tired of B-17"s flying faster than me

Start missions in air at 20,000 feet with 8 combat boxes of b-17 down 1000-2000 feet below. I slowly dive down get amoung them cut throttle to match and then they start to move ahead of me. I go full throttle and can NEVER catch up. What can I do to get speed!!!! Please advise.

gdotts

Share the .miz?

here is the mission

DCS_P-51_Bomber_Support_Caen_-_Escort.miz

Try increasing RPM on the prop?

Which fuel tank are you trying to run on?

I say this because: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=227452

I did try your mission and had no trouble keeping up with the bombers. My frame rate eventually became unplayable near the coast of France, but I can see you've done some nice work with the editor, hope your rig can handle it!

As mission starts I drop both tanks and go from there.. I hadn't thought to check what fuel selector is switched to. I will do the mission tonight and see on the fuel selector. As to the Prop RPM I thought It was all the way forward...I'ii recheck tonight. I did decrease all B-17 speeds to 175 still P-51 is not the superior fighter as is at this moment. Thanks for the comments. I DO want to see P-51 as it SHOULD BE!

Gayle

Make sure you trim the rudder as well.

Most aircraft need pitch trim as you change speed. The Dora9, for example, ONLY has pitch trim! The Mustang, however, needs almost no pitch trimming and lots of rudder trim. A side effect of poor rudder trim in the Mustang is that the nose pitches down, so if you are used to other prop aircraft you might be using your pitch trim to correct and not the rudder trim. This will make you very slow.

Whatever the problem is you'll be able to do circles around those B-17s when you get going. P-51 is a speed demon!

Also, at those alts, your supercharger should be kicking in. Should be automatic by default, but maybe something you have setup is changing that. There is a light for it on the front panel, lower left side.

What RPM and boost are you running when you try?

I think maybe the problem is you are running with the propeller RPM in the full aft, lowest RPM position?

When I try this (throttle full open, full low RPM) the instruments show me RPM at the bottom of the green arc and manifold pressure tops out at 18 inches. The bombers slowly creep away from me.

Not sure what boost is? Here are pics of my cockpit.

You're not at full throttle, in your pics that's maybe 60-70%. When you're at full throttle the altimeter will be blocked by the throttle control.

I just ran the mission again. At 30,000ft (what you're at in your pic) with full throttle and prop full forward (30 on rpm gauge) I get 270mph indicated and 55" MP.

Hrm, you're at 30k ft there, so your top speed isn't going to be much more than 230 IAS, which is still really fast.

Are you trimmed so you can let go of the controls and still be straight and level? Even small wobbling in pitch and yaw at that altitude can mess up your speed. Keep all the gauges pinned to straight and level and see if your speed will slowly creep up.

Or take everything down to 25k feet, which is much more manageable. Or even 20k ft if you're new to flying the Mustang at high altitudes. I've spent hours flying at 30k ft+ and even so, when I'm pushing the ceiling at 40k ft at 150 IAS if I get a little nose high and lose only a few mph(indicated) I'll drop a couple thousand feet.

tl;dr

Flying at 20k ft is much easier than flying at 30k ft.

You're not at full throttle, in your pics that's maybe 60-70%. When you're at full throttle the altimeter will be blocked by the throttle control.

 

I just ran the mission again. At 30,000ft (what you're at in your pic) with full throttle and prop full forward (30 on rpm gauge) I get 270mph indicated and 55" MP.

Really you get up to 270 at 3000RPM at 30k? You know you start losing pieces of your aircraft at 300mph IAS lol.

I'm not disagreeing, I've just never flown at 3000RPMs up there (unless I'm practicing diving at max speed).

gdotts: try grabbing the throttle with your mouse and pushing it up like that. Maybe it is a joystick calibration issue.

I just tested mine. @ 30K with the radiators forced open to keep it from overheating, my speed stays between 220-240 with manifold pressure between 45-50.

You may want to run it and post the track.

Last group of picks I was zoomed in a little so Throttle only looked like I wasn't pegged all the way up. Question on invoking WEP "e" keystroke. I know to not have WEP going for more than 5 muinets but.....Do I tap once for it to be invoked (not like there is a light to show it's on) or is it hold "e" down? I haven't noticed anything on manifold pressure when I try WEP.

270?? Iv'e never seen 270! except in s dive.

Really you get up to 270 at 3000RPM at 30k? You know you start losing pieces of your aircraft at 300mph IAS lol.

 

I'm not disagreeing, I've just never flown at 3000RPMs up there (unless I'm practicing diving at max speed).

 

Yup...I just did it again....265-270mph indicated on the gauge. MP of 55", prop full forward, engine really hot but didn't blow, oil and coolant doors on auto.

The mission starts a bit over 30k so it is a bit downhill and maybe that's why I'm getting that speed, but it's maintaining that speed long after leveling out. I leave the bombers and my wing way behind.

I am jettisoning the wing tanks also. Maybe I just have a really good engine in my copy of DCS? :)

I'd like to be able to play that mission longer, my FPS goes to single digits once the Germans engage the bombers.

Engaging WEP in the mustang is just pressing E when the throttle is at max. It is simulating breaking a safety wire that restricts you from getting full range of the throttle. Once you have done so, you will now have TRUE full range of the throttle, getting you extra manifold pressure at the now available upper range.

There is no REAL limit on how long you can run that extra MP. I have seen it used for up to 30 minutes at max MP of 67. Though there does seem to be a random factor in how long the engine can last at max settings.

Yeah my memory is bad.

I did 2700 RPM at FT which got me to 260IAS at 45MP and 3000 got me to 270IAS at 53.5MP.

War Power (WEP) won't help above critical altitude, which is about 28k with the hi blower. The manifold pressure can't be increased (except by increasing RPM because the supercharger is mechanically connected to the crankshaft). So as long as the hi blower is on, your MP at 3000 RPM and FT is what it is no matter what above critical altitude.

My guess is still that you need to be flying very carefully with excellent trim. We're maintaining these speeds with technique. Doing so above 25k ft is really hard. I'll post a video in a few showing how I do it. If it looks like you're doing what I'm doing then you are experiencing a bug :) If not, then you'll be able to see how to do it.

Edit: Uploaded a video on how to max speed at high altitude here:

Last group of picks I was zoomed in a little so Throttle only looked like I wasn't pegged all the way up. Question on invoking WEP "e" keystroke. I know to not have WEP going for more than 5 muinets but.....Do I tap once for it to be invoked (not like there is a light to show it's on) or is it hold "e" down? I haven't noticed anything on manifold pressure when I try WEP.

 

270?? Iv'e never seen 270! except in s dive.

It doesn't look like you're trimmed out at all, unless these pics are deceiving, your nose is positive and you're descending. You are constantly trimming out every 5 seconds or so yes? When flying the 51 rudder and elevator trim should constantly being corrected for level flight and max possible speed, if you're not doing this it's no wonder you're not gaining speed.

if you guys cant catch up b-17 ask groud crew to change supercharger gear ratio to v-1650-3 spec this should do the trick

Question on trimming at any altitudes. I trim exclusively with rudder to keep the ball centered. Right/wrong? When should aileron trim be used?

More precisely I trim rudder until it stops turning (ed/add actually rolling). This centers the ball.

Sidenote, Spitfire needle is much easier to see.

In the props, always trim rudder first to center the ball as you are doing. Rarely need to trim aileron. Maybe if there is damage creating asymmetrical lift.