stratman59

Ron, would you kindly go back and read my post and tell me exactly where I have said 'I cant land the bloody thing' I'll save you the trouble, here is what I actually said. 'After countless hours of takeoff and landing practice, I can occasionally takeoff reasonably tidily and occasionally land without touching a wing down'. Granted, I also say my landings can be a bit messy, probably the same for many of us. After 'countless hours of practice' what was the harm in passing on what I found helped me out.? What is it with people on this forum, seems to be full of people who'd pick a fight in an empty room, it's getting like Youtube!

Speed, Speed Speed, don't even try to touch down above 70 mph, you'll just bounce. Let it fly just above the runway until the speed is good then raise the nose to similar to take off attitude. keep your gunsight on so once on the ground you can line the vertical with a cloud in the distance and dance on the pedals to keep it straight on the runway, once slowed down enough to roll straight then brake. I set my brakes to a button on my throttle rather than my pedals and once nice a straight lots of quick dabs on brake button.

Probably right Whisper, had I started on the 109 no doubt the Spitfire would have come a little easier. Not to worry, enjoying both and now I'm going to move on the the Dora and the Mustang. Just can't wait for when we can actually do more than just take off and land as at the moment flying against AI is a pretty horrid experience.

Ron, I can now do pretty much perfect landings most of the time, if I could save tracks I would put some on Youtube. I do still have complete cockups on a regular basis though. This afternoon I managed 5 nice landings on the trot before touching a wing down on the sixth. I don't know if this is a VR thing and the heightened perspective, a bonus I would have thought, but for me pulling back hard on the stick just made me take off again and then come down with an almighty bounce, even at 60 - 70 mph. For me, the key was absolutely getting the speed perfect with the correct attitude, any faster than 60-70 and the bounce was ridiculous. I tried using the brakes on my pedals but really struggled, (cheap TM T flight pedals don't help) I set brakes to a button on the throttle and used quick dabs on it, seemed to work for me.

I might point to jcomm's post, just as an example, clearly, it isn't just me who thinks things aren't quite as they should be if mkiii has delved into the .lua settings trying to find an answer to frankly ridiculous bounce characteristic on even the most level and gentle touchdowns. Just watch some real Spitfires landing on Youtube, a small bounce yes, a 20ft high bounce at 60-70mph, coming in perfectly level and at the right attitude, no! 1:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_3YuwerLCQ What do all Sim enthusiasts want? For me, the most accurate and realistic simulation the developers can give us, I'm sure ED will get it just right in time and I expect user comments as to how things are with users are fairly useful. It'll be very interesting to see what the figures in the FMOptions.lua file look like once ED deem the Spitfire Finished?

Probab, that's about as ignorant and arrogant a post as I've ever read. Surprised by a so-called 'senior member'. There are literally dozens of posts on these forums questioning the accuracy of the Spitfire flight model. If you go back and actually read my OP you'll see I am not saying anywhere that I can't do it, what I did was compare the Spitfire with the BF 109 models in terms of learning curve.

Totally agree Buzzles, all those dues paid in with the Spit no doubt paid dividends on the first attempt in the BF 109. Yes, I have the P-51D and the Dora but my tiny brain can only take so much in at a time, I'll give both of those a go over the next few weeks. One thing I love about this sim is the fact that you really feel like you're making progress. When I first tried the dogfight against the two 109's I thought they must be joking, now I can regularly save my wingman and take down both 109's with some ease, and not blow my engine up, progress indeed!

Thanks for the offer Phil but I don't seem to have got my point across very clearly. After 100 plus hours I can take off fine (I'd say 90% of the time, the other 10% a little crab-like) and in most cases land, all be it a little frantically with a wing touching just before coming to a halt now and then. Mostly I must say from heeding your advice re stabbing the pedals. My point was, why it only took me an hour or so to essentially master takeoff and landing in the BF 109 compared to 100 plus hours to do the same in the Spit? That's why I'm questioning if the Spit model needs a little work? Even allowing for the locking tailwheel issue was the Spit really that much harder to takeoff and land than a BF 109? (I did initially have a software fault with my config which probably accounted for some of the time but even so)

Well, none of us have any real evidence as to the reality of flying either aircraft. I am talking solely about the DCS simulations of the aircraft. I purchased all four WW2 birds but thought I'd try to master the Spit before attempting any of the others. I was expecting the 109 to be far harder which is why I was so surprised at how easy the 109 was to get to grips with in comparison. Thus my thoughts that the Spit model may not be all that correct? I do take your point regarding both being ongoing projects, I love them both as they are in any case but it's nice to think things could become even better.

I would think 100 and more hours would indeed be enough cromhunt, this is why I am questioning if the ED Spitfire modal is as it should be? Also, I meant to add that I only fly on the Normandy map, so no long wide runways.

I think you maybe miss reading my post? I have absolutely no trouble at all taking off and landing the 109, like I said, mastered within an hour or so practice using recommended procedures. Trust me, I have read every post, every manual and watched every video regarding the Spit, yes I'm using 8 boost and all the right settings. After probably over 100 hours on the Spit I'm still, at best, 'messy' with both takeoff and landings. My question is, was the Spit really so much harder to handle than the 109 as DCS have made it?

Yes, tailwheel locked in the 109, as the manual advises at takeoff and landing. Why would I unlock it? I get what you're saying, that the locking tailwheel makes all the difference? Begs the question why on earth did they not engineer a locking tailwheel on the Spit back in the day? Superior German engineering I suppose?

Had all of the WW2 planes for a few months now. Been concentrating on the Spit only. After countless hours of takeoff and landing practice, I can occasionally takeoff reasonably tidily and occasionally land without touching a wing down. So, for a change of scenery, I thought I'd have a go in the BF 109. Now from what I read the 109 is a tricky beast due to the narrow undercarriage and the high power to weight ratio. What I found was that within an hour of practice I can do almost perfect takeoff and landings in the 109! Now to me that means one of two things, the BF 109 is too easy or the Spit is not quite right, and yes both set on full sim modes with all assistance removed. This isn't a complaint as I'm loving both, just an observation.

I have to agree with most on this post, once you've tried VR (on a capable rig, essential!) it absolutely transforms flight sims to a whole new level, I use the line, 'from a game to a real flying experience'. The restriction at the moment is cost, not necessarily the VR (Rift=£400.00) but the rig to run it, I built my own for less than£1,200 ground up. Having said that, how many users on here have £330 joystick setups and expensive 4k monitors? I have yet to see any of my friends who have tried flying the Spitfire on the VR not to be totally astounded. Anyway, back to the original question....VR only servers? I've only recently returned to DCS and have spent about a month learning how to fly WWII planes, I feel I'm almost ready to dip my toe in the water of multiplayer. Although I'm fully prepared to be cannon fodder for a while as I learn the MP ropes, my main worry is, will I be at a complete disadvantage not being able to just press a key to see behind me as the mirrors aren't working yet? To know I was flying against others, all equal apart from skill would be nice.

Thank's nuts and Art but I think I've managed to sort it out. Basically, I deleted every joystick config file I could find in both 1.5.7 and 2.1.1. One thing I did find was a stray .lua file for the previous Saitek x52 stick I had, not sure if that had anything to do with it but hey! I'm now able to split my throttle and get the correct RPM and boost. Thanks for all your help everyone.