Difficulty compared to other WWII Warbirds?

[Rhinozherous]

Hello!

I know this question is not answered easily, but what is the difficulty level flying the Mosquito compared to other WWII Birds?

I own the FW190 and the Mustang for example - I get them in the air, but it looks not very professional  ...I dont want to talk about landing them...

 

I think I will pass the Mosquito, but I just have to ask what you guys say - Is it harder to takeoff, fly and land then other warbirds from WWII, or more easy?

 

Thank you!

Edited September 21, 2021 by Rhinozherous

[Darrylx444]

The DCS Mosquito is way easier (at this time) to taxi, take off and landing, compared to the other DCS WW2 planes. It's so easy that I'm not sure it is modeled correctly yet.

[gomslork]

It's super easy to take off, which I don't think is correct. You can basically firewall the throttles and there's not much sideways swing at all.
General flying is easy enough, it's very sensitive on both the stick and on trimming, which makes level flight a challenge.
On landing it's very stable and forgiving. Haven't had any mishaps so far, even while landing on one engine

[Gunfreak]

Easiest start up of any of the Allied birds. If you drop the visual checks you can start her up in like 45 seconds. She kinda floats a little on the air like a spit. She takes off in like half the distance of a spitfire. 

It's like woah, I'm airborne already?

[Rhinozherous]

Hmmm this makes me think I should buy it 

I think there is a lot WIP but I think it should be a bit more stable because of its size and distance between gears... alltough it has two torque producing engines.

[epoch]

This is the only warbird I've managed to land successfully, from the very first flight.  So yup, definitely something not quite right with it yet! 

 

Love it though, lots of fun.

[No1sonuk]

1 hour ago, Gunfreak said:

Easiest start up of any of the Allied birds.

I find the P-51 startup to be MUCH easier.

Edited September 21, 2021 by No1sonuk

[Art-J]

@gomslork - are you sure you don't have takeoff assist still turned on in special options?  The plane might not pull to the side as much as 109, but it doesn't track straight either and does require some precise brake and rudder management in the initial phase of takeoff roll.

 

@Rhinozherous - compared to P-51 and Dora it's extremely sensitive in pitch axis (trim included) - those of us who own Spit and P-47 are used to it, but you don't, so you might find it a bit frustrating. If you're not in hurry, wait a few weeks - we've been told today the Mossie will be included in Free Trial program this Autumn. You will be able to form your own opinion then.

[JimBo*]

11 hours ago, Rhinozherous said:

Hmmm this makes me think I should buy it 

I think there is a lot WIP but I think it should be a bit more stable because of its size and distance between gears... alltough it has two torque producing engines.

i think it'll only get better with the addition of the ai second seater and as nav aids are added to the maps. ai second seater that could be able to call out threats... maybe? its the nav ability that i can't wait to be fleshed out.

Edited September 22, 2021 by JimBo*

[gomslork]

No, there's no assist on

 

You can literally give it full power, counter with a bit of rudder and tap the brakes a tiny amount and she will keep relatively straight.

I'll post a short video including controls when I get off work, and you can compare it to how yours handle on the ground

[Rhinozherous]

I hope her behaviour is realistic this way  

I love to be able to takeoff and land a WWII bird.

[gomslork]

Here's my video showing a takeoff in the Mosquito with full power and full fuel/bomb load, and also one with just 20% fuel and no bombs.

 

 

I would expect it to be a handful at those powersettings, since pilots described it as a handful on the takeoff roll. They would start with a reduced power setting, and lead with one engine until the rudder became effective, as told in this video:

 

 

In the book "Merlin, the power behind the Spitfire, Mosquito and Lancaster", the author tells a similar tale. (Very interesting book, btw)

 

I was just expecting something more of a handful based on these stories, and not a plane that you can firewall the throttles on and keep it straight with a few taps on the brakes.

[122sqn Bruv]

startup very easy,  taxiing and landing a peach.   just need to sort the cannon firing delay.  

 

must buy for any avid WW2 buff.  Flies very sweetly with all the trim tabs.  the detail in the instruments and lighting superb.  My second favourite module to date,  It would be my favourite but I possess the Spitfire and I love her purely for her uncanny ability to down any German plane.   .

[grafspee]

19 minutes ago, gomslork said:

I would expect it to be a handful at those powersettings, since pilots described it as a handful on the takeoff roll. They would start with a reduced power setting, and lead with one engine until the rudder became effective, as told in this video:

 

Pilot said that mosquito stays remarkable straight on take off.

[No1sonuk]

It surprises me that considering the Packard Merlins run in the other direction, they didn't fit contra-rotating engines to the multi-engine Merlin aircraft.

