Hurricane Questions

[Kai-61]

I just got back into flight sims after a long hiatus and started up again with Cliffs of Dover and the TF patches. So far I am very impressed. I started with some basic flight with the Hurricane DH5-20; its controls and performance seem to make it a good aircraft to train on and learn a bit of CLOD before heading into the campaigns and online.

I have three questions:

1. The flight manual on the TF wiki states that lean fuel mixture is only used at low RPM and low boost. But the mixture lever in the cockpit looks to have a catch that prevents it from moving to lean when the throttle is set back, so the mixture can only be pushed to lean when the throttle is set to higher boosts--the opposite of what I would expect based on the manual. And indeed the labeling in the cockpit has the rearward position for mixture as rich and forward as lean. Can anyone explain this? I assume the cockpit is labeled correctly and the CEM lever positions are full down M is rich and full up M is lean, correct?

2. When flying up to ~10K feet the Hurricane starts to take engine damage with the radiator full open and temps initially normal and pitch set to course. Leaning the mixture as I approach seemed to prevent this the last time I tried. Has anyone else experienced this? The unexpected damage was surprising behaviour and the manual didn't seem to have anything regarding this. I was under the impression that leaning for the most part is unnecessary in the Hurricane.

3. I noticed after some sharper maneuvers that the artificial horizon in the hurricane gets stuck to the side. Is this normal behaviour? Is there a way to reset the horizon? Does it resettle have extended level flight?

Thanks for any help.

[RAF74_Buzzsaw]

The positions noted in the game are the reverse.

Back is rich... that is where its starts as a default.

I would leave it in rich unless you are planning an extended level altitude cruise flight at low rpm and boost with no change of throttle or rpm... lean mix can never be used in combat or any kind of maneuver.

When in lean mix you should have the rpms at 2600 or lower, and the boost at +1 or lower... never raise them above these settings.

Most players leave it in rich throughout their flight.

I just got back into flight sims after a long hiatus and started up again with Cliffs of Dover and the TF patches. So far I am very impressed. I started with some basic flight with the Hurricane DH5-20; its controls and performance seem to make it a good aircraft to train on and learn a bit of CLOD before heading into the campaigns and online.

I have three questions:

1. The flight manual on the TF wiki states that lean fuel mixture is only used at low RPM and low boost. But the mixture lever in the cockpit looks to have a catch that prevents it from moving to lean when the throttle is set back, so the mixture can only be pushed to lean when the throttle is set to higher boosts--the opposite of what I would expect based on the manual. And indeed the labeling in the cockpit has the rearward position for mixture as rich and forward as lean. Can anyone explain this? I assume the cockpit is labeled correctly and the CEM lever positions are full down M is rich and full up M is lean, correct?

2. When flying up to ~10K feet the Hurricane starts to take engine damage with the radiator full open and temps initially normal and pitch set to course. Leaning the mixture as I approach seemed to prevent this the last time I tried. Has anyone else experienced this? The unexpected damage was surprising behaviour and the manual didn't seem to have anything regarding this. I was under the impression that leaning for the most part is unnecessary in the Hurricane.

3. I noticed after some sharper maneuvers that the artificial horizon in the hurricane gets stuck to the side. Is this normal behaviour? Is there a way to reset the horizon? Does it resettle have extended level flight?

Thanks for any help.

[Kai-61]

The positions noted in the game are the reverse.

Back is rich... that is where its starts as a default.

So, to confirm, with with cockpit mixture level set in the back position and the CEM M lever at the bottom it is set to rich?

[Roblex]

Your aircraft will always spawn with the mixture (and lever) set to Rich. I would guess that 90% of the pilots on this server can't even remember what the shortcut is to change it because they have never needed to use it. I am not saying 90% of the pilots are too lazy to use their aircraft properly, I am saying there really is rarely any need to use lean mixture. Pretty much the only time anybody would ever us it is if they decide to escort bombers to Cherbourg.

[ATAG_Snapper]

Roblex is spot on. The mixture lever pulled fully back (= 0%) is "Auto Rich". Fully forward is "Auto Lean" (= 100%). The percentage values are a little meaningless and are just an ingame creation that had no use whatsoever in the real Spits and Hurricanes.

The mixture controls are modelled exactly the same as those in the real aircraft. As with the real Battle of Britain pilots, Auto Rich was used for the vast majority of the time -- take offs, landings, climbs, descents, cruise, full throttle runs, and....combat. As Roblex indicated, Auto Lean was used to conserve fuel for convoy patrols, or any situation that required long distances to be travelled and/or long loiter times aloft. Auto Lean was only used once altitude was reached, with low boost and reduced rpms. In the aircraft there is a mechanical linkage between the throttle and the mixture lever that is accurately modelled in this sim. When the throttle is pulled back the mixture lever is automatically pulled back to Auto Rich. This prevents the pilot from inadvertently trying to land his Spit/Hurri in Auto Lean condition. It also prevents a pilot from trying to start his aircraft in Auto Lean, much less taxi in that condition.

Kudos go to IvanK who worked with the original 1C development team (long before Team Fusion was created) to get the mixture system sorted out. Before this the mixture control operation varied from Spit model to Spit model, as did the Hurries. It was total confusion for even veteran players, not to mention newcomers. There were a LOT of burned up Merlins as a result -- and that didn't even cover the early rad problems these aircraft suffered. It was a real mess, totally inauthentic, and drove many players away in frustration. Getting the mixture operation fixed was a major start to getting the Spitfires and Hurricanes actually able to really get operational in this sim. Team Fusion, with Buzzsaw as a Team Leader working with Colander as the Head Programmer, carried on this fine work (with a small army of beta testers) by resolving the rad overheating problems, the altitude problems, the top speed and climb problems over a series of five patches. It's been a long process, but I'm amazed at how close these aircraft are now to the real thing performance-wise compared to the laughable state they were in when this sim was first released.

[Kai-61]

Alright everyone, thanks for helping me sort that out.

Thanks, Snapper, for the detailed mixture explanation. I was wondering why the catch on the mixture level would drop it back to rich if the throttle was decreased sufficiently. Seemed like a backward mechanism for how it was described to be used. I did not realize it was a safety precaution IRL for takeoff.