Is the Dora the hardest aircraft to Take Off & Land In?

Just a question for you experts out there.

For me tail draggers are a lot more tricky, I have the 109 & Mustang too but yet to try them in anger.

All the jets I've tried MiG 21, SU 25 & SU 27 seem pretty easy by comparison, mainly due to the directors, jet engines which don't produce vast torque reaction & tricycle gear make them so much more controllable.

The Dora was a bit of a shock, but I'm getting to grips with it now.

I've also been comparing it (just in take off and landing) to the A3 in IL2 BoS which is again a similar handful, not saying one is better than the other, both to me are equally challenging, but I must say I love that big long nose look, of the D9.

Hats off to Ed for making it cannot wait for the Spitfire, bet that's going to be fun to get to grips with too.

Just a question for you experts out there.

 

For me tail draggers are a lot more tricky, I have the 109 & Mustang too but yet to try them in anger.

 

All the jets I've tried MiG 21, SU 25 & SU 27 seem pretty easy by comparison, mainly due to the directors, jet engines which don't produce vast torque reaction & tricycle gear make them so much more controllable.

 

The Dora was a bit of a shock, but I'm getting to grips with it now.

 

I've also been comparing it (just in take off and landing) to the A3 in IL2 BoS which is again a similar handful, not saying one is better than the other, both to me are equally challenging, but I must say I love that big long nose look, of the D9.

 

Hats off to Ed for making it cannot wait for the Spitfire, bet that's going to be fun to get to grips with too.

Mustang is the easiest due to it's good gear and trim.

Dora and Kurfürst are about equal in my opinion.

I find it a bit easier in the Kurfürst than in the Dora - which is funny if you take into account that the Dora has a wider gear.

P51 is the easiest in regards of taking off and landing I think.

The Dora was easier for me than the K4. You really can't bounce in the K4, while in the Dora you can get away from a not to serious bounce sometimes... BUT!!!!! Land it 3 points - ALWAYS!

I find all three planes easy to handle on take off and landing now.

It needed a lot of training and crashes. :D

Don't give up, there are a lot of good videos/tutorials out there.

I have made crazy bounces in the K4, which I would never have gotten away with in the Dora.

I just tried both of them again, after being away for some time: Suddenly I could not, for the life of it, take off in the K4 anymore.

I had to revert to the Dora, which I seem to have gotten so acquainted with when it came out, that I can almost always get it in the air.

(Acquainted = 100s of crashes.. ;) )

After some Dora take-offs, I could get the K4 in the air again also..

IMO, Dora has its problems but the K4 is way harder to nail, either TO and Landing. Narrow gear is there and you can clearly feel its tricky behaviour. Not impossible, it's not so difficult when you realize how to handle it, but still it's there even when you master the aircraft so at any moment you lower concentration she makes your day. You have to keep the attention to detail in every tail dragger, also P-51 can surprise you, but for me 109 is the more demanding.

S!

109

dora

mustang / tf 51

As you get better you'll be able to go from the 109 to the sabre and then the mig 21 to the huey and you'll do the similar things to prepare for it, but as you glide to the ground you'll feel the right behaviour of the plane and where it feels 'happy' to land.

Since talking of bos I found the 109s easier to master after getting used to the dcs 109 and in both games I land them exactly the same.

Have fun though. All the current prop planes are good fun to skate around the sky in. The dora and the mustang have easier target leading sights though. The 109 is still deadly when you master it and spitfire vs 109 battles are going to be glorious!

My fun tip to master in the tail draggers is landing on the grass or random field on the map. It really does add another level of difficulty and it's kinda fun.

I just started and I can land the A-10C anytime anywhere....

I have less than a few serious hours in DCS....

I just started and I can land the A-10C anytime anywhere....

I have less than a few serious hours in DCS....

Never heard of the A-10C tail dragger tbh. Is this a Russian wwii prop perhaps? Maybe it's a transport; they're slower and generally more stable ... so it doesn't really count in this discussion IMO, as the thread has evolved to be comparisons about the currently modelled DCS props. :D

Interesting points so far thanks for the inputs. I'll take it the Kurfurst is going to give me fun too. Interesting that most seem to find the 190/109 similar in difficulty re takeoff/landing. I haven't given the 109 a workout yet, but I would have thought the real thing would be a lot harder to takeoff land with the spindly narrow gear.

Its sooooo addictive and satisfying when you nail it, unless you do it you'll never get it, I'm loving it.

Like BFBunny states for the 109 I find the same for the 190, if you can get nail the 190 in BoS you'll probably nail it pretty quickly in DCS too. I reckon that DCS is actually the more difficult of the 2 models but there is not that much in it.

I've probably went through at least 33% of the Dora's production run. If the Luftwaffe had me in its ranks the war would have been over a LOT sooner

Role on the Spit, I wonder if its coincidence that Winkle Brown when asked what WWII warbirds he'd have if he could keep 2 replied the Spit XIV and the Dora

I find the 190 the most difficult to land by a long shot, seems like it has no suspension and even when I nail the speed and descent rate it bounces. Taking off I found that getting enough speed and letting the tail coming up to pick up more speed is critical. But if you manage that both can be relatively easy to get off the deck.

