RAF Fighter engine warm up procedure time after 4.5 ?

[Meaks]

After the update of 4.5 I was a bit taken back tbh with the time that it now takes to warm up the RAF fighter engines,I have been flying CoD since the beginning and have followed the development of TFS and their development of this 4.5 update.

I was sure that one of the old bugbears was the time that it took for RAF engines to warm up,and that because historically these engines were kept warmed up to achieve a quick take off by aircrews,that this bug/fault call it what you will was going to be addressed.

So when was it decided upon,to make the warm up time even longer,much longer ?.......the procedure now is alas,but a bore fest to put it mildly,for most of us RAF pilots,and to make it worse does not reflect the true historical way these aircraft were held ready by the ground crews during the Battle of Britain in 1940.It has been well documented both in text and in the Pathe news reel films that these RAF fighters were airborne within minutes of the airfield alarm bells ringing.

So put yourself in the picture of a Battle Of Britain pilot circa 1940,enemy aircraft are inbound,the alarm bell has just been rung out across the airfield,you run to your aircraft,jump in and prepare to get airborne.However now implement the time deficit that you'll have to wait before your new 4.5 updated RAF fighter will have to endure before you can get airborne.

Do you think we(Yes I'm English)would have won the most crucial battle that England ever had to face..........well no,we would have lost,period.......given this latest update,our planes would most likely still be waiting to reach take off temps,as the German invaders were crossing the airfield perimeters.

I'm sorry if this sounds a little as if I'm not impressed,and that is because I'm not,this whole new warm up procedure is plain daft,who thought this one up ?......and again it most certainly is not historical,just look at the time period video footage,the historical evidence should be screaming back at you.

Credit due to TFS though,the whole sim now looks much nicer,and I can see that this is obviously the master plan,to have eye candy as the sole appeal,the new aircraft are a great addition too,so thank you for your hard work TFS,but please,please have a major rethink re the warm up procedures,if you are still expecting pilots to be interested in this Sim in six months time.

Please take this as constructed criticism,I do not wish to offend anyone,nor do I intend to argue with anyone,regarding these opinions on the forum.My beef is with the warm up procedure,nothing else,I am very passionate regarding this flying Sim and the historical period of time that it allegedly reflects.

Meaks

[ATAG_Snapper]

As I’m sure you can imagine, this point has been strongly discussed much in the terms you have postulated above. My understanding, for right or wrong, is that currently the sim is hardwired in only allowing “scramble” mode to occur at spawn points at the end of the runway. This would be problematic for busy online servers which would either have aircraft spawning in on top of each other, or airfields constantly not available with the limited runway spawn points already taken by other players.

There may be other technical reasons but that was the explanation I was given.

[Meaks]

Thanks very much for the explanation Snapper,I appreciate,if the procedure is hard coded there is not much that can be done to improve the procedure,I understand that.

However,what I can't buy,is if given,this is the reason the procedure is what it is,and takes as long as it does,makes any sense if the procedure has now been extended,surely it can't take any longer than what we were playing with in 4.312 can it ?

Who would want to make this time that we must endure,because of the hard coding any longer than what it originally in 4.312 ?

Unless..........the overheating issue that has now obviously been addressed,has had a detrimental effect on the procedure time,I think this is where I am now beginning to think the issue lies.

Please correct me if you think I'm wrong,but this would make sense of it,engines,RAF ones anyway,are taking much longer now to overheat and expire,and obviously they will now take that much longer to warm up because of the alterations that correct the overheat issue.

[farley]

Hey Meaker

Check the other threads on this topic as suggested.
I believe that people are in the air as fast or faster now than 4.312

Don't think you have to let the plane warm up for long at all and there are ways to speed things up.

I have not flown 4.5 enough to know tho.

[ATAG_Ribbs]

You don't need to let the RAF planes warm up all the way to 43 c. You can crack the throttle to 10-12 % start it up. Put boost cutout on and chocks in. Keep increasing the throttle till the plane starts to shake then back off 1% . Keep doing that till you get to 20-22c. You should be around 25% throttle at this point. You can now hammer the throttle to 110% and hold it till the engine clears up and is running smoothly. Takes a couple seconds to do this. After that..open rads and you can take off. The whole process takes a couple min at best. ( This is for the Hurricanes..but similar proceedures for other aircraft)

[Vlerkies]

Bunny gets airborne in less than a minute.

