Lythronax

The model/systems REALLY could do with an overhaul, inside and out. I'd personally pay for a "2.0" style upgrade.

For anyone interested, this is the sight picture of Spitfire IXe TD314. The gunsight is clearly misaligned slightly, but it seems to confirm my suspicion that the reticle texture itself in-sim is too large i.e. the ring has too great a diameter.

MH487 makes a lot of sense! As a contemporary of MH415 and 434, it would have been constructed with the early air intake, which it still has in the photo. (MH434 in March 1944 at Hornchurch with No.222)

The supercharger control switches are currently mislabelled "Supercharge" vs. The labelling for the airscrew control may be somewhat correct for an aircraft with interconnected throttle and prop controls (which our aircraft SHOULD be but that's another story), whereas the label for earlier aircraft not so equipped is quite different: vs.

Mk IX AB505 See section 13: Sighting View 13......... The Spitfire IX is fitted with the G.M.2 pilots reflector sight and although the aircraft is longer in the nose than the Spitfire VC, the 100 m.p.h. ring of the sight is still just clear of the nose.

Yes I am well aware of this. My point is that the limited number of E wing conversions from standard Mk IXs retained the bays, blast tubes and gun ports for the 303s, which had to be blanked off. Hence why Johnson's Mk IXe in the photos has tape over the 303 gun ports. And yes, the Mk Vc could carry two cannon per wing, but as I've stated before the Mk IX could not for reasons already mentioned. Nor the standard Mk IX or Mk IXe variants could carry two cannon. It was for a very short time intended that it could use the eight .303 fitment as was also provided for in the Mk Vc but this was never even trialled let alone used in combat. To clarify further, there is no "Mk IXc", only Mk IX and IXe. As all Mk IXs were originally built with the same wing and armament a suffix wasn't used till the E wing was introduced. The prefixes F, LF, HF etc. came into use in March and April of 1943. The Mk IX wing is not a "C" wing in the sense of the Mk Vc in that it is not universal. Mod 683 was eventually embodied in late 1943 and officially standardised armament on the Mk IX (and Vc for that matter) exclusively to 2x 20mm and 4x .303s., although some squadrons removed two or all four of the Brownings in service to reduce weight. The removal of the outer cannon stub and use of slimline feed motor blister began in April of 1943, though this modification was cancelled in November with the future introduction of the E wing in mind, to easier facilitate conversion to that configuration.

Very clearly a Mk IXe - most likely a standard LF IX converted to E wing status, as was very common in the run-up to D-Day. The E wing conversions maintained the blast tubes and gun ports for the .303 guns, so they still had to be covered over with tape. In any event, the Mk IX was not capable of mounting four cannon, due to the cannon heating plumbing running through the outer cannon bay, and aside from one prototype no Mk IX was ever so equipped. For the E wing the gun heating system was rearranged, but still precluded the fitment of four cannon. The Mk IX "Universal wing" is in fact not universal at all, and "Mk IXc" was never a designation that was used officially.

Quick note - the Spit figures here are for open radiator flaps. I did some testing with them shut and these were my figures (brown line): These match up better with historical data.

Here's a V2 with improved reticle texture. Don't use full gunsight brightness; I use the "Day" setting on the dimmer switch. When assigned to an axis, the reticle is at full brightness at 100%, then turns off just under that, then switches back on as you reduce the brightness on the axis: use the brightest setting you can achieve before it momentarily switches off! The transparency of the texture doesn't play well with the maximum setting. Spitfire reticle 20 degree ring v2.zip

This is the case! The battery hatch is just afore the tail unit on the starboard/right side.

This mod changes the gunsight reticle from 30 degree ring to a 20 degree ring. When the target is in range and is at an aspect of 20 degrees angle-off (and below ~280 mph IAS) place it on the ring and fire. At higher speeds more deflection will be required. Range is also a factor. With your TrackIR/pilots head as high as it will go with the lid shut the ring will just clear the engine cowling, allowing you to see the target as you take a shot. Since refraction isn't modelled, this is the best we'll get. The real life tactical trials with AB505 stated that despite the lengthened cowling, the ring of the sight was still clear of the engine cowling, which is verifiable with in-cockpit photos. I've also taken the liberty to make the graphics more accurate, with the correct chiselled-edged crossbars and vertical bars which do not intersect the ring. They are still WIP however so expect an update.

