Impossible to taxi!

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but taxiing the 109 literally takes an act of God. Rudder input is almost nil, and differential braking is unusable. It seems the tailwheel locks in a particular direction after differential braking. I know this bird should be tough to taxi with the narrow track landing gear, but MY GOD! Perhaps I am doing something wrong. It's a handful to fly, but I got it. Taxiing is killing me literally!

Not very hard after Dora for me...Few days of practice and it will be fine.

My concern, is, am I doing something wrong? Is there some tailwheel lock or something that I am missing. Maybe it's just user error, but I've been flying flight sims for a while (Il-2 1946 most recently) this is a whole other ball game. I had a tough time with the mustang but am doing fine now.

Are you sure you've unlocked the tailwheel? Its a lever on the left hand side above the trim wheel. I don't think the K-4 unlocks the tailwheel by just pulling back the stick like in the Dora.

really? out of the 109 190 and 51 the 109 is the easiest to taxi for me. its just tail wheel usage and L/R brakes as needed. I imagine this thing is a nightmare without having a rudder pedal/toe brake setup though.

lock the tail wheel to go streight, unlock it to turn. learn that the brakes aren't just on/off, they need to be feathered.

well, i think the 109 is pretty much the same to taxi as the dora is...except that the gear is narrow, and you have to pay attention to the speed, otherwise it likes to tilt the wings down...differential toe brakes work good to steer her.and other than with the 190 where i usually taxi with 1500rpm in the 109 i leave her at around only 1000rpm to avoid getting too fast.

interestingly though, one of my friends claims that he is steering the 109 with pedal input on the ground.i tried that and for me there is no way to do that in a somehow controlled manner.so toe brakes are the way to go for me at least.

I can stick up a quick video of control inputs to taxi if that would be any help?

I find it strange that using toe brakes works fine for turning even with tail wheel in locked position. It almost makes taxiing easier. Surely this can't be right?

You are effectively skidding the tail wheel when you turn like that.

Hello,

For me too I found the taxi very hard and with the other warbirds as P-51 or Dora no problem.

With the Bf-109 I don't know if I must lock the tailwheel or not... For information I use my Bf-109 full real.

Is it possible to have one little video of your taxi ?

Thanks again, Skull.

I can actually see the tail wheel moving a bit. Not as much as when unlocked but enough to make turning possible. I can understand that I can force the plane to skid with a bit of throttle but I can turn even at idle as long as I have some forward movement. Doesn't take much speed or brake pressure at all. And even if I'm skidding I don't seem to damage the tail wheel.

Edit: Just realised the takeoff assist is still on! DOH

Will redo the vid after work.

For me, by default, takeoff assistance was checked on, once I unchecked it, it was much easier on taxi and takeoff.

I find it strange that using toe brakes works fine for turning even with tail wheel in locked position. It almost makes taxiing easier. Surely this can't be right?

Its how I did my taxi in the Dora ... hit the throttle alittle bit in the turns and away we went. I just unlock the tail wheel in the 109 because it doesn't seem to have enough brakes/rudder to turn locked. No problems unlocked.

You are effectively skidding the tail wheel when you turn like that.

Yep you can feel it skid. Unlock the tailwheel and use just enough power to get rolling. Small bursts and return to idle are best while taping differential brakes to keep it straight. If you have a long bit of straight taxiway, lock the tailwheel. I have the tailwheel lock toggled on a toggle :) switch on my warthog throttle quad and it's easy to snap on and off.

I found that I had to invert the wheel brake axis's. After that the K4 was much easier to control.

Here is the video you need to watch to taxi

In the special menu in the options, I had set the TO assistance to 0 as it is for my other planes configuration. Maybe it will make the things easier.

Looks like I'll make a "Messerschmitt corner" in a runway before getting the hang of this ;)

It does take practice with smooth throttle, slight touch of toe brake and some rudder added in.

Should be doable though, P-51 seemed hard at first too.. :music_whistling: ;)

It just lessens the tendency for the tail to swing too far. Much easier with the tail wheel locked - unless you're turning a sharp corner, in which case, unlock the tail wheel, get it pointed in the right direction, then lock the tail wheel again.

I've used that technique with all the tail draggers.

Maybe this video will help?

I appreciate all of the replies on this thread. With all the advice, I kind of figured out how to taxi.