Bozon
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Posts posted by Bozon
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23 hours ago, Mr_sukebe said:
That’s true, but overlooks the fact that the Dora’s and K4s were being flown in insignificant numbers by trained pilots. If there had been more Luftwaffe resistance, it’s fair to assume that the ratio of Mk14s flying over Germany would have increased.
Yes, pretty much so. By 1945 and particularly after the battle of the bulge, there were too many allied fighters and not enough Luftwaffe to shoot at. This is why many otherwise “unemployed” Spits and P-51s were send to do fighter-bomber stuff, in spite of not being great at it, especially the Spits. As ground pounders and AAA fodder the thousands of existing Spit IX variants were just as good for that as the Spit XIV, so the latter were not rushed to replace the older IXs.
On the German side the situation was reversed - they would have replaced every older 190 and 109 with D and K variants, but just couldn’t.
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9 hours ago, Torquesplit said:
Hi I’m really enjoying the campaign but getting frustrated with navigation. Is there a way of starting the clock to time navigation legs and that will accelerate and deccelerate with the fast forward option? Also the magnetic headings given by Dai seem wrong. On mission 3 for example he asks for 187 for the Somme Estuary yet the track is about 183M and the wind is from 060? I always end up well right of track. I’m using VR and have not found the way of displaying digital information such as ac compass heading etc. I find the magnetic compass is far too susceptible to turning error to be almost useless in the air. Is there a way in VR to display digital flight info? Any help would be appreciated!
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The remote indicator magnetic compass is misleading to read, because the needle is high above its plate. So from the typical pilot perspective you read its projection on the plane from a diagonal perspective. If the needle points to 180, you are likely to read it as 185. If it is 000 you are likely to read it as 355, etc. Move your head around in the cockpit and you will see.
The way to use the RI compass is NOT to read the needle - you rotate the arrow to the direction you want to keep, then hold the needle parallel to the arrow. You will notice it is not exactly on top of the arrow because of the perspective issue, but parallel is parallel from any perspective.
And yes, it is super annoying that this compass only works when you are perfectly level. The gyro compass does not drift very much, so I use it most of the time, except on long cruises where I use the above method with the RI compass.
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On 7/29/2025 at 6:47 AM, Rolds said:
That would have worked fine, pilot on approach and landing would eventually get there and notice with enough time for a go around, even if it is just on the roundout. Many retractable landing gear aircraft of this era had no comparable system. The dealbreaker for the current DCS implementation is that the horn sounds loudly in the cockpit throughout a large part of the flight envelope that would regularly be used, and for prolonged periods of flight (economy loiter, descent, others). I don't know what has gone wrong here but it is something. I encourage people to simply step back and ask if this makes sense.
For pilots more familiar with the mosquito, I am finding that the horn appears tied to the throttle setting rather than its position in the throttles range. I tried to put a user defined curve in to have a very low power setting just outside of the HORN ZONE but it isn't working. I have noticed that the horn is only tied to one throttle so idling the other engine kindof serves as a workaround.I absolutely agree that the current implementation does not make sense. I only stated that the suggestion that the “quarter” from the manual implicitly refers to “1/4 inch”, is a too small travel to give an exact number for - the manual would have said “closed throttle”, or “full back” or something of the sort.
What did the manual refer to? I don’t know. Maybe the throttles had some “free” travel where they were still “idle” before increasing boost and thus 1/4 travel was still low boost. If DCS insists that this is the correct implementation than I just ask for the “special option” to disable the horn.
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On 7/26/2025 at 8:00 AM, Rolds said:
Where does it say that? I'll bet you $20 the real horn comes on in the first 1/4" of the throttle's travel, not the first 1/4 of the throttles full range of motion, then someone misinterpreted it, and no one went back and checked.
I would have believed this interpretation, and even that the explicit word “inch” was omitted from the manuals and was just obvious to the pilots at the time - except that 1/4” is very little movement. If it were true it means in practice that the horn will activate only when you pull the throttle all the way back.
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They were post WWII, but still cool. AFAIK they were the first twin engined planes to operate from carriers.
The Israeli Air Force had a few 10s of these, 2nd hand from the French. They were de-navalized and made into land fighter bombers.
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On 7/9/2025 at 4:25 PM, Morat said:
and the Spit XIV so we can play 1944 scenarios.
There were only handful of Spit XIV in 1944, and even into 1945 the majority of spits were versions of the Spit IX. Same goes for the 190D and 109K that were only a small fraction of the luftwaffe fighters even into 1945.
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Israeli top ace Brig. General Giora Epstein passed away at age 87. Epstein was the top Israeli ace with 17 confirmed kills between the 6 days war and Yom Kippur war, of which 16 jets and 1 helicopter. All were achieved in the Mirage III and the Nesher (Israeli Mirage V).
