I share your same sentiment, Cees - since flying these aircraft I have hardly flown anything else either, and everything else seems quite 'easy' by comparison after having been flying it for a few weeks straight. Modern pilots who have flown the type always comment that the Buchon and 109 are the most challenging but rewarding aircraft they have ever flown, and it is the challenge that keeps bringing them back, wanting to fly it more. Flying Mike's Buchon and 109G-6, the toughest challenge for me was mastering the landing approach, and it was reassuring to read pilot reports which stress using a rather high rate of descent and curving approach, which I find really works well in order to keep a good visual of the runway up until rounding out and flaring - start too low, and you'll have to carry too much airspeed through the approach. If you're touching down at more than 180-Km/h (
90-kts), you're landing it too fast, and the only acceptable way to land a 109/Buchon is a three-pointer, which at least it does very well (unlike many other tail-draggers, where a pilot should be proficient at both wheel landings and three-pointers, the 109/Buchon is not an aircraft to make wheel landings with).
According to all of the Bf-109G and Buchon pilot reports I've read, this is rather the consensus on key settings and airspeeds to be mindful of:
- Tailwheel always locked on takeoff and landing
- Elevator trim to +1 nose-down prior to take-off
- Flaps to 20-deg for take-off
- Radiator flaps open for take-off
- Max takeoff power in the Bf-109G: 1.15 or 1.2 ATA (
though that much is not needed)
- Max takeoff power in the Buchon: +.35 Kg/cm²
- 185-Km/h (
100-kts) "rotate speed" on take-off (
key, due to the high wing loading - get airborne earlier than that and it can easily drop a wing)
- Flaps up as the airspeed climbs through 240-Km/h (
130-kts)
- Radiator flaps open or in automatic during climb
- Climb power in the Bf-109G: 1.05 or 1.1 ATA
- Climb power in the Buchon: +.15 Kg/cm²
- Radiator flaps in automatic or shut during cruise
- Cruise power in the Bf-109G: .95, 1.0, or 1.05 ATA
- Cruise power in the Buchon: -.8 to 0 Kg/cm²
- Gear speed 300-Km/h (
160-kts)
- Radiator flaps open for landing
- Approach speed below 240-Km/h (
130-kts) down to 200-Km/h (
108-kts) last quarter of the curved approach
- Flaps full down by halfway around curved approach
- Threshold airspeed 180-km/h (
90-kts)
Matching with what I've seen in real-world current operations, I just use 1.1 ATA/2350 RPM max on the take-off run in the Bf-109G, and might push it up to 1.15 ATA/2400 RPM only after the wheels are off the ground. Once the gear is up and flaps are up I reduce the power back to 1.05 ATA/2300 RPM for climb. For climb I might just keep the radiator flaps in the full open position, or switch it to automatic and leave it there until setting up for landing, when they must be put full open again. For cruise, I usually use .95 ATA/2100 RPM or 1.0 ATA/2200 RPM (though, according to current 109G pilot Volker Bau, even 1.05 ATA is used for a fast cruise). On the landing approach, in both the 109G and Buchon, don't be surprised if you have to have the power way off/throttle way back in order to keep the airspeed down, as it is the same case in the real aircraft. 200-Km/h is my target airspeed to bleed down to in the last quarter of the curved approach/final, and 180-Km/h is the last airspeed I look for as the power is off and I'm flaring over the threshold, holding it off until it settles in.
Some fun real-world viewing inside the cockpit of Bf-109G-4 "Red 7" (which is the same airframe, rebuilt (several times over), as that of the Battle of Britain movie Buchon "Yellow 11", as included in the Flight Replicas product).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGhMGQst4lo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jenWQy4Zm-w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2DSPkqUpaA