Tips on the FE2

[Bullethead]

Pointers on Flying the FE2, Part I
NOTE: These tips reflect my experience on 90% Reality (I use auto-mixture). Your mileage may vary if you use other settings.

The "Fee" can be used as either a fighter or a bomber. As a fighter, it's superior to the E.III and can hold its own with the Albatross D.II in inexperienced hands. If you know what you're doing, you could probably fight slightly more advanced fighters on even terms (provided you pick the terms), but this aircraft is definitely best for the earlier part of the war.

1. Advantages
Stable and easy to fly with no particularly nasty habits. Can be trimmed out to fly hands-off with little effort and recovers from spins easily. Can make hard turns at very low speed without stalling. Can turn very quickly using rudder, with little loss of speed or altitude. Accelerates quickly. Forward swivel gun allows firing without pilot having to actually aim. Pilot's view of front hemisphere is excellent. Second gun covers upper rear area and serves as "rear view mirror".

2. Disadvantages
Too stable: has zero roll rate and ailerons alone can't establish much of a bank. Slow except in dives. Pathetic climb rate and very low ceiling even without bombs. Bleeds energy in the vertical like a stuck hog. Pilot has no view of the rear hemisphere. Engine and fuel tank are easy for enemy to hit from behind.

3. Cool Features
If you look down into the cockpit, your eyes will be immediately drawn to a photo of an attractive music hall girl in a harem bikini, which is wedged under the edge of one of the instruments. This is very useful for providing that extra inspiration needed in desperate situations.

You'll also see there's a small shelf running across the front of the cockpit just below the instruments. You can have your mechanic bore a hole in the right corner of this to server as a drink holder.

But coolest of all, this aircraft comes with a full pack of smokes as standard equipment. These cigarettes are on the above-mentioned shelf, and slide back and forth as you maneuver. As such, they make an excellent slip indicator, easier to see than the ball in the standard turn-and-bank indicator that probably hasn't even been invented yet anyway.

4. Takeoff
The FE2 needs ALL the runway to clear even the small trees commonly found right at the end of the strip. It has to be worked into the air; it won't get there itself. This is, ironically, because of its excellent low-speed flying characteristics, combined with its fairly level stance on the ground. The Fee will fly very well at 45-50 knots, but assumes a rather nose-up attitude. Thus, when it reaches this speed on takeoff, the angle of attack forces the tailskid into the dirt, which greatly reduces acceleration. Because the plane at rest sits nearly level, even a little positive angle of attack acts like trying to drive with the parking brake on. Thus, it requires about 2/3 of the runway to reach 55-60 knots, at which point rather strong and maintained forward pressure on the stick will get the tail off the ground. This has to be done carefully, however, so as not to trip over the nosewheel.

You then have to hold the 2-wheel stance, gradually reducing forward pressure, until you reach about 70 knots, at which point the tail will stay up by itself. This allows you to apply a VERY little back pressure to get the Fee into the air without sticking the tail in the dirt again. By now, about 3/4 of the runway is behind you and trees are looming ahead. You'll probably have to pick a gap between them because you will NOT gain altitude very quickly. Or you can just turn around, provided you don't drag a wingtip or get run over by somebody coming along behind you; the Fee is safe for hard turns at low speeds and altitudes.

5. Climb
NOTE: I fly with automixture--never bothered with mixture before and don't intend to start now . Thus, your results here may vary if you do it manually. Anyway....

The 2nd thing you'll notice after getting airborne (after the proximity of the trees) is that the Fee wants badly to roll left. It requires about 50% stick deflection at 100% aileron sensitivity to keep it level. I can't believe the thing was that crank in rea life (it was notoriously stable, I hear), so I have no compunction about using aileron trim to fix this problem.

