Holbeach

Excellent videos on the main gears. They show exactly what's good about the P-51 and bad about the Mosquito and why it collapses the struts so easily on landing. I'll do a bug report later on the Mossie. The real manual says if the Mustang gear is too bouncy, then it's lacking damper oil. Ours is simply lacking in damping and needs sorting. But, it has correct shock absorber travel and only bounces due to lack of damping after a hard landing. The Mossie on the other hand has almost no travel and should have a least 6 inches after landing, leaving only 2 inches tube showing. ..

I'll be doing a bug report soon on the Mossie main gear as it spoils an otherwise great plane. The tailwheel jig is already reported. ..

P-51 at Eastchurch and my first landing at Biggin Hill with Mosquito. This was the moment I realized what was so right about the Mustang and so wrong about the Mossie. (Looking at legs actually).. ..

Mosquito has 11 of these blocks, plus a half block, separated by spacers, plus a rebound block, in a stack inside the tube.There is no air or oil involved. They produce 8 inches of travel. 2 inches of tube showing under compression and 6 inches above inside strut, when static at 20000 lb.. They have friction dampers. Pneumatic Drum brakes. The Mustang has air over hydraulic dampers. They are pumped up with a compressor through a tyre type valve to give 3.5 inches static oleo clearence. (2 inch in later H model). Hydraulic Multiplate (19) disc brakes. P-47 Aerol strut similar to P-51. Hydraulic Drum brakes. The Spitfire has air with friction dampers. Pneumatic Drum brakes. No coil springs involved in any of them. ..

See my previous post after watching your track. ..

I took over your track when I noticed you've only altered 1 brake axis. You have to do both. You had left brake permanently on. Right brake was OK. I corrected brake, taxied, took off and landed normally. Couldn't do anything about the music though. ..

Mustang brake .trk Pity that track wasn't Caucasus, I would have liked to have seen it. My brakes are exhibiting the same characteristics in all my toe brake aircraft and I've not noticed it before because it has little effect on nose wheel planes. Maybe, my end, problem. Track shows brakes default axis. Notice instant jump to half power. With regards to the soft oleos, I ran it down a concrete runway and was able to rock it from side to side, rolling like a boat as if the oleos had no damping as they extended fully. ..

Here's what I found with some ground running with 30 % fuel. The tailwheel is connected to the rudder at a ratio of 5 to 1, so with full deflection of 30 deg, the tailwheel will be at 6 deg and it looked spot on to me and taxi steering was good. Locked and with brakes it will do donuts with the wheel skidding sideways at neutral stick. Unlocked, the wheel swivels to 90 deg and going backwards it swivels to 180 deg At full load this might all be different. ..

High pressure air and hydraulic oil. They feel like an old American car of the same era, on springs and no dampers. ..

Either of these will work, but the axis tune doesn't break my golden rule. Neither of them will alter the 50% instant application of brakes, but with this reduction in power, it doesn't matter any more ..

Some of us have a stuation where the brakes come on instantly to 50%, which causes prop damage and is therefore unusable. You don't seem to have this problem. The tailwheel should have 6 deg max from centre, (which isn't much), and is only meant for near straight running with the stick pulled back. ..

Manual says, don't do a stall landing at this weight, (70% fuel), but with the new squidgy legs it works out quite well and means no bouncing and a straight rollout. ..

Ok. I've got a work round. Brakes still come on instantly to 50%, but with Saturation Y at 62% on a slider I can now use the brakes without breaking my nose. I have'nt flown the Mustang for many years, so it's off to Eastchurch to see how high the pony jumps. Luckily the gear horn sounded on very short finals, which avoided an embarrassment, but apart from that the landing was straightforward and much easier than the Mosquito. The wheel animation also needs sorting, as reported. Time for some circuit practice. Update: 62 was still too much braking power, so I've reduced it to 50 Sat Y. Full braking is available without a broken prop and rollout steering is easier. ..

The latest brake and Landing Gear updates, might do it. ..

My toe brakes are unusable. They come on at about 50% which is close to nose over damage. So far I've been unable to adjust the input curves, but I'll keep trying. No luck with the axis tune. Control panel OK. The only way I can make this work is to turn down the brake power in the FM. (But I have a strict 'no FM diddling' policy for all games). Back to the hanger you go m'lad. ..

I can confirm your wheel observation. This has happened in the past with other aircraft. ..

T/O from High Halden with full fuel and 4 500 lb bombs. Ginger, the navigator has conked out. Medical emergency declared. Bomb jettison is not approved. Go round and return to H H with full load. Wind is dead ahead at 16 kts. . Indicator included. ..

Funnily enough, I made a video this morning with a max weight T/O of 22,252 lb, full fuel plus 4 500 lb bombs, from High Halden, with a medical emergency go round and landing at about 22,000 lb. There's no method for dumping fuel. Bombs were routinely brought back during wartime and placed in store, rather than dump them on the locals. Rochester was a mission I made to depict the early war attack by Dorniers on the Stirling factory at Rochester and Chatham Dockyard. It uses 7 x 4 Ju 88 bombers and about 4 squadrons of defending Spits From 4 airfields. AAA batteries are placed accurately from wartime records Great fun. ..

Max T/O weight is 20,500 lb. plus 1500 lb disposable load (RL). Max T/O @ full fuel is 20,300 lb so I'm well within my max landing weight of 20,500 lb. ..

landing at heavy weights. Indicator panel included. Land with near full fuel (100% at T/O) and tail wheel breakage becomes a big thing. Landing at Halden (93% fuel) was made easier with 18 deg flap instead of full), but higher speed (96kt stall speed) and less drag meant more braking required. Landing at Senaki with 30% fuel, was dead easy in comparison. ..

The landing gear is less compliant than it use to be, which makes it more susceptible to damage on touchdown, as you proved on your last landing. ..

I use full deflection left rudder immediately after brakes off and never touch the brakes again, (it's counter productive on a short runway). Usually works. ..

I don't think the indicator box will help. You can't replicate what I do. It's a practice to reaction thing. If you use the replays, you can turn the box on yourself. 1. a straight in approach and 2. a military approach. (I'm still working on this one). On the positive side I simply could not get the landing right on your runway at Kutasi and crashed every time, so I moved to Senaki-Kohlkhi. The perfect world was restored. Landings were straightforward, no drama, 3 pointers and straight roll out with a dab of brakes at the end when the rudder starts to lose it. Give it a try..

9 boost is not enough for T/O. 12 for long runways and light load. 18 for heavy or short runway. ..

Good question. I wanted a typical Mosquito wartime short airfield of around 3,300' to practice on, so I've used it right from the start, for continuity. I always use RAF practise of 3 point landings, to keep the touchdown speed low. This creates a discipline and means that if you can't do it, it's either technique or FM that's out. I don't think the FM is different, but the touchdown seems harder suspension. Eastchurch is bumpy, so you never get a plant, there will always be a slight bounce. A video library will provide past references, rather than relying on memory. Here's this mornings efforts. ..