P-51 Climb Procedure

Hi folks,

when i try to climb as high as possible i cant climb above the magic 15.000 feet.

No matter what i do, full RPM, full manifold... nothing seems to speed me up that i can climb any further.

So whats your strategy to climb as high as 20. - 30.000 feet?

Check you mixture setting.

The little red toggle behind the throttle. There's 3 positions. When starting, you right click to get to the middle. The lower setting is for something else like emergencies I forget exactly.

That's where you want to be otherwise it's a real dog up past 10k' it's tough to make it to the supercharger kick in altitude otherwise.

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P-51 Climb Procedure

Also climb at best rate of climb, resist the temptation to zoom climb. Best rate is an airspeed that is most efficient. I forget what the airspeed Is in the P-51 but pitch for that airspeed and stay there.

Best rate is often called VY and labeled in the cockpit on most civilian ac

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Your speed?

40000 feet is not problem for Pony on default map.

Can you show any cockpit picture, to see controls setting?

Also, do You use game flight mode or not? If yes, it's known for causing some altitude performance issues in Mustang.

There was--maybe still is?--a major issue with the one campaign mission in which you had to climb over the mountains. There were major issues with power-output and oil-pressure while running through that campaign mission.

This had to do with the way the campaign was working, because if you loaded the mission manually, the P-51D would work normally and there was no problem with climbing to 30 or 40 thousand feet at all.

Ok here comes the Screenshot:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9B9pg2Dkt5tYlJRemhvMHZ5SDg

during the climb my goal was to keep manifold pressure at 41 and a climb rate of 1000 feet.

Well the Speed is the Problem, i cant climb any further because the speed drops to 120 mph or below.

I also cant build up speed again unless i trade off height for speed, but then as soon as im back up at 15.000 feet my speed is 120 again.

oh and i dont use any mods and this is a mission with just the pony in it, nothing more to practice basic flight manouvers.

Here is the P-51D Specific flight Chart for climb performance. It gives you the engine settings, speed, climb rate, and fuel consumption.

The power settings should be:

46"Hg @ 2700 rpm = Combat Climb power (Same as Steig-u-Kampfleistung for the German Fighters)

From Sea Level to 5000 feet you should be getting a rate of ~2350ft/min for a 9000lb clean configuration fighter

Your best climb speed will be 165mph IAS.

Ferry climb or normal climb setting should be:

36"Hg @ 2400 rpm = Ferry Climb Power

That gives a rate of 1300 fpm and the best climb speed is 165 mph IAS.

Of course, the higher you go, the slower your best climb becomes until you reach stall speed at absolute ceiling.

The other speed that is useful is Vx or best angle of climb. This one gives you best altitude over distance over the ground. It what you use to clear that mountain in front of you.

It is just above stall speed.

Thanks for the chart, i will try but im not sure if this helps to overcome the basic problem.

According to this chart im climbing way to slow. This means it would take me more time to get higher, but the basic problem still is that there is no more power at 15k.

Or do i get something wrong?

Shouldnt i be able to build up speed in level flight at 14.500 feet?

Currently even if i have all on maximum, RPM and manifold i still loose speed.

As soon as i push my nose down i build up speed but only to loose it again slowly until i climb to 15k again.

btw. version is 1.5 if this makes any difference.

Can't see that screenshot, as a password is required.

Anyway, fly again, save a track (preferably from an air-started mission to minimize risk of track corruption) and post it here so we can take a look at it.

According to this chart im climbing way to slow. This means it would take me more time to get higher, but the basic problem still is that there is no more power at 15k.

Or do i get something wrong?

Leave your supercharger in Auto as well as your radiator intake.

Climb at 165 mph IAS and use the 46" @ 2700 rpm.

14500 ft is about the altitude of supercharger gear changeover. Let it happen. You will begin to loose some manifold pressure until the gear changes. Just keep climbing at 165 mph IAS and hold what you got until the gear changes.

You are using the realistic SIM FM right?

I just tested a quick mission with a single Mustang starting from parking hot. I took off and started climbing at 46" 2700 RPM, while trying to maintain 170-200 mph. I managed to climb all the way up to 37000' without any issue.

You don't have to change the mixture, but you do have to increase throttle, as manifold pressure decreases with altitude - it kicks back to 61" when the supercharger engages, though.

What's the manifold pressure when you start having trouble at 15000'? Does it keep decreasing even if you max the throttle? I think it was at something like 45" with throttle fully open just before the supercharger kicked in. You could also manually engage the supercharger to get your manifold pressure back.

Check your ram-air level as well, you should be using ram air.

Ok returned from my test flight.

Aaaaaaand *drumroll* 38.500 feet :pilotfly:

The speed was that thing i underestimated, never fall below 165 and all is fine.

165, 2700RPM and manifold of 46 as long as you can hold it, climb rate is the result of that variables.

finally i get it, thank you very much guys!

You are welcome! Glad to have you in DCS world....

Now practice so we can shoot you down online!!

:smilewink:

or get shot down...

Mixture knob is indeed in the wrong place. It'll be much easier if you set it to the middle. You have it on the full rich setting.

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Now practice so we can shoot you down online!!

 

:smilewink:

 

or get shot down...

I will practice so you have a hard time shooting me ;)

Oh and yes the mixture setting was in full emergency, according to a advice from someone in an earlier post. Now i dont touch the mixture setting, only in emergency situations ;)

And another question, i moved the fuel switch to the fuselage tanks and a few seconds later the motor stops. Fuselage tanks are full, so what did i miss this time?

oh boy, im used to pilot F-16 in BMS so i was thinking that the pony is a really simple aircraft from a avionics point of view. Now i really feel which tasks you dont have to do if you have fly by wire and all that fancy stuff like gps and so on.

Fuselage tank is always empty when you take Pony without any edit in editor.

It has 67% fuel, it means fuel is only in wings tanks.

Ah thanks, that explains also how i can change the painting ;)

I will practice so you have a hard time shooting me

Since the last update you will not have a problem. The P-51 turns like a Japanese Zeke.

And another question, i moved the fuel switch to the fuselage tanks and a few seconds later the motor stops. Fuselage tanks are full, so what did i miss this time?

Your question was already answered, but another tip when switching fuel tanks is to make sure the fuel booster is on. I once switched from left wing to right wing tanks with the booster off and my engine died until I turned the booster on :megalol:

Oh and yes the mixture setting was in full emergency, according to a advice from someone in an earlier post. Now i dont touch the mixture setting, only in emergency situations ;)

Mixture lever in Full rich will reduce engine power, higher you go more power it will take away from engine, main reason why p-51 don't climb well with this setting.Up to full throttle height, full rich should not change power a lot in climb,but once you hit full throttle height it will kill the power very quick.I assume that full rich will drop power from SL too.