Once you get that sorted out, you'll discover that the FE2 has practically no sustained climb ability. At low altitudes, the best sustained climb rate is about 350fpm at about 65-70 knots. Attempts to climb more steeply result 200fpm at 55 knots, so don't bother. This miniscule ROC rapidly dispears with alitutude, vanishing altogether at about 5700'. It takes about 25-30 minutes to reach this altitude. The manual says the Fee's ceiling is 11,000' but I don't believe it at all. It's possible to work your way up to about 6000' with a series of short zooms from your top level speed of 90 knots, but the game really isn't worth the candle.
You therefore must be aware of 2 things. First, the enemy is almost always going to have the altitude advantage. Second, once lost, altitude is pretty much gone for good.

Interestingly, at 5700', the Fee doesn't act like it's at the end of its leash. Its top IAS remains the same from the ground up to here, and its handling also seems the same. It's only the sustained climb that goes away.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Bullethead]

Part II

Pointers on Flying the FE2, Part II

6. Turning
The Fee's ailerons are there mostly for decoration. Used alone, they provide next to no roll rate and appear able to establish only about a 20^ bank. As such, their primary use is keeping the wings level during takeoff and landing.

The rudder, therefore, is your primary turning and rolling control. The FE2's rudder is EXTREMELY authoritative, however, and can be used to make some really radical turns in combat. This is due not only to the size and balanced design of the rudder, but also the lack of a weathervane effect from a rear fuselage and the engine being on the center of gravity.
To roll the Fee more than about 20^, and to do so quickly, use a lot of rudder in the same direction. You also need a LOT of bottom rudder to keep the nose down during turns in either direction, even in a steep bank. Otherwise, you very quickly run out of airspeed.

You can also use the rudder alone to turn the plane. This is, in fact, the best way to make course corrections of up to about 30^, because bothering with the ailerons for such a small turn really isn't worth the trouble. When just skidding to a new course like this, however, you need to apply a little opposite aileron to stay level. If you don't, the rudder will roll you into the turn and you might not get level again before you overshoot your mark. But if you do, opposite rudder will often put you back on course and level you at the same time.

If you really stomp on the rudder, the Fee will swap ends practically within its own length and assume a good bank in that direction of you're interested in continuing the turn normally from there. Amazingly, this bleeds very little speed, no doubt again due to the lack of a rear fuselage to act as a brake. This sort of turn has all kinds of uses. In combat, it can be used to gain angles quickly for an attack, and of course it's very effective for evasion. You can also use this to line up on a runway or handy field that's WAY off your line of flight but which you have to get down on RIGHT NOW.

The FE2 has a very strange quirk, however: it conserves angular momentum to an insane degree. Once you start rolling or yawing, it's sometimes hard to make it stop where you want it. Suppose you're in a bank and want to level out. You deflect the ailerons until you're level, then let go of the stick. However, the Fee will continue to roll past level. So you give it a bump of opposite aileron. This stops the roll for a second or so, then it starts up again. You have to give it several opposite aileron bumps to finally bring the roll to a halt. Same goes when using the rudder. This is only really noticeable when cruising between safe waypoints, however. In combat or while landing and taking off, you're maneuvering a fair amount all the time so don't notice this happening.

7. Vertical Maneuvers
The Fee's elevators also have a lot of authority, which they retain even at low speeds. The Fee will loop, but only if it starts at about 75-80 knots or so. Immelmann turns aren't a good idea due to the pathetic roll rate combined with low airspeed at the top of the maneuver and the engine sputtering from lack of fuel. Applying rudder to help the roll often results in inverted snaprolls and spins, but fortunately it's easy to get out of these. The main use of elevators is therefore to turn when banked steeply.

The FE2 can't really zoom climb very well because it slows down very quickly. However, because it can fly at such low speeds, it can hold most of the altitude it gains (which isn't much) unless you totally stall out, which is actually somewhat difficult to do. Hammerhead turns, therefore, aren't really a good way to reverse direction quickly. Instead, just do a hard rudder flat turn, which will happen much quicker and cost you much less speed.