For me Dora is the easiest. Take off might not be the smoothest every time, but I nail the landing always without effort. No idea why, maybe it just clicks with my style (by that I mean no style and horrible approach impatience).

I had problems with the Dora T/O for a very long time, and a really nice guy offered to

have me go on his private server and while he sat in his dora on the side of the runway

and zoomed in on me...coached me as to what to do and it was like a miracle that after

a few hundred tries by myself, He had me up in no time and it was just so great to

have a teacher, as others can write and tell you what to do, but not being able to

see what the outside of the plane is going makes it tough.

I purchased the Mig21 a week and a half ago and flew it for three days, and when

I went back to the Dora I had problems once again. Now Im doing ok as Im back

to practising and I find that just looking at the gauges and keep my attention just

on going straight down the runway with no brakes, full throttle and just slight

rudder, and then let the stick go forward....up I go. I did find that my stick was

too sensitive and would lift up too much and I would stall and crash to the left, so I

changed the curves to 30 for my pitch and it really made a big difference. Now Im

down to a 15 pitch and eventually will go back to zero.

I wonder if you still have on in the options first dcs panel the auto rudder and assists ?

Turn them off when you are learning.

Good Luck

Thanks ctguy1955, I can get the Dora up and down now, though not every time with the landing.

I think most who try it will encounter the wing down and crash on takeoff for a number of times. The technique is quite specific and unusual (to me) re lifting the tail and letting her fly off herself.

When I recorded my first landing and played back in external view I winced at the crashing sound and the way the aircraft thudded onto the deck, although nothing broke and I then proceeded to nearly ground loop.

All good fun

What about the hardest aircraft to land of all time? U-2 maybe?

What about the hardest aircraft to land of all time? U-2 maybe?

S!

Nice video looks like these guys, as well as being hot shots, have a sense of humor too

Interesting. But the problem with U-2 is kinda tail dragger wheels in a single point. Probably a tail dragger pilot had less problems landing her that an Air Force pilot coming from tricycle jets, a guy used to tail draggers know deeply why he needs and how to align the aircraft perfectly to flight path to avoid skids, a jet pilot don't necessarily.

 

S!

Not only that, the visibility is so limited, they have a chase car and spotters for takeoff and landing to tell the pilot where he is in relation to the runway.

http://jalopnik.com/5537629/the-140-mph-chase-cars-of-the-us-air-force

Oh, and stopping? That's what the wing tips are for.

Not only that, the visibility is so limited, they have a chase car and spotters for takeoff and landing to tell the pilot where he is in relation to the runway.

True, but inside any aircraft, and even more while you're learning, visibility isn't always so good. While landing in the easiest aircraft you "don't see" at first and that's a thing you learn with time. A tail dragger pilot usually don't see anything at all from start, so he's used to really "don't see" much and the clues he has to look for :smilewink: . I mean, you can "see nothing" but you know what to look for perfectly, it's less a problem when you get used to, some pilots have to learn it later but a tail dragger one has no choice. So U-2 is a tough one, but I'm not sure if tougher than the toughest tail dragger.

S!

A lot tail draggers weave so they catch glimpses of where they are going or have ground crew sit on the wing to help out :)

True, but inside any aircraft, and even more while you're learning, visibility isn't always so good. While landing in the easiest aircraft you "don't see" at first and that's a thing you learn with time. A tail dragger pilot usually don't see anything at all from start, so he's used to really "don't see" much and the clues he has to look for :smilewink: . I mean, you can "see nothing" but you know what to look for perfectly, it's less a problem when you get used to, some pilots have to learn it later but a tail dragger one has no choice. So U-2 is a tough one, but I'm not sure if tougher than the toughest tail dragger.

 

S!

Wearing a spacesuit certainly doesn't help.

Just a question for you experts out there.

 

For me tail draggers are a lot more tricky, I have the 109 & Mustang too but yet to try them in anger.

 

All the jets I've tried MiG 21, SU 25 & SU 27 seem pretty easy by comparison, mainly due to the directors, jet engines which don't produce vast torque reaction & tricycle gear make them so much more controllable.

 

The Dora was a bit of a shock, but I'm getting to grips with it now.

 

I've also been comparing it (just in take off and landing) to the A3 in IL2 BoS which is again a similar handful, not saying one is better than the other, both to me are equally challenging, but I must say I love that big long nose look, of the D9.

 

Hats off to Ed for making it cannot wait for the Spitfire, bet that's going to be fun to get to grips with too.

For me, yes, Dora is the hardest to date of the tail-draggers, but now I do fairly good and consistent. (except the copters are much harder to learn)

Landing was really the issue.

Took me a lot of lot of practice to get fairly good.

We had the DCS P-51 first and almost everybody on the forum was having problems taking off in it when it was in early beta, lessons learned.

Me too, other sims and experience, but DCS is the most realistic I have encountered. I suppose real life is the litmus test, though. I just sim fly.

I practiced so much in the Dora when I went back to the P-51 I thought I had takeoff assist turned on :thumbup:

Do it stoned as I find I have alot more patience when im wasted and I make landings seem way easier also the immersion is way better