[ATAG_Snapper]

As Farley has mentioned, there are some “techniques” to speed up the process which, as far as I can determine, don’t seem to affect performance (ie top speed, climb rate) nor reliability. I can only speak to the Spitfire 1a 100 octane, Spitfire 2a, and the Beaufighter 1F. Others here in the forum have actually stopwatched it, and I defer to their expertise. Basically, it just means starting the engines normally (with throttle(s) open about 10%). Make sure brakes are on and chocks are in! Radiator/gills can be open or shut, doesn’t make any difference AFAIK. Give it about 1 minute at idle, gently increasing throttle to about 25%. (I’m setting my compass, checking the map, checking TAB-4-1/TAB-7-1, Briefing page, etc. Then, slam the throttle to full 100%! Honest! The engine will sputter a bit, take hold, and then rev up smoothly. Bring throttle back to idle, chocks out, brakes off, and carefully taxi out before the Chief Mechanic gets to you! LOL

I will probably incur the wrath of many here, but, hey..nothing worse than getting strafed at Hawkinge nursing a hibernating Merlin.

The above ain’t perfect, but it’s the best answer I can give you.

EDIT: Just saw Ribbs & Vlerkies + Bunny beat me to it with far better descriptions.

[Meaks]

Thanks guys,I appreciate the replies,I really do......however I was aware of using the boost to speed up the procedure,we have been using the technique for years over at ACG,and I will go over my procedure again to ensure that I'm not missing anything.

Whilst all of this is appreciated,I fear that if I can't speed up this process,my interest in Cliffs will just fade,as sitting in an aircraft waiting for engine temps to warm up is one thing,but sitting in an aircraft waiting,waiting and waiting for engine temps to warm up,just does not appeal.

Thank you all for your replies

[ATAG_Snapper]

Sorry to hear of your waning interest in Cliffs of Dover due to a one-minute warmup time.

For a bit of perspective, in the time it took to type my earlier responses to you I could have serially launched a full squadron of Hurricanes.

All the best and please don’t be a stranger!

[Meaks]

It's always a pleasure Snapper chewing the fat with you old buddy

[ATAG_Highseas]

I was doing repeat Hurricane Bomber raids yesterday with Vamps.

I can get them airbourne just as fast as before.... or maybe there is 20 seconds in it....

I didn't time it in 4.3.2 and I have no desire to go back and compare.

It's not the same technique but it's not like I'm sitting around for hours on end. Far from it.

Either way, even if I'm loosing 20 seconds of flight time at the beginning of an hour or or flight...?

It's no biggie.

[EAF602_Red]

My biggest gripe about the warm up is the fact that if the airfield is getting attacked (bombs or strafing) in 4.3 you could at least move out the blinking road of the aforementioned attack thus having a chance of spoiling his aim, but with 4.5 your a sitting duck when she stalls on you

[Meaks]

@ ATAG_Highseas......Cool beans fella,but you're missing my point,I'm not trying to score points here on the speed I can personally get airborne,the point is the procedure itself,and that it is now taking longer,regardless of how well you fly or how big one's ego is required to get airborne.

I'm sure you're doing just swell in both of those departments buddy,and the very best of luck to you

[RAF74_Buzzsaw]

There was a reason why Hawkinge, Manston, etc. were only used as Temporary fields and no Squadrons were based there permanently.

Take off at a rear field... take a little extra fuel.

[ATAG_Highseas]

@ ATAG_Highseas......Cool beans fella,but you're missing my point,I'm not trying to score points here on the speed I can personally get airborne,the point is the procedure itself,and that it is now taking longer,regardless of how well you fly or how big one's ego is required to get airborne.

I'm sure you're doing just swell in both of those departments buddy,and the very best of luck to you

Not really.

I'm not a very good pilot and dont really have much of an ego either.

[ATAG_Ribbs]

Not really.

I'm not a very good pilot and dont really have much of an ego either.

I did hear he stole one of Boos experimental Gunner monkeys and has it as his ground crew. Might explain a few things..

[ATAG_Highseas]

I did hear he stole one of Boos experimental Gunner monkeys and has it as his ground crew. Might explain a few things..

Well he's very good to have around as it goes.

He writes the jokes... and all I have to do is take the chocks out and wave him off.

What of it?

[ATAG_Snapper]

I think our work here is done.

Cheers, all!