In a dive, however, the Fee accelerates very quickly. It's a good idea to make all steep dives with the power off, though, or you might end up going too fast. The Fee is strong but has its limits. However, if you keep it below 180-200 knots, you should be OK, provided you don't pull out too hard at the bottom. Just remember that you'll probably never see that altitude again during the sortie, so be sure you really want to dive before you do it. I don't recommend diving at all on the German side of the lines, or you'll eat a lot of flak on the way home....

8. Air-to-Air Combat
The FE2 can't run, can't climb, and shouldn't dive unless absolutely necessary. Fortunately, it turns very well once you get the hang of it, because that's the only option you have left. Against scouts, expect to be bounced from above and to be at a severe energy disadvantage all through the first few minutes. Your only real hope is to stay alive long enough for the enemy to blow his energy out of greed. Once he does, however, you have a very good chance of taking him.

You have no visibility to the rear, but you do have a rear-firing gun mounted in front of you. Keep an eye on that thing, because it will point to enemies behind you, thus telling you which way to break. Make full use of your rudder to make yourself as hard to hit as possible and turn hard into the the enemy. Just remember that this gun only covers the upper rear area, so you're still vulnerable behind and below.

On the attack, forget all the usual fighter tactics. Your objective isn't to line up for the traditional killshot, but to just get your observer close enough to wang away with his forward swivel gun. He does better with targets that have little relative motion than he does with snapshots. Thus, you want to get onto something like a collision course, or roughly parallel anyway if the enemy is low-E.

When confronting higher-E scouts, they often overshoot and go into a chandelle. Use your rudder to instantly point yourself at the center point of his turn and then stay there as he reacts. You can change your vector so quickly this way that most enemy pilots don't know how to deal with it. Thus, you rapidly close the range while staying inside his turn. The best place to be is on the enemy's 4 or 8 and lower than he is, while he's on your 2 or 10. You can easily keep the enemy in view during this process thanks to there being no upper wing in the way. Keep turning to keep the enemy more or less in the same spot on your screen and your observer will light him right up. Just remember to keep one eye on the rear gun....

Fighting in the treetops is really the Fee's forte. You can maintain altitude during hard turns even when only doing 55 knots, as long as your motor still puts out. This really forces the enemy to blow his energy advantage if he wants to fight you at all, because he can no longer dive past you. However, as mentioned above, regaining altitude is a very time-consuming process. If you're in Hunland, trying to get back across the lines at low altitude might be rather painful.

PS: Don't expect much help from your squaddies. At the first sight of higher enemies, they tend to dive away....

9. Landing
It should be obvious by now that sideslipping doesn't do much towards lowering your speed. Also, the Fee floats along at very low speeds. To avoid overshooting, therefore, you need to start your descent (assuming you still have altitude) some miles from the field, idling down down gently to avoid building up a lot of speed. Then you can just putt along over the treetops the rest of the way.

If you've trimmed for level flight at high power, you'll have to add a lot of up trim on final. Also, the aileron trim you put on after takeoff will have to be removed or you'll roll over. These things will make themselves obvious during your approach, so just deal with them.

Point the nose SLIGHTLY down and get within a couple feet of the ground without building up speed, then pull back on the stick to level out. As you float along (usually for 1/4 to 1/3 of the runway), gradually increase back stick to keep the nose more or less level as you slow down. Eventually, you'll touch down. You need to hit pretty much level because your tailskid is only a few inches off the ground even so. If the skid touches first, you can tip over pretty easily. Landed in this way, the Fee sticks down nicely without bouncing. Pull all the way back on the stick for about 5 seconds, at which point you can release it, because by then the angle of attack will hold the skid down. Shut off the motor and you'll coast to a stop at about 1/2 way down the runway.

 

[Siggi]

Excellent pilot-notes. :thumbsup:

 

[oldsoldier173]

Flying the Fee

So far this is the only aircraft I have flown in the game, and also find some of the quarks as mentioned. Takeoff with less than full power about 80% will get the Fee to lift on its own, very little if any stick movement required.
Landing is not much harder than described, I do slip it a bit just before set down. I use 40% power to line up landing, then nose down and slip it a tad just before touchdown.