[Richard Dastardly]

Compared to a single seater it's dead easy, unsurprisingly - bit of movement at takeoff with the help turned off, nothing you can't easily catch.  The tail is really powerful at speed though, makes it really twitchy in pitch & yaw so you'll need to get used to that. Had no trouble handling it with a dead engine either.

[DartzIRL]

Seems like he says to do what I've been doing which is set the power with the brakes on, getting rolling and then punch it airliner style.  You could even go to full power and it won't pitch forward like any of the other big-noses.

 

That said, it does seem a lot more controllable than it should be at low speeds with a windmilling engine -at least going by description

 

[Mogster]

1 hour ago, No1sonuk said:

It surprises me that considering the Packard Merlins run in the other direction, they didn't fit contra-rotating engines to the multi-engine Merlin aircraft.

Merlins rotate clockwise, Griffons anti clockwise. The only Merlins to rotate anti clockwise were on the DH Hornet and they were special and even had different designations.
 

I think the idea was to produce as many Merlins as possible and to do so make the manufacturing as, in modern terms “lean” as it could be. Anything superfluous was dropped so as to maximise the number of Merlins turned out. The RR Peregrine for the W Whirlwind was canned to make more Merlins in its place, the Pergegrine engine came in clockwise and anti clockwise versions iirc. The Mosquito and Lancaster worked fine with their clockwise Merlins it seems so the compromise must have been judged worth making.

Edited September 22, 2021 by Mogster

[No1sonuk]

6 minutes ago, Mogster said:

Merlins rotate clockwise, Griffons anti clockwise. The only Merlins to rotate anti clockwise were on the DH Hornet and they were special and even had different designations.

 

There's a Lancaster flying in Canada on Packard Merlins, they had an issue when they had engine trouble during their UK visit a few years ago.  They said the problem was that their Merlins run the other way to normal ones, and they had to modify the parts they could get to make it work.

[Nealius]

On 9/22/2021 at 7:11 AM, Art-J said:

are you sure you don't have takeoff assist still turned on in special options?  The plane might not pull to the side as much as 109, but it doesn't track straight either and does require some precise brake and rudder management in the initial phase of takeoff roll.

 

If you don't have the tail wheel straighted out, very true. I'm finding that if I have my tail wheel properly straightened out I don't need to touch the rudder or brakes at all until the tail comes off the ground. Takeoff assist 0. 

[Mogster]

6 hours ago, No1sonuk said:

There's a Lancaster flying in Canada on Packard Merlins, they had an issue when they had engine trouble during their UK visit a few years ago.  They said the problem was that their Merlins run the other way to normal ones, and they had to modify the parts they could get to make it work.

There are differences in RR and Packard Merlins but pretty much all Merlins rotate clockwise. 

[WolfhoundCH]

Considering that there were numerous accounts of runway excursions on take-offs, I do feel like this probably isn't realistic. Also, leading with the left engine even slightly doesn't help, quite the contrary.

[Morat]

On 9/23/2021 at 1:30 AM, Nealius said:

 

If you don't have the tail wheel straighted out, very true. I'm finding that if I have my tail wheel properly straightened out I don't need to touch the rudder or brakes at all until the tail comes off the ground. Takeoff assist 0. 

I'm jealous! since I turned off take-off assist my Mossie is all over the place. I get no rudder authority until about 100 mph and I end up having to use brakes to keep her straight, which hardly ever ends well.

 

I don't have dual throttle axes (yet) so I'm opening up both engines at the same rate which I know isn't correct.

[grafspee]

On 10/22/2021 at 7:30 PM, Eteokles said:

Considering that there were numerous accounts of runway excursions on take-offs, I do feel like this probably isn't realistic. Also, leading with the left engine even slightly doesn't help, quite the contrary.

I will runup engines to 0 boost set my rpm to be the same then i release throttle and add power as needed with left or right engine leading the power depends what is going on with the plane.

 

[DD_fruitbat]

On 9/22/2021 at 11:45 PM, No1sonuk said:

There's a Lancaster flying in Canada on Packard Merlins, they had an issue when they had engine trouble during their UK visit a few years ago.  They said the problem was that their Merlins run the other way to normal ones, and they had to modify the parts they could get to make it work.

Wherever you read that, or whoever told you that, i wouldn't ever listen to that source again lol. 

Packard merlins were just licensed built merlins, with minor differences (the fuel sump was one from memory)

They very much rotate the same way.

The only plane that had a counter rotating merlin was the Hornet,  the merlin 131, which was a merlin 130 with an idler gear to reverse the propeller direction. It had the merlin 130 on the port wing, and a merlin 131 on the starboard wing.

Edited October 27, 2021 by DD_fruitbat