Both! The battery is always "live", the switch on the throttle quadrant hits the relay for the lighting in the cockpit and that's it. It's even called the "Undercarriage Indicator Master" switch.

The switch doesn't actually turn the battery on or off - it only affects the indicator lights in the cockpit.

E wing Spits often used a wooden plug inside the MG port shaped to fit the cannon "chimney pot", often with tape over it too as can be seen in the photo. Aside from cases where the outboard cannon was removed in Mk VCs, which were often flat as in-sim, the plug for the superfluous cannon port was made in-factory and the shape/material depended on time of manufacture. Most however were a half-dome shape as I've demonstrated. Late Mk VII and VIIIs had a more pointed variant as seen below, whereas some also had clear pieces as recognition lights were fitted in the outboard cannon bay. The quality isn't fantastic but here is a later Supermarine arrangement for the Mk VII/VIII with the solid "Blanking Cap" outboard: Here is the late C wing for the Mk VC and IX before the outer cannon port was reintroduced in December (?) 1943 (to facilitate easy conversion in-field to E wing configuration when enough kits were ready): and here is the Mk IXe wing setup; the inboard/50 cal chimney port and blast tube are all one piece:

Relevant: Audio of Typhoons attacking dummy (?) targets, showcasing the curious, scrambled exhaust note and high revving propeller of the Napier Sabre.

Thank you so much! I wish I had all the documentation apropos modification lists/classes etc. to hand at current, but I trust you guys already have it all somewhere.

And as it happens it's still broken lol.

Having done lots of speed tests on the Spit this evening (fine up high but a little slow on the deck) I really wouldn't mind a bit of +25 goodness...

A simple mistake I guess. I'd wager a lot of warbird Spit IXs use a boost gauge with a smaller scale.

The new cockpit is nice, but the boost gauge still reads as though it were the old +24lbs texture (compare MPR number on info bar): At +18lbs it reads +15lbs; at +12lbs it reads +9-9.5lbs; and at +8lbs it reads +6lbs A +16lbs boost gauge is correct for a Mk V or early F Mk IX (Merlin 61) which run at +16lbs and +15lbs respectively, but the old +24lbs gauge would likely be more accurate for a 1944 LF Mk IX like ours.

Obviously it wasn't so cut and dry and could be quite fluid, but I don't really think it's a fair excuse for the 3d model to be so full of anachronisms and errors. I hope that if ever the external model is to get a refresh that at least the basic errors like the wing bulges, cannon fairing shape, undercarriage legs, missing features, etc. can be rectified, especially if it's only ever going to be a 1944 +18lbs LF IX. In other news, the new cockpit that got released today is a whole lot nicer - the windscreen bolts are now in place! That's one thing off the list.

Here's a curious photo! Two Spit IXs of No.453 RAAF around the time of D-Day at RAF Ford. The one in the foreground has an Aero-Vee filter, spokeless wheels and the GGS; the one in the background is clearly a much earlier Spit as it has 5-spoke wheels and, most curiously of all, no filter! I wish I had the serial numbers. To further clarify, the Aero-Vee filter was in fact not a retrospective modification, aside from cases where the aircraft in question had sustained damage to its original intake!

AFAIK, the E wing Spits had priority for the GGS, which never became ubiquitous. The .303 armed Spits were seen as better for rookie pilots with worse aim, as there was a greater chance of hitting something with that volume of fire. The Barr and Stroud sight was still in use till the end of the war! It seems the in-sim Spit is based on MH434 (going by the default livery) which is a total mess of features due to its postwar overhaul for Danish service.

I do this with my TrackIR but it's still not great. The tactical trials state clearly that the ring was clear of the engine cowling!

For the Spitfire, I wonder if it's possible to raise the texture of the reticle and aiming point of the guns up a bit so that the ring clears the cowling. I know that refraction can't be simulated but I do wonder if that'd be a better solution than having virtually zero sighting view for any deflection.