falling out of the sky at the right time!!

ATB
DaveB:)
 
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One has to admire the hose nose guys assigned to the smaller decks. I am sure peripheral vision played an important part here, one got used to the shape, texture and position of the ships wake. The most important thing one can do is to judge the turn to final such that one really only gets wings level just before the cut. A little extra (means a lot of right rudder) rudder helps keep the LSO platform in view for the cut. In essence the whole deal starts with making the properly placed turn to final from downwind. The last thing to do is wings level before the cut.

At least the CVL's could make good speed. The poor guys trying to land Seafires aboard CVE's in the Med with no wind had a very high attrition rate just due to deck "landings".

T
 
Right rudder! Hadn't thought of that. I've been doing CQ around CV-12 in the F4U-1A with Tom's FDE, with John's adjustments for the later A2A release. This beast is a handful in the CQ pattern. I'm 1 knot from being one of those "eliminated ensigns", swimming with the fishies behind the boat, on almost every circuit. I can never get the turn setup correctly. Always end up right behind the ship, too far back, after turning too tight and almost departing. But, the right rudder trick is useful. Crabs the nose over a bit. I set 16 knots of wind, with the ship going 25 knots (ish). Haven't nosed over yet. I setup a formation with a couple DDs acting as visual turn points. Not sure it's helping yet... Good stuff.
 
Yeah, gets you sweating in the CQ pattern PRB for sure! Managed a trap - just - this time on the CVL USS Cabot. Stopped with one wheel a foot from deck edge. Still, I could walk away . . Then my immersion bubble went POP! when I decided to press slew to move her back for a relaunch - the plane then went shooting out a mile off to starboard like a hockey puck - LOL! :banghead:

Second trap on the Cabot was clean, no nose over, followed by a good cat shot. Success! Satisfaction!

Ruined the momentary elation by getting cocky and trying to trap on the larger CV-45 Valley Forge (here in the library and a great looking cv). Saw I was too high 30 ft out due to the vc magnification set wrong (this happens to me all too often), fussed then with moving the eye point down and out to the left BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEE FOR SH***T (like trying to drive a tank with no outside views), and then blew it big time. Augured-in - yes, not a ramp strike but a real nose first, stalling cork screw - at about the second wire. Really very ugly. Why? Embarrassingly, of all things, simply by letting my AS fall too low. DOH!!! Back to work!

tumblr_n9uttaxXNp1sjqxemo1_1280.jpg
 
Thanks for all the interesting information here!
I read somewhere that Corsair pilots often did not see the deck in the last seconds before landing, just (part of) the LSO. That happens to me quite a lot, but it is not really a problem. If you know where the LSO is, you know where the ship is.
But how anybody would want to do this at night.....?
Btw; here is the tailhook entry for the Flying Stations Seafury that I modified, based on John's suggestions. It seems to cure the tipping-over problem, but at a price. The short hook gives a lot of yaw if you don't land in exactly the right place (and perhaps even if you land in the right place, but I have not been able to find that out).

[TailHook]
tailhook_length = 2
tailhook_position = -35, 0, 0
cable_force_adjust = 1
 
Yes.. it's been a great thread thus far and long may it continue:very_drunk:

Hmm.. the Sea Fury is another model I need to reload. Without wanting to drag this thread OT.. does the model fly level for you Stickshaker? I've not flown it for a while but the fact it wandered to the right (if I remember right) stopped my using it. Will try that mod once I've re-installed it again;)

EDIT: That TH entry works just fine mate. The Sea Fury handles like a drunk on ice at close to stall speed but I didn't notice any adverse effects on catching the wire. The aircraft straightened up (levelled on it's fore/aft axis) then settled back on it's tail wheel. I tried a couple of times before adding the edit and while I admit I'm out of practise on the Sea Fury.. she nosed over at the same weight and speed. Tried 2 traps with the edit.. both fine;)
ATB
DaveB:)
 
Hello:

I am really enjoying this thread; seeing how older models are being reborn and the discussions that follow about their real world counterparts. Thanks to all!