Rest in peace <salute>
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1 hour ago, felixx75 said:
2650 RPM
That’s what I thought. Why is the horn blowing then? Makes no sense. +7 is not a low boost - it is way too much for a landing approach, and an undercarriage warning is out of place in such conditions.
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11 hours ago, Art-J said:
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Granted, that indeed doesn't help folks who want to fly across the Channel, low and at 2650 RPM.
What RPM an I supposed to use with continuous +7 boost?
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Anyone know the name of the sound file with the horn sound? If I find it I’ll replace it with silence.
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11 hours ago, Slippa said:
Great module but how am I still going so slowly for a Mossie? I know, wrong type of Mossie but let’s have the rapid version too please?
FB MK.VI is the fastest Mosquito variant - at sea level. The Merlin25 is heavily optimized for low altitudes and FB MK.VI rarely operated above 10 kft, so their absolute top speed of 380 mph at 23 kft was not slow - it was irrelevant.
400+ mph variants achieved those speeds at high altitudes at which they were meant to operate, but at sea level were slower than the MK.VI.-
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Luckily the Mosquito requires only few rudder trim adjustments during flight.
Rules of thumb:
1. Slow speed + high boost (e.g., takeff and climb) = rudder trim at the “T” on the dial.
2. High speed + boost > +10 = rudder trim at the bottom corner of the “neutral triangle”.
There are other situations, but these are the main 2 where I immediately trim quick & blind, and check the ball later.
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14 hours ago, rob10 said:
I'm still working on landing because I seem to have a habit of getting hit badly enough by flack that I don't make it back more times than I'd care to admit so not enough practice at landing. But I have found doing low level, high speed straight in bombing to be a little safer (if harder to hit accurately). And if you try that make sure you set to 11 sec delay fuze so you don't frag yourself
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Landing after a combat mission is the exception… The Mosquito is a flak magnet - I swear those AAA tracers curve in the air to hit me.
The best and most fun bombing method is spot the target outside of AAA range, then drop as fast & low as you dare (under tree height) and shoot the bomb at the target from a close range. I say “shoot” because from such a low altitude the bomb does not develop much vertical speed and is basically tossed forwards like a rocket - I use the bottom of the reticule circle to aim. Needless to say, a delayed fuse is mandatory.
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On 5/9/2025 at 1:36 PM, Terry Dactil said:
Thanks for your explanation Holbeach, what you say is correct.
I managed to find a great site for aviation manuals Avialog: Aviation Library and downloaded the Pilots Notes for our Mosquito. It looks like your reference.
Since I have been happily flying the Mosquito on one engine at max power by staying above 150 mph, I think adding 65 mph and calling it a
'Safety Speed' is a bit excessive. I would call it a 'Feel Good Speed'
All this is understandable since Vmca in performance calculations was not official in WW2.
ChatGPT has some interesting stuff on this subject ...
The concept of Vmca (Minimum Control Speed Airborne) as a formalized element in takeoff performance calculations did not exist in its modern regulatory form during the development and operational service of the de Havilland Mosquito in the 1940s.
Key Points:
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Vmca as a defined regulatory term became standardized in post-WWII civil aviation regulations, particularly with the introduction of FAR Part 23 and Part 25 by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the 1950s and later by ICAO and EASA equivalents.
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During WWII, aircraft performance calculations—including for multi-engine aircraft like the Mosquito—were based on empirical testing and operational experience, rather than a codified set of performance speeds like V1, Vr, V2, or Vmca.
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The Mosquito, being a military aircraft, was not subject to civil certification standards. Its performance charts and procedures included speeds for safety, single-engine climb, and control, but these were not labeled using modern terminology like Vmca.
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However, the underlying concept of a minimum speed at which directional control could be maintained after engine failure was understood by test pilots and engineers. They considered factors like asymmetric thrust, rudder authority, and yaw tendencies in both design and flight test programs.
Summary:
Vmca as a formal part of takeoff performance calculations was introduced in the postwar era, particularly with the advent of civil aviation regulations in the 1950s. For the de Havilland Mosquito, such a parameter was likely considered in practice but not named or standardized as "Vmca" in the way we know it today.
I suspect the one-engine safety speeds in that manual excerpt are with the dead engine un-feathered (and probably being the port side engine). I don’t have the manual to check the context right now. With a feathered engine you can fly significantly slower.
Safety speeds with an un-feathered engine is what you want to achieve asap after takeoff, when there will not be sufficient time and altitude to loose till feathering is achieved (if it works at all). Once feathered, speed can be reduced (1-engine climb).
What I do with the Mosquito is to climb very flat after lift-off and with a high boost to accelerate - when I hit “safety speed” (190–200) I use it to “zoom” and let it drop to best-climb speed, which would be around 160 mph or so. At that point should an engine crap out I can maintain control by reducing boost and shallow diving to increase the speed back to safety - which should be achievable by (at least) the altitude I zoomed up from (and while the dead prop is being feathered).
