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Messerschmitt Bf-109K: small update
- Thread starter mike_cyul
- Start date
Thanks for that info Roland, it is great to hear about these things first hand! I had the honour of knowing several WW2 pilots and aircrew and it was often a very different story they told, from the history books.
Interestingly and coincidently (and a bit off topic!), one chap (my boss at the time!) was a Seafire pilot (he scored first ever kill in a Seafire and his only victory, during Operation Torch) and also an observer who flew in the 'Wedding-ring Wellingtons', also attempting to clear mines! As you said, if they flew high, it did not work and lower, any mine would explode under the tail and tip the nose down....no fun when you are at 50ft already!
Interestingly and coincidently (and a bit off topic!), one chap (my boss at the time!) was a Seafire pilot (he scored first ever kill in a Seafire and his only victory, during Operation Torch) and also an observer who flew in the 'Wedding-ring Wellingtons', also attempting to clear mines! As you said, if they flew high, it did not work and lower, any mine would explode under the tail and tip the nose down....no fun when you are at 50ft already!
High speed flight:
The high speed elevator/aileron problem has been modelled as well of course. Even the present 109 pilots will tell you that doing a low altitude split S is dangerous because when you start the maneuver you have plently of aileron and elevator authority.
Once you accelerate through approx 300kts the stick gets almost unmovable VERY quickly and at low altitude it's definitely NOT the time to find out that you can't pull enough Gs!
Groundhandling:
There are two problem areas. Admitted, groundhandling in any MSFS IS a basic problem.
Besides that you can't simulate canted wheels as no simulator AFAIK calculates the spinning dynamics/mass of a wheel with a vertically offset and canted center.
Nevertheless the groundhandling is pretty good and if you aren't VERY quick with the rudder, you are off for a ride...unfortunately only on ground.
I had to reduce the initial yaw just a tad so that one has at least a realistic chance to take off at all, as it's easy IRL to feel the plane starting to yaw and to counteract this tendency before the yaw develops.
As we don't have this in FSX just a touch of visually detectable yaw is allowed to be able to counteract that.
Pilot skills:
As most of the 109 lovers probably know that the vertical stab wasn't symetrical and even mounted at an angle, one could assume that the Bouchon with the Merlin (and the prop rotating the wrong way) must be almost unmanagable during take off. Not at all.
Quite a few pilots like the Bouchon even more than the DB version due to the more reliable and smoother engine.
My father told me that the practical 'type-rating' for the Fw190 was done the following way.
Switching from the low powered Arado you just had to learn all the switches and instruments, point at them blindfolded during the final test and off you went with your Fw190.
If you were a natural born stick and rudder pilot this wasn't a problem at all and the guys on the other end of the scale who shredded their 190 and 109s on take off most probably wouldn't have survived their first dogfight anyway.
The middle of the road pilots naturally had great troubles especially with the 109 during the transition.
That explains for a great part the extremely variing stories about the 109.
Bernt
The high speed elevator/aileron problem has been modelled as well of course. Even the present 109 pilots will tell you that doing a low altitude split S is dangerous because when you start the maneuver you have plently of aileron and elevator authority.
Once you accelerate through approx 300kts the stick gets almost unmovable VERY quickly and at low altitude it's definitely NOT the time to find out that you can't pull enough Gs!
Groundhandling:
There are two problem areas. Admitted, groundhandling in any MSFS IS a basic problem.
Besides that you can't simulate canted wheels as no simulator AFAIK calculates the spinning dynamics/mass of a wheel with a vertically offset and canted center.
Nevertheless the groundhandling is pretty good and if you aren't VERY quick with the rudder, you are off for a ride...unfortunately only on ground.
I had to reduce the initial yaw just a tad so that one has at least a realistic chance to take off at all, as it's easy IRL to feel the plane starting to yaw and to counteract this tendency before the yaw develops.
As we don't have this in FSX just a touch of visually detectable yaw is allowed to be able to counteract that.
Pilot skills:
As most of the 109 lovers probably know that the vertical stab wasn't symetrical and even mounted at an angle, one could assume that the Bouchon with the Merlin (and the prop rotating the wrong way) must be almost unmanagable during take off. Not at all.
Quite a few pilots like the Bouchon even more than the DB version due to the more reliable and smoother engine.
My father told me that the practical 'type-rating' for the Fw190 was done the following way.
Switching from the low powered Arado you just had to learn all the switches and instruments, point at them blindfolded during the final test and off you went with your Fw190.
If you were a natural born stick and rudder pilot this wasn't a problem at all and the guys on the other end of the scale who shredded their 190 and 109s on take off most probably wouldn't have survived their first dogfight anyway.
The middle of the road pilots naturally had great troubles especially with the 109 during the transition.
That explains for a great part the extremely variing stories about the 109.
Bernt
thunder100
Charter Member 2010
Slightly OT:
I find it truly awe-inspiring that on SOH we have access to such resources as real WWII pilots, and the real people who flew the aircraft back in the day - what did we do before internet
As 94 is not on the so young side I usually fly with my friend on the planes he flew (he enjoys this a lot) and take notes.
All this if there are planes(Klemm and Stösser I could never find-Ju 88 has a cracy FDE,there is no portable(FSX) do-17)
Roland