One question: is anyone else experiencing the cowl flaps being activated with the brakes on the Corsair with the latest FDE update? I can't seem to get that sorted...

Thanks,
 
Tom mentioned right rudder, and I thought it was used to kick the nose over a bit, allowing you to see better on final approach. Then I read the article that expat posted (great story), and it seems you really needed a lot of right rudder. I don't understand why. Are we not just in a coordinated left turn during the approach? Why is so much right rudder needed?
 
Regarding the use of right rudder, when you're dealing with airspeeds as low as they are for carrier approaches and landings in these types, near stalling speed and just a smidge above, you're getting into the area where torque and p-factor take-over, wanting to pull/swing you to the left, and you need to put in more and more right rudder to keep the ball centered - with carrier-landing these types, it's not your standard land-based landing speeds in the approach, and you're fluttering closer to the edge of the envelope - speed low, nose high. When we were recreating the Navy-modified P-51D that was put through carrier trials, I came across a great article written by Bob Elder, who was the pilot throughout those trials and was one of the Navy's most accomplished carrier/test pilots during WWII. As just an example, Elder mentions that when the Mustang was configured for landing, full-right rudder was required to keep the ball centered when stabilized at 82 mph - meaning, you really didn't want to get as slow as that, and the challenge with the Mustang was you couldn't land it on the carrier at speeds higher than 89-90 mph, otherwise you'd risk structural damage when the tailhook would trap a wire, so Elder had to stick it right at 85-86 mph every time. As Elder also stated, by the time of the Mustang carrier trials (November 1944), the turning-approach to the carrier deck, which was necessary for landing the Mustang aboard deck so as to maintain visibility of the LSO, was already common-practice, but as he also mentioned, visibility around the Mustang nose was no problem compared to an F4U or F6F with cowl flaps open.
 
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I thought these photos were pretty comparable - note the similarity to FSX in attitude of the aircraft when at the full tension of the wire:





In these shots, you can see the aircraft connected to the catapult:



 
Bomber_12th said:
Regarding the use of right rudder, when you're dealing with airspeeds as low as they are for carrier approaches and landings in these types, near stalling speed and just a smidge above, you're getting into the area where torque and p-factor take-over, wanting to pull/swing you to the left, and you need to put in more and more right rudder to keep the ball centered - with carrier-landing these types, it's not your standard land-based landing speeds in the approach, and you're fluttering closer to the edge of the envelope - speed low, nose high. When we were recreating the Navy-modified P-51D that was put through carrier trials, I came across a great article written by Bob Elder, who was the pilot throughout those trials and was one of the Navy's most accomplished carrier/test pilots during WWII. As just an example, Elder mentions that when the Mustang was configured for landing, full-right rudder was required to keep the ball centered when stabilized at 82 mph - meaning, you really didn't want to get as slow as that, and the challenge with the Mustang was you couldn't land it on the carrier at speeds higher than 89-90 mph, otherwise you'd risk structural damage when the tailhook would trap a wire, so Elder had to stick it right at 85-86 mph every time. As Elder also stated, by the time of the Mustang carrier trials (November 1944), the turning-approach to the carrier deck, which was necessary for landing the Mustang aboard deck so as to maintain visibility of the LSO, was already common-practice, but as he also mentioned, visibility around the Mustang nose was no problem compared to an F4U or F6F with cowl flaps open.
Click to expand...

Thanks John. Did some circuits around the base trying carrier approach speeds with various amounts of right rudder trimmed in. It works! Of course, Tom did tell us that... :) It's amazing how we can hear, but not listen. Or is that listen, but not hear? Anyhow, the beast is a bit easier to fly slow with the rudder trimmed right. Off to the boat. They're taking cover already... :)
 
The last couple of photos the plane caught the barrier! Bounced over the wires or some such.

Rather amazing the best landing trim settings also work perfectly for takeoff.

T
 
Hi,

We are wondering if anyone has tried the AF Corsair in P3D. Does it work properly? How many of you are using it there?

Thank you.

Kat.
 
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