In a fight you are right, wingman just dive and dissappear quickly, I use the slow speed and a hard rudder turn to get the bad guy to overshoot, putting my observer in perfect position with little deflection. Once in the swirl, just try to keep badguys to my front, again slower speed and hard rudder turns will keep a EIII or DII frustrated as I notice they will overshoot, and usually go over me instead of under, do not know why AI does that.

If one does stick to my rear I climb and stall, kick rudder, and dive opposite bad guy approach. Using the energy to flee if possible, or again turn and put them to my front.

In the real world I would bet observer would not like the ride Im give em, but on mission 15 and so far not a scratch.

FYI am scratch-building a Fe2b R/C aircraft, taxi tests will begin in April. Still trying to decide if go electric or gas. Electric will be less messy I thing.

 

[Bullethead]

So far this is the only aircraft I have flown in the game, and also find some of the quarks as mentioned. Takeoff with less than full power about 80% will get the Fee to lift on its own, very little if any stick movement required.

I tried an Alb D.III once, just for grins, but otherwise, I'm a total Feer myself. :friday:

I think my favorite thing about OFF is the ability to fly this thing, which was such a big part of the air war for so long, but about which so little has been written. It's the ultimate grognard of WW1 in the air, IMHO. Everybody wants to fly a famous type of scout, but I wanted to fly the Fee .

I'll have to try your takeoff proceedure again. I tried that just letting it fly itself off and it never worked for me--always ran out of runway . Then I started paying attention to what the AI guys taking off ahead of me were doing, and copied them. 1st time I tried that, I somersaulted on the nosewheel, but since then I've gotten it down. In fact, I'm usually in the air in less runway than anybody else .

Once in the wirl, just try to keep badguys to my front, again slower speed and hard rudder turns will keep a EIII or DII frustrated as I notice they will overshoot, and usually go over me instead of under, do not know why AI does that.

Bullethead's 3rd Law of E-fighting: NEVER dive below an enemy unless you're intending to disengage. I can't fault them for playing by the rules .

The thing is, the Fee just doesn't follow the same sort of path as most planes, so it's much harder for the enemy figherjocks to predict. At least when I fly it. I suspect it will become popular in MP at some point for that very reason.

In the real world I would bet observer would not like the ride Im give em, but on mission 15 and so far not a scratch.

No doubt. From reading that "Ugly Ducking" eBook that Womenfly2 mentioned, it appears the observers didn't have seatbelts. I'm sure I'd have tossed mine out many times in real life .

I find it pretty easy to evade bullets from enemy scouts, too. However, groundfire usually eats me alive because I often end up pretty low. Plus, I've been involved in a number of collisions. Thus, none of my guys have survived 15 missions yet. But despite that, I feel pretty safe from air-to-air threats. I've gotten a lot more of them than they have of me, even in the me-vs-many situations my squaddies usually leave me in.

FYI am scratch-building a Fe2b R/C aircraft, taxi tests will begin in April. Still trying to decide if go electric or gas. Electric will be less messy I thing.

Yeah, cleaning the exhaust juices off the struts and wires of an open rear fuselage is a total pain. 30 years back or so, I had an RC plane called an Antic, which was like a cross between a Bleriot and an Ugly Stik. Electric motors back then had huge batteries that lasted about long enough to take off, so weren't an option. I went through about 1/2 a can of WD-40 at the end of each flying session getting the gunk out of all the nooks and crannies back there.

 

[oldsoldier173]

Spin recovery- In a scrap with a DII at @ 4500 ft and was pulling tight turn and she flipped on her side and began spinning down. Power to idle, neutral stick and nothing, still spinning. Increased power to 50% and stick to direction opposite spin, nada. Again power to idle, full up elevator, opposite rudder, stick in direction of spin and she came under control, rolled out and leveled. Opposite to everything I learned flying. Go figure.

 

[Conrad]

Now that is a comprehensive- than you for that. When my copy comes, I will re-read this post again and act on it.
Cheers.