Learning the bf109

I have been mainly flying the p51. I have a pretty good handle on that aircraft and can do air to air and air to ground pretty good now. I bought the spitfire and can’t taxi that aircraft worth a poop. I can never get the airflceaft to straighten out. The tail wheel seems to have a mind of its own. So I went and bought the bf109. I can taxi that just fine. Take off was a bit rough but is getting better. Landing, I have about 50% success rate as of now. However, I find flying the bd109 requires a lot of attention. The aircraft wants to roll constantly. Depending on speed it either rolls a lot or a little or rolls to the left or to the right. Sometimes it wants to roll so hard that rolling the aircraft the other direction is slow. Also, the p51 and spit have the throttle and rpm throttle. I am used to this. The bf109 does not have the ability to control rpm, correct? I just want to make sure I am understanding this aircraft right. To be honest I am enjoying the challenge. Similar to how I felt when I first started the p51. I also love the sound of this aircraft. Please let me know any tips or tricks or if I am misunderstanding anything.

Thanks

you can turn off automatic propeller pitch control and manually set the blade pitch... there's an instrument on the dash which indicates propeller blade position

the aircraft has fixed trim tabs for aileron and rudder... they're set by maintenance for a normal combat cruise situation. Usually an uncommanded roll results from either being at the wrong airspeed or engine power for the aircraft trim setting.

Adjust your flight profile until you can achieve **somewhere close** to the trimmed condition... it'll never be perfect. I suggest you explore the relationship between engine torque and roll tendencies.

You can also adjust the trim tabs in the Options.. but if you don't know what you're doing you're likely just to make them worse. Enjoy she's a fun bird.

I've taken to manually adding a tiny amount of rudder (with my feet) to control the roll when cruising at a speed where the static trim tabs mentioned above are not effective enough. Crude, but it works. It's basically trimming out the roll with the rudder like you do in the Spit.

Keep practicing take offs and landing... after doing non-stop ground ops and touch-n-go practice in the Spit for the last six weeks I find the 109 not a big deal to handle.

Another thing for take offs and landing... dont be afraid to use the whole runway. I see tutorials say stuff like 'advance throttle to 8 psi smoothly over 4-5 seconds' or similar. Recipe to torque off into weeds when learning the plane. 4 psi more than enough over say 10 s on a normal length runway. (May be muddling time - not in front of sim).

Landings have much less drama if you have the throttle closed just over the fence (no more torque effects to worry about) but enough speed to 'drive in' the aircraft and land on the mains with very little descent rate. A little bit of tail down is good.

This all said - I'm still not consistent enough to nail it every time.

HTH

In Bf-109 you have to think that throttle and prop lever is binned together.

Higher throttle settings will give you higher rpm.

Just remember if you are using auto start to flip Automatic Prop governor On.

Take Off W/O brakes use.

Another thing for take offs and landing... dont be afraid to use the whole runway. I see tutorials say stuff like 'advance throttle to 8 psi smoothly over 4-5 seconds' or similar. Recipe to torque off into weeds when learning the plane. 4 psi more than enough over say 10 s on a normal length runway. (May be muddling time - not in front of sim).

 

HTH

This tutorial is not for Bf-109, Bf uses ATA for MAP not psi.

I would say don't be afraid to use full power.

Torque problems in take off is just a myth in spitfire or p-51.

Dont use whole runway you want to be high in the air as fast as possible.

I can appreciate that it can be done with high power, starting to get there myself, but you need to walk before you can run.

The slower you do the take off initially the more time you have to react to the visual cues and build muscle memory. There is no other feedback to tell you what is happening in this sim. This is especially important if your frame rates are low.

I'm all for letting new traildragger pilots get in the air with as little frustration as possible so they can build confidence and skills quicker.

$0.02

Thanks for all the feedback. I have been doing nothing but touch and goes for the day and am getting better. Also I am realizing that when you have the plane trimmed correctly it wants to roll less. Thanks for all the advice.

I can appreciate that it can be done with high power, starting to get there myself, but you need to walk before you can run.

 

 

 

$0.02

The slower you do take off the longer you sit in part where plane behavior is not nice.

I do agree that at beginning of the take off, rapid full power isn't required.

But power at the end of take off must be high enough to make take off safe.

Where Spitfire and its excellent wings allow for low power takeoffs, planes like FW190 or P-51(combat load out) will struggle with lift off at low power settings.

The slower you do take off the longer you sit in part where plane behavior is not nice.

I do agree that at beginning of the take off, rapid full power isn't required.

But power at the end of take off must be high enough to make take off safe.

Where Spitfire and its excellent wings allow for low power takeoffs, planes like FW190 or P-51(combat load out) will struggle with lift off at low power settings.

Meh... not sure I entirely agree with this assessment.

Takeoff is about airspeed; power is simply how quickly you get there.

Sure, you need sufficient oomph to actually get to takeoff speed then maintain it after you transition through ground effect to maintain a positive climb rate.

However, the Spitfire happily takes off at 8lb boost and the Mustang at 51", giving you positive airflow for rudder control, whilst keeping torque forces - which most certainly are NOT a myth - a little more reasonable and manageable for the newer pilots, whilst IRL also reducing the stress on the engine.

18lb boost takeoffs are frankly unnecessary. Why waste 30 seconds of WEP power on takeoff that you might find eminently more useful later when trying to catch or escape an E/A, when 12 or even 8lbs will get you into the air cleanly and promptly.

Meh... not sure I entirely agree with this assessment.

 

Takeoff is about airspeed; power is simply how quickly you get there.

 

Sure, you need sufficient oomph to actually get to takeoff speed then maintain it after you transition through ground effect to maintain a positive climb rate.

 

However, the Spitfire happily takes off at 8lb boost and the Mustang at 51", giving you positive airflow for rudder control, whilst keeping torque forces - which most certainly are NOT a myth - a little more reasonable and manageable for the newer pilots, whilst IRL also reducing the stress on the engine.

 

18lb boost takeoffs are frankly unnecessary. Why waste 30 seconds of WEP power on takeoff that you might find eminently more useful later when trying to catch or escape an E/A, when 12 or even 8lbs will get you into the air cleanly and promptly.

18lbs take off is normal rated power for take off, you take nothing from WEP.

I was referring only to myth, that full power take off is impossible in spit or 51.

Ofc that 8lbs will bring you to take off in spit, early spits were boosting to that levels.

I was saying only that 8lbs or 12lbs isn't limited because of unmanageable torque as some ppl claims.