(Edited for better phrasing) -
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On 4/17/2025 at 2:44 PM, Q3ark said:
addressed quickly
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A Mossie campaign is an instant buy for me.
Now I just need to find the time to fly it…
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There are two bindings for the comms menu - I am not sure what is the difference between them, except one always works and the other sometimes.
Try the other one.
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2 hours ago, Reflected said:
Let me tell you about a very cool new DCS feature that's coming with the next update. It's a complete game changer for WW2 missions!
Special thanks to @NineLine who pushed the team to make it happen
Finally! Cod damnit I got so tired of being that lame duck that flies behind his formation and struggles to catch up for nearly THE ENTIRE ESCORT!
Now I need to learn how to not run out of oxygen half way through every mission.
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One of the coolest ideas I heard about, was a way for naval aviators to easily find their carrier using their wristwatch. I don’t remember where I read about this, and I can’t find it now with google. I’d appreciate if someone had info about this. If this can be verified it would make a cool little feature in a mission.
The idea was that the carrier had a narrow beam antenna rotating at exactly 1 rotation per minute in absolute direction (i.e, relative to north, not the bow of the ship). During briefing the pilots would sync their watches so the seconds hand started rotating when the antenna pointed to north.
The antenna transmitted a chirp that was very brief as the narrow beam swiped over the aircraft - while it was impossible to find the direction to the transmitter with contemporary DF, it gave a little audible sound over the radio. If the aviator looked at his wristwatch when the chirp was heard, the seconds hand would show the radial from the boat to the aircraft (12 oc. being north).
The enemy could not use it, to loacte the boat because their watches were not synced to the antenna, and the chirp was too short for the equipment of the age to locate.
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On 1/22/2025 at 3:46 AM, Fifth Columnist said:
Incidentally I am not sure how I could ever come close to +25 boost, please advise.
+25 boost was only possible with 150 octane fuel. DCS mosquito is modeled with 130 octane and limited to +18.
150 octane and +25 boost were deemed necessary in order to keep ahead of the Luftwaffe fighters as of mid 1944 (FW190A-8 and late 109G6 or G14 contemporaries). It was initially issued to intruder squadrons and whoever was doing daylight operations. I don’t know how widespread it was by the end of the war.
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On 1/18/2025 at 6:26 PM, [HOUNDS] CptTrips said:
Some solution needs to be found. Waiting a decade per plane is just silly.
The solution is between the FC level and the full-fidelity. Model the main systems - engine & flight model, clickable cockpit for the major switches only, and I don’t care about things like suction, or oil dilution, or the aux generator. I’d rather have a magic-based functioning artificial horizon than a highly detailed physics-based broken one.
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3 hours ago, danythunder14 said:
Will we have news on the development of the F6F Hellcat soon?
It's been a long time since we heard anything about him and we can't say who will be very present in the 2025 video and beyond.
F6F barely appears in the video, blurry movement shots and no in cockpit footage.
2026 and beyond.
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As said above, Voice Attack is the way to bypass such issues. You don’t have to use voice commands - keys/buttons that set off a sequence of commands work just as well.
For the Mosquito in particular I like the voice commands since it’s like talking to your navigator. It actually adds to immersion, and I even have him responding by voice that he performed the action (speech leaves something to be desired, but it’s OK if you keep his replies short). “He” operates:
- The levers (bomb bay, gears, flaps). I also have a command for a sequence that lower the flaps just 10 degrees for takeoff/low speed turning.
- Arm the bombs (I have separate commands for wing and bay bombs so I can quickly select just a pair)
- Feather a prop
- Activate fire extinguisher for engine fire (incl. lifting the ####ing button cover).
- Select a fuel tank.
- Activate/stop fuel transfer from the drop tanks.
- Open/close radiators.
This saves me from memorizing a lot of key/buttons bindings. For some commands I even set up several spoken commands to activate them so I don’t have to remember the specific wording.
I use Voice Attack with other modules, but in the Mosquito this really was a game changer.
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My recommendations:
- ”Terror in the starboard seat” by Dave McIntosh. Best written of them all by a margin. A tour of Mosquito intruder crew. My absolute favorite.
- ”Thunderbolt!” by Robert Johnson, a must for P-47 fans.
- ”I flew for the Fuehrer” by Heinz Knoke. A great 109 pilot memoir from the dark side perspective of the western front - the other side to Johnson’s book.
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Can't get the thing off the ground.
in DCS: Mosquito FB VI
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You misunderstand the meaning of “building more planes than they could use”. That does not mean that brand new planes were parked outside the production line with no one to fly them. It means that they were producing planes faster than “producing” new pilots. They were not producing enough new models in order to retire the older 109G and 190A/F/G from service - these were still the majority of the fighters force by VE day.